An in-depth look at Nuhash Humayun’s Moshari
*Contains spoilers
I don’t think I was alone in feeling immensely proud of Moshari when it won the Grand Jury Award for Best Midnight Short at SXSW 2022. The 22 minute, critically acclaimed short has scored multiple wins at various film festivals, including several Oscar-qualifying awards. So when it was finally available for viewing in Bangladesh on 15 October 2022, I went straight to the streaming platform to watch it.
The first shot we see is grotesque and eerie. The murmuring of a familiar prayer creeps in and blends with the buzzing of the flies hovering over a rotting cow carcass. The dark and foreboding mood of the film is set right away.
Directed by Nuhash Humayun, Moshari follows the story of two sisters fighting to survive in a dystopian world. A ‘voiceover’ in the guise of an evening siren informs us that it is indeed a post-apocalyptic world – one where blood sucking creatures have wiped out most of the world, particularly the West. The only survivors are the inhabitants of the so-called Third World countries, countries which have always gotten by with minimal resources. Holy books, religion, nothing can keep anyone safe – the only thing one can protect oneself with is a simple mosquito net.
Nuhash has done an incredible job in establishing the world his story is set in. You can see his maturity as a filmmaker from the very beginning. Although it seems like a bit of a cheat to use the evening siren to fill in a bulk of the backstory, the establishment shots of the post-apocalyptic world are well thought out, relevant and informative. Starting from the shots of the sisters making their way through the overgrown foliage, the derelict parliament building, the graveyard of vehicles, the people huddled under mosquito nets with lanterns as the night dawns upon them – the visuals in the opening sequence are enough to tell us that this is not the world as we know it. In my opinion, the shots narrate the story so well by themselves, the opening sequence is strong enough to stand on its own. The evening siren would have sounded more realistic if it wasn’t crammed with so much information unnecessary in a warning message.
The film aesthetics of Moshari is near flawless. Anyone who has seen the movie cannot deny that Nuhash, in collaboration with his cinematographer Ejaz Mehdi, has produced the most visually striking short in Bangladesh.
The film aesthetics of Moshari is near flawless. Anyone who has seen the movie cannot deny that Nuhash, in collaboration with his cinematographer Ejaz Mehdi, has produced the most visually striking short in Bangladesh. The film is stunning – the impressive use of light, the colour grading, the production design, along with the creative camera direction and sophisticated editing have really moulded this short movie into a work of art. Moreover, everyone knows that sound is one of the strongest pillars of a horror movie. Nuhash also seems to understand this because he got one of the best young musicians in the industry, Dameer Khan, to do the music. I love how they researched and made use of local instruments to produce a very unique and distinctive score with a cultural touch. The sound design by Sng Ye Min is spine-chillingly appropriate, and together with Nuhash’s impeccable sense of aesthetics and mood, Moshari definitely had the potential to be a terrifying film.
But for me, the horror aspect of the film begins to fade soon after Ayra, played by Nairah Onora Saif, gets snatched. From that point, the movie feels more like an action/thriller and somewhat monotonous. Also, what took more away from the horror factor was, well, the monster itself. Horror movies are the scariest when we don’t exactly see what is lurking in the shadows. A lot of the fear dissipates once you actually see the monster, no matter how gruesome it looks. And in this case, the costume design and look of the monster was extremely poor. Despite the terrific direction of light and sound, when you finally see the wispy haired, Dobby-esque vampire whom you almost feel pity for, it does not inspire any fear at all. The action sequence is also sort of clunky and awkward, and thus becomes a bit boring.
In terms of the plot, the film seemed more concerned about focusing on the tension between the two sisters rather than inducing terror. It’s an age-old tale of a difficult relationship between two siblings. In this case, a bossy older sister, jaded by the harsh realities of a dystopian world, has little patience for the naive and defiant Ayra. In the end, the older sister gives her life trying to protect her little sister who then finally accepts her fate and learns to follow the rules. While it was a great idea to focus on the plot of the sisters to tell this post-apocalyptic vampire story, the movie eventually suffered because the chemistry of that relationship was not well established at all. A major drawback of the film is the screenplay, especially the dialogue. It single-handedly dampened the otherwise sound performance by Sunerah Binte Kamal as Apu. Her body language and expressions throughout the movie were on-point, but every time she said a line, it felt very forced and unnatural. Although a significant portion of the screenplay was dedicated to helping build the characters, the overall level of acting and choice of dialogues did not allow for that to happen. Moreover, as pointed out by a reviewer in The Bangladesh Post, the flow of the subtitles (which is in English), is a lot smoother than the actual dialogues themselves, which indicates that the script was probably written in English and then translated. As a writer who expresses herself best in English, I am certainly not in a position to comment negatively on that matter, but perhaps a better translation could have done wonders to the overall performance.
Another glaring problem in the film, something that just could not be ignored, was the different accents of Bangla of the siblings. If they are sisters, that too in a post-apocalyptic world, why do they sound like they are from two different socio-economic backgrounds? This particular oversight made it very difficult for the performances to feel authentic and be believable for the Bangladeshi audience.
The screenplay was very weak towards the end of the movie. The scene with Ayra hiding in the closet while the vampire is trying to get in – a scene which should have had our hearts pounding, was probably the worst one in the entire film. The last shot was also equally bad, but more in terms of the story. What was the point of showing the sister-turned-vampire stroking Ayra’s hair? That the vampires still retain their human feelings? Was that supposed to be sweet or scary? While I understand using emotional ties adds depth to the story, the decision to include that scene felt unnecessary and killed the fear factor even more. Towards the end, the film seemed to be riddled with various plot holes and confused about what genre it is meant to be.
Moshari is an excellent example of the budding talent pool we have in the industry right now. The film has clearly made a strong impression in the international film community with its impressive visuals and creative vision.
Nevertheless, Moshari is an excellent example of the budding talent pool we have in the industry right now. The film has clearly made a strong impression in the international film community with its impressive visuals and creative vision. Despite some observations on how it could have been a better film, I think the appreciation Moshari has gotten is very well deserved. This film has proved that even with a mediocre budget, our country has the skills and ability to produce great movies at par with international standards, marking the beginning of a new era in Bangladeshi cinema.