Manas is still haunted by the horrible nightmare: his whole body engulfed in flames. The communal riots in East Pakistan reduced Manas Roy’s ancestral home to ashes and forced the Hindu man to escape Dhaka. The pain of that forced exile would have healed over time, but Manas could never forget that his dear friend Musa colluded with fundamentalists on that fateful night. Manas escaped to neighboring India and studied in Kolkata before making his way to New York to pursue a Ph.D. and work as a journalist reporting on the United Nations. Nevertheless, Manas never stopped being haunted by the painful memories. That was before 1971. In 1971 the Bengalis in East Pakistan rose in a wave of protest demanding freedom – a new country. The ripples of that current were also felt in New York City. South Asia was the center of global media attention. The Bengali expatriate in New York City began organizing in support of the Muktijoddhas – the freedom fighters. However, Manas remained deliberately indifferent even as the world turned upside down around him. He found it hard to shake off the sense of betrayal that had come to define his relationship with his motherland.

Gandhi Restaurant – a nondescript Indian eatery in New York City becomes the epicenter of political organization in support of the Bengali right to self-determination. The fervor of the debaters and the intensity of the conversations had already led to small violent outbursts in the restaurant. Manas, at the request of his Bengali brethren, attended a couple of these meetings, seated at the very end of the restaurant. But he found himself being consumed from within and not empathetic to the political cause being laid out in front of him.

Written by Golam Sarwar Harun
Directed by Gargi Mukherjee and Golam Sarwar Harun
Lights: Babor Kademi / Ekhtier Tamanna
Music: Nevin Sharif
Cast: Basunia Sumon, Babor Khademi, Ripon Rahman, Protima Sumi, Laila Farzana, Shan, Monir
Hassan, Sazzad Rahman, Dipu Das, MD. Kajal, Jubair Hossain, Ajaz Alam, Golam Sarwar Harun