Ontarjatra

Ontorjatra is an intimate exploration of the complex issues of dislocation and identity in a diasporic world. The word ontorjatra means the inner journey. Shireen, a single mother, returns to Bangladesh with her teenage son after 15 years in London, prompted by the sudden death and funeral of the boy's father. The story follows the transforming experience of mother and son as they, in very different ways, try to come to terms with this loss. For Shireen this return journey is a mixture of nostalgia of her youth, with feelings of in anticipation of a difficult reunion. For her son Sohel, who has grown up in England and has very little memory of his childhood in Bangladesh, the return is a voyage of self-actualization and rediscovery. This return also brings different branches of the family face to face, across generations and cultures. Sohel meets his grandfather and they develop a deep bond of affection. Amidst the chaos and colour of Old Dhaka and the natural beauty of Sylhet, Sohel and his mother each come to terms with their feelings about the past?Shireen?s bitterness about her ex-husband, and Sohel?s resentment about the long silence surrounding his parent?s separation. This in turn brings a new level of mutual understanding between mother and son. After his rediscovery of a long forgotten land, culture and legacy, Sohel knows that his return is just the first of many. This narrative is loosely based on a true story, which is at the same time the story of legions of immigrants who have been estranged from their homelands. For them, ?return? is a complex theme that encompasses the alienation of diaspora, contradictions of dual identity, and nostalgic memory of an 'imagined' ancestral home. At the same time, these immigrants, uneasily straddling two different worlds, are a kind of bridge across borders and cultures, their successive generations a gradually shifting spectrum of change from one identity to another. Because of the multicultural aspect of the story, the film is in three languages: Bangla, English and Sylheti. Most of the cast is made up of non-professionals whose own personal stories closely parallel the stories of the characters they are playing. The British-Bangladesh connection is a long one dating far back into colonial times. Today there is a sizeable community of Bangladeshi immigrants in London, the overwhelming majority of who come from Sylhet. The Sylhetis have their own distinct dialect and culture, rooted in a rich tradition of mystical Sufism. One of the most visible aspects of the British legacy in Sylhet is the tea gardens?beautiful, sprawling estates of manicured groves that carpet the gentle hills. It is against this backdrop that the main part of the story is set.