‘Saatao’ wins Gautam Buddha Award at NIFF

Khandaker Sumon directorial "Saatao" bagged the Gautam Buddha Award under the World Panorama category at the 6th Nepal International Film Festival (NIFF). 

The festival kicked off from March 16 in Kathmandu. The festival showcased 95 films which were selected from over 250 submissions from 60 countries across the world. 

Three Bangladeshi films were featured in the festival,which are—Jibon Shahadat's "Nameplate" in Short Live Action category,Noor Imran Mithu's "Patalghar" and Khandaker Sumon's "Saatao", in the World Panorama category. 

The crowd-funded movie, "Saatao" is based on the lives of the marginalised community. Aynun Putul and Fazlul Haque play pivotal roles in the movie.

The plot revolves around a farmer called Fazlu and his wife Putul. Fazlu worries that his wife will get lonely, staying at the house by herself, so he gifts her a cow. Putul now gets a new companion and begins to forget the pain of leaving her father's house.

Meanwhile, due to unfavorable environmental conditions, farmers like Fazlu start to struggle. Due to further unfortunate circumstances, the river overflows, disrupting the lives of people and animals who live downstream.

Besides directing the movie, Khandaker Sumon also wrote the story, screenplay, and dialogue for "Saatao". The movie also stars Sabera Yasmin, Tashmita Shimu, Mitu Sarkar, among others.