Third Person Singular Number (2009) Poster

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7/10
Revolution in Bangladeshi cinema once again
sjahir_8888 February 2010
Mostafa Sarwar Farooki is one of the rising big shots and a veteran in Bangladesh TV and film media. I don’t doubt his genius and eccentric creativity for which he is specially acclaimed. But again, being a popular television drama director and a film director are totally two different things. His television dramas are fantastically unique and sometimes weirdly funny. When every other television dramas are full of monotonous cliché and disgusting imitation of Indian soap operas, Sarwar Farooki always comes with a promise of completely different sets of entertainment. When he first came up with his first film “Bachelor”, it was an unbelievably successful film in Bangladesh considering the response from the youngsters. And this film was made for youngsters. I would say, the film has done revolution in contemporary Bangladeshi films. But when he came up with the second film (“Made in Bangladesh”) it was unrealistically and unexpectedly an out of class film. Actually, there is nothing to talk about this one. This time, Sarwar Farooki came up with his third film which was long awaited “3rd Person Singular Number”. I had a chance to watch the film a few days ago. I don't care what others have to say…but I put my hat off to Mr. Farooki. He is indeed a master and a potential hope in our hopeless film industry.

The story circles about a lone girl who has been misfortunate, exhausted and manipulated by the male dominated society of ours where every woman searches for physical and mental security. The protagonist is completely homeless and deserted her family as her husband remains in the jail for murdering someone and her mother stays with her second husband. The film starts with a real kick from the very beginning with dark and tensed sequences and keeps it intact. I am not a feminist but I shared the pain, misery and irony of the central character. There are fun and also disturbance in a good ratio. Some of the sequences are absolute cliché and average. In the character of the “husband”, Mosharraf Karim provides another very “into the character” performance. Topu also delivered an enjoyable and amusing role which was humorous and interesting. Cinematography was good as expected.

Some of the very bitter truths are exposed in the films as good films always do. The psychological and moral dilemma of the central character which Tisha played was gripping and sometimes suffocating. According to our society, ‘living together is not supported at all. Some viewers complained about it but I think there was nothing to complain about this issue because the film also does not support living together without marriage and it shows the evil outcomes of doing it in a conservative society like ours. But I didn't like the ending part that much. It reminded me of watching “Jules and Jim” and other European films which does not match with our socio-cultural and psychological structure. But a director should always have the right to escape to his imagination where reality ends. The most engaging factor is, the film has nothing sinister or shocking plot-line but simple yet meaningful way of showing things. That's the fact I liked most.

To me, it was a film for matured viewers. You will not like the film if you are always looking for funny sequences like Farooki’s previous works. This is unlike his other works…with more depth, messages and reality. In a nutshell, it is a sensible and worth watching film.
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8/10
A great movie ever made in Bangladesh
kibsygipsy18 January 2010
Lot of hype was there! Big festivals like Pusan, MEIFF (Abu Dhabi), Rotterdam was there! A kind of patting review from Variety was there! At the same time, some strong criticism from Islamic and moral vanguards were there as well! So I entered the theater with a kind of mixed state of mind - kind of suspicion ! But to be very honest I was taken straight into the story- to be precise, I was taken into the psychological tempest of the protagonist Ruba! With a girl roaming on a lonely street and with the camera doing an unnerving hand-held, I was smelling a different kind of cinematic journey! The journey was sometimes poetic, sometimes humorous, sometimes emotional, and sometimes disturbing! At the end I must admit one thing - this film kept playing in my mind for many hours even after i got out of theater. I should admit something more - I've never been a fan of Farooki! But after this film, I've changed my mind. He did an excellent job here in narrating the story in one of the most freshest of ways! The cinematic expression was mind blowing! So was camera ! Acting was absolutely natural ! Mosharof, Topu, Hayat - all of them did splendid. But Tisha's acting in Ruba's role was a class act! I wish them all! One thing I didn't like - the length! I thought it could easily be a 100 minute film!
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10/10
Bangladesh is coming up in a big way
bedesh6917 February 2010
I've always felt apathetic whenever it comes to Bangladeshi cinema except Tareque Masud's The Clay Bird (Cannes 2002, FIPRESCI winner for script). After a long wait,I've got something to cheer about. That's Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's Third Person Singular Number. The first thing that I like about this film is the multidimensional approach perfectly applied by the director in creating sequences and building characters. All the character seemed so fresh, alive, and multi-dimensional. There was no black and white. The story has a number of layers. From one angle, the film looks 'okay that's what you wanted to say'. From another angle, it's just completely different. It handled a kind of feminist issue! That's why I was always scared if the film gets to stereotypical. But the director truthfully avoided the trap of being stereotypically feminist. In typical feminist works in Bangladesh, you rarely get to see any woman to be bad or wrong. Women are always right! Men are always wrong! But in this film, no one is bad or good forever. Everyone is a human with good and bad intentions. Sometimes Ruba is the victim. Sometimes she victimizes the others. Sometimes she is victimized by men, sometimes by women. I want to give a special thank to the director for creating such a wonderful character called Ruba. It reminded me of one of our old friend. Ruba resembles her so much! Like Ruba, she was wilful and emotionally fragile at the same time. Like Ruba, she had a wings to fly but a middle-class backbone didn't allow her to fly. Ruba perfectly portrays the contradictions and energy of a typical middle-class girl from a broken family.

Now let me talk about acting. It was just so natural as if I was watching something through a door-hole! Tisha, Mosharof Karim, and Topu played their characters so truthfully that it was hard to single out who did the best!

At the end, I want to talk about the ending. The whole film was done in such a fresh style that I was wondering where the director would end the film. In most of the Bangladeshi movies, no matter mainstream or art-house one, directors end a film with a conclusion. The audience leave the auditorium with an answer. But here Farooki leaves the audience without giving any conclusion. Instead of coming out of theaters with an answer, they come out with a question! Cheers!
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9/10
A very special film for Bangladesh....Must Watch
sojib8822 December 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I am very happy that at least BANGLADESH film has bring a new plot about LIVING RELATIONSHIP. Which is very new for Bangladeshi people to watch but for some people it will be hard to digest, especially for villager. It is a complete Multiplex audience and for matured people who have been matured by watching English & Hindi movies. So it will be nothing new for them but a new for Bangladeshi people.

It is a story of a girl, Ruba who has a very complicated life. Her husband is in jail in murder case, her mother live with her 2nd husband, so she is very lonely and face lots of sexual offer from men. But she takes it lightly and move on. But one day she remembered her collage friend Topu, who now is a very famous musician.He helps her a lot, and slowly they fall in love but can't express as Ruba is married.And this how a complicated love story move on.

The music is another plus points of this movie.Acting should have been more stronger, but its acceptable. Must Watch Movie.
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9/10
Dilemma of relationships and the mental changes of human mind
sadint254 March 2024
Movie got released in 2009 and i watched this movie at 2024,clearly my opinion would much differ obviously from the other reviews here. But hear me out, i thoroughly enjoyed watching this film. Songs from this film are a banger still now and their placements were good. The characters had good sense of humour and i got my comedic relief from that which made the film interesting and not boring to watch at times. I gotta say one thing though,i was surprised to see topu act! Other than that casting and acting by the actors were great.

This film tells the story about a girl named ruba who faces enormous tough challenges after her live-in boyfriend gets arrested for crime. Also how long distance relationships always has a problem and consequences that needs to addressed later.

Highly recommend watching this amazing art of film by mostafa sarwar farooqi and for sure i can say that you won't be disappointed!
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4/10
Two PERSONs and a SINGLE Girl !!!!!!!!!!!
sazzad_h_akm13 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
It is a movie about a girl name Ruba who is single for her unexpected bad luck. Her lover Munna is in jail for murdering someone. How much hard it is for a single girl to survive in Dhaka city is shown by the character Ruba played by popular actress Tisha.

Ruba face a lot of trouble to get a job and to get a good accommodation. With a favor of a music star Topu who is known to Ruba gets a job and a good accommodation too. As time goes Tpou's intentions became clearer, he wanted Ruba physically and has a soft spot for her too. Meanwhile Ruba's husband Munna gets out from jail and starting to live with Ruba. Then a triangular relation formed. Both Topu and Munna want Ruba physically but Ruba response to nobody as she is confused about whom to love.

Then movie ends with Ruba living with these two men but not married or committed to anyone !!!! which impossible and unthinkable scenario in Bangladesh in present, and this makes a good movie a worst movie. What Director Faruki was thinking !!!!! I don't know for sure but i have a strong feeling that he was trying to impress the western movie critics by inserting some western in his movie. Man!!! you make a movie based on a Bangladeshi life style then finish with a Western one. Needless to say that he made that finishing just to impress the western to get some prizes or something.

However overall movie is good except the finishing. Melodious background music, fantastic songs above all location selection is superb.
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10/10
Third person Singular number
arabid-6799120 November 2019
What a movie Man! Just amazing.. Great job. Background music and Tisha ❤.

Bangla Movie'r Joy houk..
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3/10
It only qualifies for yet another Bangladeshi entertainment film...
naadir-junaid17 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
'Third Person Singular Number' wanted to deal with the problems faced by a single woman in contemporary society in Bangladesh. Films providing sharp social analyses are becoming increasingly scarce in Bangladesh. Rarely do we come across a Bangladeshi film going against the grain of formulaic, commercial cinema. So this film aroused considerable public curiosity. But the film fails to dispense with many showy devices generally used in entertainment-based cinema, and it revolves more around mental disturbances of an individual over choosing a partner than making an attempt to address and criticize the complex social problems that torment lives of women as well as men in the society. The film addresses the problems suffered by a single women in Bangladeshi society mainly by showing some lecherous elderly men trying to abuse the protagonist who is a single woman and the problems she is facing in renting a house. Thus the analysis of the problems of single women in this society has become simplistic and sketchy. And the film hardly tends to expose the actual causes of such social problems nor does it provide any stinging criticisms of the underlying conditions that perpetuate miseries for women in the society.

Instead, the film incorporates many audience-pleasing scenes where we see the protagonist of the film is enjoying the comfort of an affluent urban lifestyle along with her former boyfriend. Lures of consumer culture have actually been fetishized in the film, and such a treatment appears unjustified in a film which claimed to focus on troubles of a single woman in a society where so many people are underprivileged. Many single women in this society are not blessed with the advantages enjoyed by the protagonist of this film. The film, therefore, fails to provide an authentic depiction of the miseries of people in this society, and its emphasis on an individual's personal predicament over maintaining the relationship with her boyfriends does nos seem worthy of serious attention given the far deeper worries troubling men and women alike in this society.

The film shows many frivolous scenes quite frequently which do not seem very appropriate for a film claiming to address serious social issues. For example, a scene of buying a condom by one of the protagonists was needlessly extended in the film and this scene contains nothing but puerile humour. Frivolous dialogues and actions keep recurring in the film and a handful of scenes shown by using certain art cinema devices fail to produce an effect because of the abundance of lightheartedness in the film. Different scenes often seem very tedious and they fail to become compelling scenes of a film; instead, they bear a strong resemblance to scenes we see in soap operas or television advertisements. The dialogues also become very distasteful sometimes, and the film was also very poorly-scripted. Lack of coherence within the film narrative often seems sloppy, giving the impression that the story was not very carefully organized. And it seems that the characters also failed to perform well due to the poor quality of the script.

The film was supposed to be different than many conventional Bangladeshi films because of its claim to address a complex social issue. But the film relied heavily on the devices of conventional commercial cinema, and thus ruined its opportunity to offer something very different in a Bangladeshi film. Ultimately, it looked like yet another Bangladeshi entertainment film.
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1/10
Media Hype did it no good
KaziRiadOmar15 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I went into the theaters the first day - i missed my chance as all the tickets were sold out - so after buying one advance for the next week I was really excited when the day finally came, I mean, I was going to watch a Farooqi film after some time...but, boy was I bummed...

Lets start of with the story...although the subject was interesting but I must say that the director did a poor job bringing it to the spotlight..it might be just me, but the transition between the sub-plots were jarring as it left me curious - the interval was even more misleading and not at all interesting....

I highly recommend using a steady cam for moving shots or even better a rail, because the shots were terrible (moving all around the place). I mean I do like hand held work, but that was anything but professional...not to mention some of the CU shots were out of focus !!!

Acting was nothing extraordinary...the use of a musician for acting is not always a wise choice...

Some of the scenes were irrelevant and pushed too far (the scene in Radio Foorti for example)...a few of the punch lines were also exaggerated...

now some plus points...

Abul Hayet was good, so was Mosharraf Karim and Tisha The locations were good too, although sometimes it seemed as if the film was about the locations rather than the characters...

thats my 2 cents, totally my point of view and no offense to anyone who liked it or is part of this film...
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5/10
Starts well, but ends up disappointingly
Andy-2963 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
This film from Bangladesh has an interesting first half, but it goes down dramatically in the last half. When the movie begins, we see a young woman named Ruba (played by the beautiful, charming Nustar Imroz Tisha) walking aimlessly at night in the streets of Dhaka. This naturally catches the attention of local people as well as the police. After the police detains her, we get to learn her story. Her husband has been arrested for homicide and potentially awaits a long detention, and her parents in laws have expelled her from the house, never having approved her marriage with their son in the first place. Now homeless, after the police let her go the next morning, she goes around trying to rent a room to stay, a very difficult task for a single woman in conservative Bangladesh. The few men willing to rent to her expect sex in exchange.

This first half is very interesting and well filmed. Unfortunately, after about an hour of running time (I'm sorry, I'm giving a key plot point now, you can stop reading here if you wish) there is a ridiculous twist that acts as a sort of Deus ex Machina: she meets a childhood friend, who happens to be a very famous and rich pop artist, who is so noble that he is willing to help her no strings attached. She slowly falls in love with him, but on the other hand she can't forget her husband, especially after he is released from prison. And thus, just when we thought we were seeing a hard hitting film dealing with social issues about poverty, loneliness, the status of women in conservative societies, we end up instead with a bad soap opera.
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4/10
wake up!
mute_man30 June 2011
In my opinion, I really do not get the so "HI-FI" thing about this movie? People are calling it so "JOSH" and "Heavy Hoise" etc. But really is it really that good? When you have nothing to eat, if you were given a bread, you would say "Thank You". But when you are already eating bread, you would be looking for some Jam and Jelly with it. The movie is not that bad, but the thing is that it is better than the running Bangladeshi Movies. I really like the multiple personalities of RUBA and there were some scenes which made me belief that Faruki can do better. But again, it seems he is looking for only mass-media attraction.

wake up!
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