No Bed of Roses

Thoroughly modern and unlike Farooki's previous work, this is a sobering, engrossing separation drama... It takes an actor of Irrfan Khan's stature and magnetism to turn an intimate separation drama into something special, and a writer-director like Bangladesh's happy maverick Mostofa Sarwar Farooki to layer on subtleties and shades of meaning with realistic detachment that never slips into melodrama... Its visual style and pacing make as much of an impression as the head-shaking story. Deborah Young, 'The Hollywood Reporter'

Directed with an assured and graceful touch that evokes the elegiac tone of a requiem, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki proves he's a singular voice in Bangladeshi cinema. With Irrfan Khan delivering another sublime lead performance (while being billed as co-producer), the film should bloom at festivals and secure a limited release in India, despite some censorship issues back home..Other actors in the mixed cast of Bangladeshis and Indians are equally absorbing, especially Tisha. Maggie Lee, Chief Asia Film Critic, 'Variety'

The latest work from Mostofa Sawar Farooki No Bed Of Roses (Doob) is an intimate family drama which eschews the usual melodramatic trappings of such fare to explore the quietly devastating impact of a husband's infidelity on those closest to him... Boasting an excellent central performance from acclaimed Indian actor Irrfan Khan... Khan is characteristically magnetic and surprisingly empathetic... While the story is salacious, Farooki's nuanced screenplay avoids cliche sex scenes are notably absent to instead focus on the very real pain of the situation... Alongside Khan, who will be familiar to Western audiences, the cast is universally strong... the evolving relationship between mother and daughter in the wake of Javed's seismic betrayal provides the emotional heart of the narrative, along with Saberi's feelings towards her father, and it's refreshing to see this age-old story told from the equal perspective of the women involved. Farooki handles the piece with grace and sensitivity; an approach augmented by Pavel Arin's evocative score, which mixes the traditional and the contemporary, and debut cinematographer Sheikh Rajibul Islam's arresting, contemplative visuals. Nikki Baughan, Screen International

Farooqi never quite ventures to spoon-feed us with an explanation of exactly why and how Javed Hasan reached the tipping point of leaving his family and marrying the girl who had broken his home. The human mind, with all its complexities, is simply left to itself here, the viewer encouraged to make his or her own interpretation with ample hints that could mean more things than one.

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