Farooki's 'Something Like an Autobiography' feels personal

Could there be this debate about whether 'Something like an Autobiography' is by far the most personal and touching story by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki? 

Farooki himself is saying that the appreciation he got from the audience after the film's release can be compared to the appreciation he got after his film 'Television'. If the audience's reaction is put aside and the story of the film is judged on its own merit, it has to be said the script written by Mostafa Sarwar Farookiand Nusrat Imroj Tisha doesn't only reflect the reality of their own life but also connects to the feelings of any married couple who think of having a child late in their lives or the feeling of married women who gets confused whether having a child or carrier gets more priority and lastly, the societal judgement which a child has to face in our country for the texture of their skin. 

Starting from the first sequence, where actress Tithi is talking to her husband Farhan over the phone while enjoying her ride with a parachute in Pattaya, there hasn't been a single sequence that looked unnecessary in Farooki's Something like an Autobiography. 

The subsequent sequences quickly reveal the married couple's dilemma of having a child for societal validation or wanting to have a child for themselves. The short but powerful presence of Tithi's mother, portrayed by Dolli Zahur, becomes a vivid description of how the societal pressure of having a child affects the married couple and their parents, too. The story depicts the actress's uncertainty in the beginning about whether she can conceive at all. 

The story shows how Farhan is very supportive of Tithi, that she doesn't have to blame herself for not being able to conceive but secretly chats with his ex-girlfriend about having her egg for the baby anyway. 

The story further reveals how Tithi was concerned about an egg from another person and what her child would look like. At last, after all these dramas, when the pregnancy test finally comes positive, the way Tithi gives the news not only makes Farhan surprised but also the audience join into it. 

With the further sequences, the story shows how concerned Tithi's mother was about Tithi having this child that she resisted Tithi's planning to work on a production by Netflix from the very beginning. She even tells Tithi that if anything happens to the baby, Tithi won't even have Farhan on her side. 

In the end, she drops the project for the sake of her child. But is that only Tithi who sacrificed in the story? No. What Farhan did for the story's child need not be mentioned here. Rather, it should be the audience's job to see the film to get what sacrifice is. But the irony is after all these sacrifices, when in the operation theatre, after the delivery, Tithi hears the chattering of the nurse, her daughter having dark skin, which shows that societal judgment is unending. 

That is why Tithi wanted to keep that last sequence of the operation theatre when Farhan was thinking about making a film about their experience of having a baby because the irony of society is that a child must grow in that kind of society where people are judged even based on their skin colour. 

The natural way of Mostafa Sarwar Farooki's script of telling stories with realistic dialogues and humour was also present in this script. 

But in the case of lighting and colour grading, this film was far more cinematic than any previous film of Farooki, signalling a transformation in Farooki's approach to storytelling. 

The factor which was very much missing in the last couple of films by Farooqi was the portrayal of philosophical thoughts but failing to engage the audience with the sequences, especially in his film Doob: No Bed of Roses. But in the case of Something Like an Autobiography, there was this engagement of the audience in every sequence. 

The background music of the film was perfectly in line with the story. The song by Sharmin Sultana Sumi, going parallel with the credits at the film's end, was an excellent choice. The editing and the film's art direction did justice to the script's spirit. 

Lastly, it has to be said that Farooki's Something Like an Autobiography will not dissatisfy the audience. 

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