SYNOPSIS

Under Construction is about a modern Muslim woman struggling to find herself in the sprawl of urban Bangladesh, where middle class actress Roya reconstructs a famous and politically minded play of Rabindranath Tagore for modern times, reclaiming her agency in the process.

PLOT

Roya, a modern middle-class woman struggles to find herself in the sprawl of urban Bangladesh. After being replaced by a younger actor for the character of ‘Nandini’—the epitome of Bengali womanhood, the central character of Rabindranath Tagore’s political play ‘Red Oleanders;’ she delves into a psychological journey and battles to reconstruct ‘Nandini,’ reclaiming her identity in the process. As she sets the play in a modern day ready-made garment factories in Dhaka; her journey to establish her individuality as a middle class woman is juxtaposed with the journey of her teenage housemaid Moyna, who later joins the industrial workforce.

DIRECTOR’S BIO/FILMOGRAPHY

Rubaiyat Hossain is one of Bangladesh’s handful of female filmmakers, known for her critically acclaimed debut feature film Meherjaan (2011) which faced political and cultural wrath in Bangladesh for its anti war narrative, and its critic of masculine nationalism from a feminine point of view. Rubaiyat has completed her B.A. in Women Studies from Smith College, USA and M.A. in South Asian Studies from University of Pennsylvania. Currently she lives between Dhaka and New York making films and attending Tisch School of Arts at New York University in Cinema Studies.
1. Under Construction (88 min, Bangladesh 2015), Director’s second feature film.
2. Meherjaan (119 min, Bangladesh 2011), Debut feature film.

Director’s Statement :

In claiming her body-mind-soul how does a woman’s introspective journey gets entangled with the battle on the outside in a world of post-colonial reality where political violence, religious extremism, sweatshop labors, and impunity largely paint the terrain?

‘Womanhood’ authored by patriarchy sustains a power-pleasure-desire lattice by generating, sustaining and reproducing cultural myths about female sexuality. ‘Womanhood’ authored by women, female sexuality comprehended and utilized for the purpose of woman’s subject formation is still largely a process ‘under construction.’

In ‘Under Construction,’ a woman who has not yet been born into subjectivity seeks to unsettle the iconic image of the archetypical Bengali woman—‘Nandini,’ the ultimate depiction of feminine spirit represented as the heroine of Rabindranath Tagore’s last play ‘Rakta Karabi’ or ‘The Red Oleanders.’

DIRECTOR’S NOTES ON THE FILM

The film revolves around the theater actress Roya’s journey in trying to reinterpret The Red Oleanders. She challenges the representation of the woman in the play and wants to make her contemporary. She situates the play in a modern day ready made garment factory. The workers have no name but numbers, they all work for a king who they never see. Tagore wrote this play as a critic of industrial civilization. The protagonist of my film at once demonstrates the political relevance of Tagore’s work in the modern day context of sweatshop labor, but she also questions Tagore’s representation of the woman as limiting and sets to free her from the cultural iconification.

I find Tagore's vision of modern day capitalism very apt and contemporary even though the play was published in 1926. When I look at Dhaka city, the working class population, may they be the rickshaw-pullers or ready made garment factory workers--I can see Tagore's vision of Jokkhopuri reflected--where each person is defined by a number and profit weighs heavier than human lives.

The modern Bangladeshi Muslim woman has not yet come into her full from having claimed her agency and subjectivity. She is very much still in the making. Dhaka as a city is going from the rural to urban, it is in transition, visually one won't find a single road in Dhaka where a building is not being constructed. As the city is literally and figuratively under construction so are its citizen, especially the women living there.

Also, in juxtaposing Roya and Moyna (the house maid) I have tried to demonstrate that 'woman' is also not a homogenous groups. The journey into emancipation might be very different for women belonging to different social classes and realities.

MAJOR CAST & CREW

CAST

Sahana Goswami
Rikita Nandini Shimu
Mita Rahman

Rahul Bose
Shahadat Hossain
Touficul Islam
Sohel Mondol

Nawshaba Ahmed Sabah
Sporshia

CREW

Writer/Director : Rubaiyat Hossain
Production Design : Rubaiyat Hossain
Director of Photography : Martina Radwan
Editing : Sujan Mahmud
Sound Design : Sujan Mahmud
Sync Sound : Harikumar Pillai
Music : Shayan Chowdhury Ornob
Playback Singer : Shahana Bajpei
Art Direction : Joya Haq, Nitee Mahbub, Hasnat Ripon
Costume Design : Shahrukh Amin
Assistant Director : Ashik Bhuiyan, Waheeha Mehriban, Tasmia Afreen Mou
Executive Producer : Ishtiaque Zico

Produced by Khona Talkies

TECHNICAL INFO

Genre : Narrative Feature-Drama
Running Time : 88 min
Original Language : Bengali
Subtitles : English

Screening Format : DCP, HD
Sound : Dolby Digital
Screen Ratio : 16 : 9

Country of Origin/Production : BANGLADESH

Production Year : 2015
Date of Premiere : June 06, 2015

TV Interview :

Rubaiyat Hossain’s interview with PBS station in Seattle

Radio Interview :

NEWS & REVIEW

The Arts Fuse/ Gerald PEARY

montreal157 : FFM : En voie de construction

The Statesman features Under Construction :

The Daily Star : Two Bangladeshi films at Montreal International Film Festival
Review/Interview : The womanhood in changing Bangladesh – The Straits Times

Dhaka Tribune : Under Construction to open at SIFF

Dhaka Tribune : Female Director, Female Gaze

Dear Cinema : NFDC Film Bazaar : Under Construction by Rubaiyat Hossain