Ashfaque Nipun’s ‘Koshtoneer’ is a riveting commentary on family
Celebrated director Ashfaque Nipun’s “Koshtoneer” was released on Hoichoi yesterday (January 15). The film is a production of Packup Films, featuring Tariq Anam Khan, Runa Khan, Syed Babu, Shamol Mawla, Sabila Nur and Yash Rohan among others. The story of this Hoichoi film revolves around a family, where the father is the head and is responsible for all kinds of decisions in the household.
"The plot is layered with modern political and social contexts in very subtle ways," shares the director. "Though it is about a family, it represents the image of the state at many levels."
Nipun also shared that working with Hoichoi, an international OTT platform, for the first time, was a pleasant experience.
The dubbing and post production work of the film, including colour grading and sound design, was done in Kolkata. "We shot everything in six days. However, we got enough time for the post production work," says Nipun.
He also discussed the major differences between television and streaming platform projects. "I am glad to get the opportunity of crafting a plot without any barriers of thought that usually we have to take into account while working for television," he asserts.
He also shared that he could freely choose the actors, and had enough budget to complete the production.
Tariq Anam Khan plays the head of the household in the film, who is somehow connected with corruption, but wants his family to be ideologically firm.
"I have seen such families in my life," says the actor. "The plot is quite relatable to the households of our country, where people struggle with their philosophical ideas and the clashes between the perspectives of individuals."
He mentioned that it is his first collaboration with Ashfaque Nipun. "I have watched his work before, he is a truly passionate director and a great storyteller," he says.
"As theater artistes, we prefer getting the full script from before to understand the character and get involved in the story. Then, we learn our lines and improvise accordingly. Nipun handed us the script after we arrived on the set and we had instant rehearsals for the scenes of each day. I had sessions with him as well. He is very supportive."
He further adds, "Nipun is very clear about what he wants, so, it was not very hard to get the work done smoothly. It was a great experience working with the whole team. We became a family, and after the shoot, we missed each other, as we had such a great time together!"
Hoichoi Bangladesh's Business Lead Sakib R Khan talked about his expectations from "Koshtoneer". "Ashfaque Nipun is a brilliant director, and we have tried to bring out all of his strengths. This film has both political themes and drama," he says.
He further said that Hoichoi is confident about the director's work. "We didn't have the complete script for Koshtoneer, like other projects, as Ashfaque Nipun improvises on the set. We had full faith in him, and he has exceeded all of our expectations. We have plans to work with him on projects with bigger budgets in the future," adds Sakib.