‘Moshari’: A chilling narrative on the reality of women
Spoilers Ahead
On Saturday, Nuhash Humayun's horror-short, "Moshari", was released worldwide on Vimeo. The movie won multiple awards at the Atlanta Film Festival, Bucheon International Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and Woodstock Film Festival.
It was neither the uneasy ambience of shadows and flickering lights, nor the eerie background score that struck me while watching Nuhash Humayun's "Moshari". Rather, the hardest blow was realising that the reason I caught onto the underlying representation from the get go was simply because I was a woman—watching the very reality of my existence through a work of horror-fiction.
"Moshari" follows the story of two sisters in a post-apocalyptic world, where bloodthirsty creatures referred to as vampires, haunt the earth after daylight disappears. To stay safe from these creatures that arrive at the slightest scent of blood, one must stay inside a moshari (mosquito net) until the sun comes up. It all seemed like a standard setup for a dystopian world until a particular detail caught my attention.
Early on in the film, there is a public announcement that even the first world countries have fallen against these monsters, but Bangladesh is still doing well against them—as most of the population is shown abiding by the regulations.
The fact that the male voice behind the announcement takes a particular pride in making this announcement, while also urging everyone to hurriedly coop up inside their moshari before sundown, and that the protagonists are a girl and a young woman seen doing exactly that, immediately rings a bell.
"Moshari" is a chilling commentary about our patriarchal society, that sees it fit to violate women however possible, unless they stay inside like prisoners in their own space and 'cover up'. The monsters themselves are none other than the men, sick with the plague of misogyny, who don't even spare children from their vile actions.
The 22-minutes-long film delivers as much in visual metaphors, as it does in symbolic dialogues. Young Ayra's (Nairah Onora Saif) unwillingness to escape to safety as soon as it's dark like everybody else, her curiosity and rebellious nature unveils the heart-breaking unfairness and oppression women undergo.
The scene where Ayra sternly tells the monster that he cannot invade her hiding spot, while being unable to breathe because of his presence, is a stark parallel to the violation of personal space and bodily autonomy women face on a daily basis.
At first it may seem odd that Sunehra Binte Kamal, who plays Ayra's elder sister, is referred to only as "Apu" throughout the entire duration. We never learn so much as her name. However, why would we, as she perishes in the end anyway?
After all, our society and system strips down a woman's identity in order to tag her as a mere victim when she falls prey to their own collective failure. Yet another applaudable aspect of "Moshari" is that instead of overdoing ostentatious jump-scares, the monsters are shown lurking in the shadows in multiple shots, mostly in frame, in a somewhat intimate normalcy. This strongly establishes how the people they represent are everywhere around us, more often than not inside our own homes.
MOSHARI from Nuhash Humayun on Vimeo.
Similar to "Pett Kata Shaw" and "Foreigner's Only", Nuhash has created yet another eye-opening, social commentary wrapped in the allure of fantasy and horror through "Moshari". The details within the dialogues and the set design are a testament to his deftness of unconventional storytelling.
The short-film is available, to be streamed for free, on Vimeo—the link to which can be found on Nuhash Humayun's official Facebook page.