The Last Thakur

Mystifying and visually repetitive, this Bengal-set revenge thriller from  NFTS graduate Sadik Ahmed is trailed as a ‘spaghetti eastern’ – but don’t expect Sergio Leone meets Ritwik Ghatak. A mysterious gunman (Tanveer Hassan), an atheist stranger in a rural village, is enlisted in turn by a lame Hindu landowner (Tariq Anam) and his deadly rival, the politically and sexually corrupt Chairman (Ahmed Rubel). Dropping tantalising references to, but making no explicit comment on, the atrocities, rapes, repressed memory and retributive legacy of the ‘war of liberation’ 30 years earlier, Ahmed’s ambitious but frustrating film is  encumbered by a meandering narrative, awkward atmospherics, limited characterisation and stylised performances.