THE LAST THAKUR
Feature Film | Writer | 81 min | UK-Bangladesh | 2008
UK film-maker Sadik Ahmed directs this intense contemporary Western, which takes place in a remote town in the marshlands of Bangladesh. A mysterious young man, Kala, arrives armed with a rifle. He immediately creates a stir in the small town and especially attracts the attention of two rival leaders: the ruthless and powerful Chairman who runs the place and purports to represent his people and the one man that stands in his way: the local Thakur, one of the last Hindu landlords, who is manically re-claiming all the surrounding land for which loans remain un-paid in order to build a temple.
Walking into the middle of this bitter feud, Kala soon finds himself approached by both men to take their side. Broke and hungry, Kala begins to bargain with them, but he is here on his own mission, to find the man that raped and killed his mother and take his revenge. Some of Bangladesh’s finest theatre performers offer great performances. Ahmed’s training as a cinematographer is clearly evident in the bold picturisation of haunting landscapes and hollow-face-men with murder on their minds.
Winner of the first NFTS first feature grant. Premiered at the London International Film Festival, 2008 with a theatrical release and screening on Channel 4 in 2009.
“This beautifully shot film perfectly captures the rising tension
between the characters as the story heads towards its inexorable
bloody conclusion.” – BBC London
Directed by: Sadik Ahmed
Written by: Heather Taylor, Sadik Ahmed
Cast: Tariq Anam, Tanveer Hasan, Rubel Ahmed, Anisur Rahman Milon
Distributor: Artificial Eye
Click here to watch footage of the premiere
Official Selection:
London Film Festival Premiere
Dubai International Film Festival
Mumbai International Film Festival
New York Film Festival
South Asian International Film Festival
Films From The South (Oslo)
Munich Film Festival
Granada Film Festival
Durban International Film Festival
Solothurn Film Festival
Edmonton International Film Festival