Kintu Jodi Emon Hoto? Is designed to be watched on smartphones, and a lot of emphasis is placed on how smartphones are used to close the gap between long distances. That’s a smart choice, since the interactive short film (the first of its kind in Bangladesh) tackles the subject of long distance relationships.
Bushra (Nushrat Imrose Tisha) and Fahad (Yash Rohan) are two doctors who have had a storied, seven year long relationship that has recently entered a rough patch, since Fahad moved to Rajshahi for work six months ago. Their busy schedules rarely coincide, and with Valentine’s Day approaching, Bushra has been feeling Fahad’s absence more keenly.
I won’t lie, long distance relationships are hard. You see all these stories of people meeting up and finally closing the distance on Reddit, but up close you hear more horror stories of such relationships breaking down, or worse, one party cheating on the other while they are away.
Tisha is front and center here for this short, and you can feel her desolation as she goes about her days, struggling to have conversations with Fahad, both of them communicating through video messages instead. Yash Rohan also does well with what he’s given, but he has a lot less screentime and we don’t see more of his character. There’s also the fact that in certain narrative paths, his personality is markedly different from that in other paths.
For the most part, Kintu Jodi Emon Hoto? is a step in the right direction.
The story, direction, music and acting are all robust. Not all of the choices presented are impactful, though it’s understandable that some of the initial choices are simple so that the audience can ease into the mechanic.
It’s a good time to explore the genre, with the buzz of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch still fresh on many people’s minds.
However, some choices are very arbitrary. A seemingly inconsequential choice, where Bushra has to choose between having coffee or green tea, results in wildly different outcomes.
One of the immediate results is that, when you choose green tea, Fahad sends over a new yellow saree by courier, while in case of coffee, he doesn’t, and is irate when Bushra asks him about not sending a gift this year for Pohela Falgun (something he had always done in previous years). Later still, the outcomes crystallize into either a breakup or Fahad having an accident on the paths that diverge from you choosing coffee, and Fahad surprising Bushra at her home or at their favorite restaurant if you chose green tea.
I am still baffled by making this choice of beverage so deceptively crucial, but I have to say this is the most clearest case of negative marketing against coffee I have yet seen. I am still not drinking green tea anytime soon, though.
The short film is overall pretty good, however, and I hope we can see more explorations of this kind in Bangladesh’s entertainment media in the future.