“Third Person Singular Number”: Behind the success story

"Third Person Singular Number" would have to be the most promising film of the year. Though the cinematic work has not even been released in Bangladesh, it has already been selected to participate at major international film festivals. The film had its world premiere at the 14th Pusan International Film Festival, South Korea.
A major share of credit for the success of "Third Person..." has to go to filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki.
"The experience was amazing. When the film was first selected to take part in Pusan International Film Festival (considered Asia's largest film festival), I was thrilled. Sadly most people don't know about it because we are not yet au fait about the Asian film festivals. There were 7,000 foreign distributors, festival directors from Berlin, Venice and other places. There was an audience of around 200,000 from various nations, backgrounds and cultures. Through this, our film got world access, with many reporters from around the world putting this film in their columns. The 10-minute question-answer episode at the festival got extended to 45 minutes. It was overwhelming! The autographs, the applause, the appreciation -- it all actually made me nervous," Farooki said.
Is the filmmaker known for his unusual approach to storytelling gung ho about the prospects of the film? "Yes, of course! It created a major buzz. It will travel to more film festivals. It's not a very complicated film. It has a lot of heart," he added on a lighter note.
"This is a film about reality. It's my first film that got real international accolades. It was also one of the 18 films vying for the top prize at the recent Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi. 'Third Person...' was the only South Asian film to participate at the festival."
"We didn't win the award, but meeting the legendary Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami was bigger than any award for me. I wanted to tell him that I consider him to be my mentor but the way he was praising my film made me so nervous that I couldn't manage to say how much I admire his work!"
Tisha, who played one of the central roles in "Third Person...", talked about her experiences. "I can't explain my excitement," she said enthusiastically, "as it had been screened at two major international festivals and had already been the centre of much curiosity even before it's release in Bangladesh. The expectations have become greater."
"The feedback was awesome for me as it was my first feature film. Everyone's appreciation was overwhelming. This was perhaps the best experience for me because in the beginning I never even imagined that I would do a movie. My parents were also not keen on seeing me on the big screen. Thanks to Farooki and others friends whose help I enlisted, I could finally convince my parents and they gladly agreed. What came next, everyone knows. I found myself landing into one of the biggest projects of this year. When I read the script, the story was so good, I was like 'Oh my God, I don't want to lose it!’
"When I actually saw the final print, I couldn't believe it was me," she added.
What was the experience like for Topu? "It was a treat. It never felt like we were shooting a film. Farooki selects actors depending on the characters. Maybe he saw a connection between the character and me. I could do it only because he made it seem easy to me. I'm a musician, so this was totally a different experience. In acting you need to concentrate psychologically and physically, whereas in music you just let it flow," said the singer turned actor.
"I couldn't attend the film festivals. The film is also going to Australia this December; hopefully I would be going to that one," Topu added.
"I had missed South Korea, but of course I received updates on how things went," said actor Mosharraf Karim who played one of the lead roles. "Being a part of this film had been like a thrill-ride. The experience was unlike any other from the incipient stage when we were just working on it.
"Everyone in the country is excited and waiting eagerly for its release. Wherever I go, people are asking me about it, and I find myself wondering the same as just like them I'm also anxiously waiting for it."

The writer is a freelance contributor
Courtesy: The Daily Star.