The Last Thakur
| The Last Thakur | |
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UK theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Sadik Ahmed |
| Produced by | Atif Ghani Tamsin Lyons |
| Written by | Sadik Ahmed Heather Taylor |
| Starring |
Ahmed Rubel Tariq Anam Khan Tanveer Hassan |
| Music by |
Kishon Khan Birger Clausen |
| Cinematography | Sadik Ahmed |
| Edited by | Hugh Williams |
| Distributed by | Artificial Eye |
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Release date
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Running time
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81 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | Bengali |
The Last Thakur is a 2008 British western film directed by Sadik Ahmed, written by Sadik Ahmed and Heather Taylor, and stars Ahmed Rubel, Tariq Anam Khan and Tanveer Hassan. The film is about a lone gun-man who enters a town to take revenge on the person who raped his mother during the Bangladesh Liberation War. In the course of revenge he is used by the internal clash of two rival leaders of the town.
Set in the aftermath of an election in rural Bangladesh in a small, remote town of Doulathpur, a riverside shanty town in the marshlands of interior, rural Bangladesh, which is dominated by two men with a long-lasting feud who contend for power.
One is the long-established Thakur, the only Hindu in the area, and an aging, old-fashioned, crippled, manic, eccentric landlord (Tariq Anam), whose influence is waning, owns most of the property in a largely Muslim village and has ruthlessly repossessed debt-ridden land to build his lasting monument a Hindu temple commemorating his family – and has isolated himself from the local, largely Muslim community in the process as most them view this as idolatrous. Thakur is the last in his line, and his days are numbered. This, in turn provokes a suspicious and intense rivalry with his rival, a populist, seductive, corrupt, ruthless Muslim politician and village boss known as the Chairman (Ahmed Rubel). Chairman likes everyone to call him 'father' – except the actual sons that his philandering has left scattered about town. After a possibly rigged local election, he appears to run everything, and purports to represent and defend his people. Chairman is determined to use the opportunity presented by Thakur's decline to move in on his territory himself and is plotting to kill Thakur, spurred on by his Lady Macbeth-like wife, and by guilt over his own secrets.
Kala (Tanveer Hassan), a young, mysterious ex-soldier and self-proclaimed atheist armed with a rifle and a frayed birth certificate, arrives in a small town on Independence Day with a personal quest to find his father, reclaim his birthright, and seek the truth about his mother's rape and murder, and take revenge on the rapist. He is distressed, hungry and arrives without any money.
The rivalry and power struggle between Chairman and Thakur is further exacerbated by Kala's arrival and his mere presence triggers confrontation. Kala discovers a bitter enmity between Thakur and Chairman. Kala and his gun becomes the coveted asset to both the Chairman and Thakur, he attracts the attention of two rival leaders and finds himself approached by both men to take their side. In a heated atmosphere, Kala is the only person in the village with a gun and his rifle allows him to bargain with both men and offers himself as a gun-for-hire to the highest bidder, while pursuing his own quest for knowledge and vengeance. He is employed as Thakur's bodyguard and negotiates the protection of the Thakur in return for cash for which he buys food. However, Chairman secretly approaches him to work as a double agent, as he attempts to overthrow the Thakur and wrest control of the populace. As he sells his services to both sides, he becomes a vital commodity in this small-scale war and gets closer to gaining information to uncover the truth about his past.
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Wikipedia