“Mor Thengari” alternatively called My Bicycle, the first feature film entirely made in Chakma language, was premièred at the 13th Dhaka Short and Independent Film Festival in the first week of December.
Centred around the life of the indigenous people, particularly the Chakma community, the film is directed by Aung Rakhaine. Though the director belongs to the Rakhaine community, he believes that “it’s necessary to focus on the Chakma community as they struggled more than any other indigenous groups of the country.”
Developed over ten years, the film was produced by Pandolipi Karkhana, which managed to find 30 financiers. The shooting began in 2012.
The story of the film revolves around an indigenous man named Komol who returns to his native village after a futile effort to live in a city. Komol decides to never go back as he was fired from his job without getting paid for five months. As a means of earning livelihood, he comes up with the idea of using his bicycle, the only possession he acquired while in the city, to ferry passengers and goods. However, Komol’s struggle takes a new turn as local people start to extort from him. When he refuses, they break his bicycle.
Though no professional actors were involved in the film, Komol Moni Chakma’s portrayal of the lead character and Indira Chakma’s role as his wife Devi were highly appreciated by the audience and the critics.
Entirely shot in Rangamati and Bandarban, the 63-minute-long independent film depicts exquisite beauty of the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
