Much excitement has surrounded the Indian release of Hawa, Bangladesh’s entry to the Oscars in the international feature film category. Directed by Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, it is a fantasy thriller that narrates the adventures of a group of fishermen at sea who haul in a mysterious catch.

Following its release in Bangladesh in July, where it brought back full-house audiences to the theatres for the first time in a post-Covid era, the film continues its successful run in theatres across the country even after more than 100 days.

Released in Calcutta on December 16 and to be followed in the rest of the country a fortnight later, it marks the first commercial release for any film purely produced in Bangladesh, in India. Hawa is being distributed across India by Singapore-based Continental Entertainment Private Limited (CEPL) in partnership with Reliance Entertainment.

Ajoy Kumar Kundu of Sun Music and Motion Pictures and the executive producer of Hawa, remarked earlier that “with this release, the proud product of some creative people of Bangladesh will be able to reach many more Bengali-speaking people all over the world. I think Hawa will play a vital role in increasing the demand for Bangladeshi films here and creating a strong market among them.”

Sreyashii Sengupta, CEO (South-East Asia) of CEPL, said, “The release of Hawa in India opens new gateways for the Bangladesh-India media business. There is already an exchange of ideas on content and this opens newer paths for collaboration. Language is no more a barrier with a world keen on content and diverse stories for the big-screen experience.”

Sengupta further commented that films like Hawa have the potential to represent an important part of improving cross-border relations between India and Bangladesh. With cross-border collaboration films like Mujib: The Making of a Nation awaiting release and another Bengali film soon to be shot in Calcutta with Bangladeshi actor Siam Ahmed, the conditions have never been more favourable for cross-border releases.

Though Sengupta expressed satisfaction about the cooperation of the governments of both countries in clearing the “humongous” amount of paperwork necessary to get Hawa released in India, she strongly feels that less red tape will enable more such releases.

Starring Chanchal Chowdhury, Nazifa Tushi, Sariful Islam Razz, Sumon Anowar, Nasir Uddin Khan and Shohel Mondol, Hawa is written by Mejbaur Rahman Sumon, Sukorno Shahed Dhiman and Jaheen Faruque Amin.