No need to stress over Roidh, you don't need a PhD, it's simple - just watch and you'll understand
I came back this evening after watching Roidh. I sat quietly for a while after leaving the hall. This doesn't usually happen to me, but this time I was somehow left stunned. My head is still spinning.
The story seems very plain at the start. A sadhu, his crazy wife, a goat, palm trees in the background. That's it. But as it progresses, you realize it's actually the story of Adam and Eve. There's no way to separate love and sin here. The two are entangled together. The entire film runs on this tension.
The palm here isn't just a fruit. When the sadhu eats palm cake, he's actually swallowing love. Once swallowed, it can't be brought back out. That poison slowly spreads through the body, eats away at the bones, yet never leaves. This part struck me quite deeply.
The sadhu first pushes his wife away. He thinks the burden has been cleared. But when he brings her back a second time, his chest tears apart inside. And the third time, when the crazy woman leaves on her own, the sadhu wants to scream but can't. He doesn't even know her name. That's where my throat caught. You don't need to know the name of someone you love, but when they're lost, everything feels empty. This felt very true to me. Suman didn't want to tell a straightforward story. He built a world of feeling. Society comes and puts on the shackles, but once someone has tasted love, they can no longer hold onto those shackles. When Tushi returns the second time, pregnant, the sadhu asks whose child it is. No one knows. From that point, Tushi's character transforms completely. She becomes like Mary. I really liked this part. After Kulsum dies, the sadhu eats the entire goat meat. Not just eating - it's an attempt to take even the last piece of his wife inside himself. And in the final scene, the sadhu lying amid a heap of palm fruits, with the crazy woman handing him more palm fruit - it feels as though there's no liberation from love. Once you've eaten the forbidden fruit, there's no way back. This ending shook me quite a bit. For those who didn't understand anything, let me say - this is the story of Adam and Eve's sin. The palm fruit is that forbidden fruit. Society casts them out of paradise. Love is that poison which both kills and keeps alive. Noah's ark, Mary's womb - these metaphors are woven in so naturally that you don't have to search hard for them. Just feel it, and you'll catch it. The visuals are distinctive. Zohair's camera seems to have painted pictures. Long shots, natural light, thatched huts, palm trees, kash reed fields - everything is so alive it surpasses reality itself. The fair scene from the song 'Mon Chhara Ki' still lingers before my eyes. Silence is the strongest voice here. Both Tushi and Noor Imran gave their best. Tushi's eyes and body language are extraordinary. Noor Imran's broken man at the end also stays etched in the mind. But honestly, this film isn't for everyone. Those looking for a fast-paced story, twists, and punchlines might get bored. The story is simple, but what's inside is complex. It moves slowly, with little dialogue, and much left open. But those who watch with patience will come away with a deep feeling. The emptiness of love, longing, incompleteness - all of it will touch you. Suman bhai has shown once again that he doesn't just make films, he creates entire worlds. Such an experience is truly rare in Bangladeshi cinema. Watching Roidh makes you feel that some films aren't just meant to be watched, but felt. And this is exactly that kind of film.