Oscars: Bangladesh Selects ‘No Bed of Roses’ for Foreign-Language Category

The film stars Indian actor Irrfan Khan as a successful film-maker facing a midlife crisis when he has a tryst with his daughter’s childhood friend, causing a national scandal.

Bangladesh has selected No Bed of Roses (Doob) as its entry in the foreign-language film Oscar category.

Directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, the drama stars well-known Indian actor Irrfan Khan (whose Hollywood credits include Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire) as Javed Hasan, a successful director who faces a midlife crisis when he has a tryst with his daughter’s childhood friend whom he also marries, causing a national scandal. Rokeya Prachi plays his wife, while Nusrat Imrose Tisha plays the daughter and Indian actress Parno Mittra plays her childhood friend.

In a statement about the film, Farooki had said he took inspiration from a real-life incident “which shook the very foundation of Bangladesh’s judgmental Muslim society” and “how women struggle in our society and find strength in despair.”

No Bed of Roses was an India-Bangladesh co-production, with Khan also co-producing the title. Following its premiere at the 2017 Shanghai International Film Festival, the movie traveled to various fests including Moscow, Vancouver and Busan.

In her Shanghai review, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Deborah Young said the film was “a sobering, engrossing separation drama.”

Farooki’s previous films, 2009’s Third Person Singular Number and 2012’s Television, were also submitted as Oscar entries.

Bangladesh has yet to secure an Academy Award nomination, though it has been submitting films for consideration in the foreign-language category since 2002. Last year, the country’s entry was the partition-set drama Khacha.

The 91st  Academy Awards are set to be held Feb. 24.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com