Nuhash Humayun on his first feature film

Nuhash Humayun is one of the most promising young filmmakers in the country, proving his pedigree with many web projects, short films, TVCs and music videos. He is also one of the directors of Bangladesh's first anthology film "Iti Tomari Dhaka", which was recently selected for an Oscar nomination in the International category.

Nuhash has recently announced his first feature film "Moving Bangladesh", produced by Arifur Rahman and Bijon Imtiaz. Besides direction, the story of the film is also written by Nuhash. In a recent conversation with The Daily Star, he shared insights and more details about the film.

"Moving Bangladesh" is said to be based on the true story of a young university student in Dhaka, who is tired of being stuck in traffic, and life itself. Demanding change, he and his friends struggle to create a motorcycle-based ridesharing service that may change the way we travel in Bangladesh, forever. In fact, it may even change himself. This was the beginning of something special - the creation of the ridesharing service we know now as Pathao.

"Pathao today is a 100 million dollar plus company, changing the lives of people in Bangladesh and beyond," says Nuhash. "Our film is about the early days, the failures, the roadblocks. It's the kind of inspirational story about Bangladesh that I always wanted to see on the big screen."

"I have known Nuhash since he was a kid," says Arif, one of the producers of the film. "It was probably in 2003 that I interviewed him as a journalist. Since then, I have seen his extraordinary talent, and he also shared with me that he likes making creative stories." Arif also said that it is their sixth project in Film Bazaar. "We have a good rapport with Nuhash. He pitched two stories to us. Between the two, the plot of "Moving Bangladesh" seemed more relevant and different to us. We hope to start the shoot from next year," he adds.

"Moving Bangladesh'' has been selected for the new edition of NFDC Goa Film Bazaar Co Production Market. It is the only Bangladeshi film represented this year. Even in the film's writing and development stage, the project has gained international attention, being selected for the Open Doors Consultancy of Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in their second phase (two other projects from Bangladesh were previously selected).

As part of the consultancy, Nuhash is assigned script supervisor Nicos Panayotopoulos for a year-long mentorship. "It was also selected for Los Angeles based Film Independent's Global Media Makers workshop in May 2020, where it caught the eyes of Hollywood producers Jim Young and Tatiana Kelly," he shares.

"I was at the world premiere of "Iti Tomari Dhaka" in 2018 watching our anthology film with a global audience - I was completely overwhelmed. I've been wondering since then, what's the story I want to tell for my own feature - then I realised the answer was right in front of me, on an app in my phone and everywhere in my city. Too many stories from Bangladesh are about poverty or oppression; but I want to tell an inspirational one," asserts Nuhash.

Nuhash also informs that Pathao will not have any financial stake or creative control over the film as it is an independent project. "The founders have been very cooperative and also aware this is a work of fiction, although based on facts," says Nuhash. "At the end of the day, this is a Nuhash Humayun film, not a documentary on a start-up. It's a human drama about the struggles of our generation."

Nuhash explained why it is his first debut feature, since he had previously worked in "Iti Tomari Dhaka". "Iti Tomari Dhaka" is an anthology film, with multiple directors making shorts. This is why I consider "Moving Bangladesh" to be my first full length feature."

Although the director previously got many filmmaking offers, he was waiting for the right time and plot to begin with. "I wanted to take the time to develop the story for my first full length feature," shares Nuhash. "I met Bijon in Busan by complete chance and we started talking about movies. Bijon and Arif have since signed on as my producers. It's very cool to find producers who help you achieve your vision. Throughout the lockdown, we've been having virtual meetings, conducting research, discovering the soul of the film."

The cast and shoot date of the film is yet to be announced.