Cinema in Bangladesh is agog, awaiting the commercial release soon of young director Shahneoyaj Cacoly's second feature film "Nodijan", which explores the social and marital consequences of a divorce using verbal 'talaq'.
Attempts by the husband to reunite with his wife after he realises that he had wrongly suspected her of adultery form the crux of the upcoming film.
Set in a non-decrepit Bangladesh village, Ayan is cast as a waterman (helper working on a boat) owned by a rich man Fateh Ali. He is married to Shamsi, who sells hair. Oftentimes Ayan goes away from the village for 10 to 12 days at a stretch to earn money, leaving his young wife alone at home.
While Ayan is away, a broker who comes to his village strikes up a friendship with Shamsi, something that is frowned upon by a neighbourhood woman who gossips about it. The gossip reaches Ayan who beats up his wife and the broker and gives her a verbal divorce.
However, when Ayan finds out that there is no adultery, he wants to accept his wife back but religion stands in the way as she has to marry another man and get a divorce from him before reuniting with her first husband.
Accordingly, Shamsi marries 70-year-old Fateh Ali. The twist in the tale happens when Ali on coming to know that Shamsi is pregnant refuses to divorce her as he wants the child. He beats up Ayan and throws him into the river but Ayan survives.
Cacoly deals with the a complicated subject on the big screen after her debut film "Uttarer Sur" (Northern Symphony), which depicts the gradual extinction of Bhawaiyaa, a musical genre in both West Bengal and Bangladesh, through the life of a singer and his little daughter who makes a living by singing on the streets.
