Tomar Amar Rong

Channel: NTV

Directed by: Humayun Rashid Samrat

Cast: Ziaul Faruk Apurba, Mousumi Hamid, Hasnat Ripon, Anjumand Ara Bakul

While trying to watch something a bit more serious than the myriad of comedy flicks that has become the norm nowadays, I came across this drama in which the first scene showed a woman apparently committing suicide with a radio programme playing in the background. Needless to say, that got me hooked. I am a fan of dark overtones and I felt that this drama would be my cup of tea. Sadly, it wasn't. For 44 minutes, what I watched was a mishmash of cliché elements and arbitrary plot-twists one can expect from modern love stories. To top it off, the storytelling method involved unnecessary flashbacks that ruined a lot of screen time, which otherwise could have been used to enhance the plot better.

The story is quite simple in its core, but made complicated through random acts of co-incidences. Samira (Mousumi Hamid) is an impulsive young woman who has, through a very co-incidental intervention, reconnected with her childhood neighbor Shuvo (Apurba). They quickly fall in love and start dating, despite the fact that Samira is already engaged to marry another man, Adnan (Hasnat Ripon). Samira confides in Adnan about her relationship with Shuvo and Adnan gracefully backs down. However, through a random stroke of misfortune, Shuvo dies in a car accident and Adnan co-incidentally arrives at the scene to take Shuvo's body to the hospital. The ending scenes show Samira apparently contemplating suicide atop a rooftop, but instead throwing away a scarf, a memento of Samira that Shuvo had held since their younger days.

Despite being quite sappy at first glance, the open-endedness of the conclusion was an appreciated touch. The ending scenes are intentionally kept vague and left a certain thought-provoking aftertaste, which, while an engaging way to wrap up a story, had its repercussions as well. It is never made clear if Adnan had planned to get rid of Shuvo, but it is strongly hinted to be otherwise. If Shuvo's death was indeed a random occurrence, then the plot makes little sense, because killing off a crucial character at the climax out of nowhere, is in honesty, ineffective story-writing. It is also not made clear what Samira intends to do in the future. Perhaps throwing away the scarf signaled her letting go of Shuvo's memories, or maybe she has lost all hope in herself. Either way, Tomar Amar Rong provides more questions than answers, which may not be an entirely bad thing, but does leave behind the idea that with such a fascinating starting, the ending could have been a lot better.

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