Irrfan Khan’s Date With The Oscars: Actor’s Film Doob Enters Academy Awards’ Race
Irrfan Khan’s drama about a successful filmmaker who gets embroiled in a scandal with his daughter’s childhood friend is Bangladesh’s official entry to the Oscars this year. Read on to know more
Irrfan Khan, who is being treated for advanced cancer in
London has a reason to do a little happy dance. His film, Doob - No Bed of
Roses, has entered the Oscar race. It’s the official entry from Bangladesh. The
controversial film was earlier banned in the country. Recent lift in the
ban has not only allowed Irrfan’s fans to watch the movie, but also enabled its
entry as an official entry to Academy Awards 2019.
The Bangladesh Oscar Committee chose Doob - No Bed of Roses as the entry for
the best foreign language film category.
Irrfan Khan has not only acted in the film, he has also co-produced it. Doob is
the story of a successful filmmaker facing a midlife crisis when he has a tryst
with his daughter's childhood friend, causing a national scandal.
The film is an India-Bangladesh co-production, written and directed by Mostofa
Sarwar Farooki. Rokeya Prachi plays Irrfan's wife and Nusrat Imrose Tisha plays
his daughter. Indian actress Parno Mittra plays Irrfan’s daughter’s childhood
friend.
Speaking 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".
Run-up to the film’s release was fraught with controversy. It walked on a path
full of thorns as it was banned in Bangladesh on the grounds that it might be
based on revered real-life author and filmmaker Ahmed, who divorced his wife of
27 years and married an actress 33 years his junior. The ban was eventually
lifted and the film released in October 2017 in Bangladesh, France, India and
Australia.
Bangladesh is yet to secure an Oscar nomination, though it has been sending
entries to the foreign-language category since 2002.
Image Source: southfreak
