THIRTEEN DESTINATIONS OF A TRAVELLER

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THIRTEEN DESTINATIONS OF A TRAVELLER

By Partha DAS

INTERNATIONAL FILM INITIATIVE OF BANGLADESH - as PROMO

Road movie - Post-Production 2022

Story of two parallel journeys; one in which thousands of Sufi pilgrims march together over days and miles to proclaim unrequited love for humanity and in the other a disabled, marginal Muslim man in present India tries to transform his life in search of love, compassion and an elusive happiness.

- Year of production
- 2022
- Genres
- Road movie, Social issues, Documentary
- Countries
- INDIA, BANGLADESH
- Languages
- HINDI, BENGALI
- Budget
- 1 - 3 M$
- Duration
- 75 mn
- Director(s)
- Partha DAS
- Producer(s)
- Soumya MUKHOPADHYAY (CHERRYPIX MOVIES PVT LTD), Mokhlesur Rahman TALUKDAR (Black Mirror Films)
- Synopsis
- The film follows Farooq, a disabled, marginal Muslim travelling street hawker, as he embarks on a motorbike road trip to join the march of pilgrims who for the past eight hundred years walk ceremoniously for thirteen days each year to reach the shrine of the great Sufi saint Khwaja Mainuddin Chishti (aka Gharib Nawaz, benefactor of the poor), travelling more than 400 kilometres on foot as a mark of respect, devotion and love on the occasion of his death anniversary. This annual ritual attracts thousands of Sufi believers from all over south Asia, transcending sects and societal classes, marching together and carrying staves with colourful flags on top, walking in tableaus throughout the day and camping on the roadside during the night to cook, sing and rest. For about a month or so these self-proclaimed aashiks (lovers) of Gharib Nawaz stay in a commune and move together in search of purifying one’s soul and to renounce physical pleasure and all materialistic endeavours.
  
  It is a film about two parallel journeys. In one, farooq is a participant, cruising along with many through a rough terrain and letting us observe the marginal existential realities of several people like him from different walks of life, class and gender. The other journey is more sublime, where he opens the door for us to peek into his amazing checkered life; beginning with the grueling story of how he lost both his forearms in a fire at a tender age and how he transformed his life from living off other people’s charity to being a sought after seller of women’s junk jewelries in Mumbai’s suburban trains. He confides how he came tantalizing close to being a peddler and how he was saved by the Sufi doctrines of his Murshid (teacher) which propels him to participate in this annual march for the past ten years to reclaim self-belief and faith. He confides candidly about his two marriages and about his current economic predicament. The prolonged Covid lockdown has left him jobless for more than a year and now he is forced to relocate to Kolkata with his teenage son.
  
  Farooq along with the procession finally reaches the shrine of Garib Nawaz. He meets his son there, who has travelled from Kolkata and takes him to a tour of the holy city telling him all the myths of how the city was built by the great saint and a posse of djinns to spread the noble Sufi tradition. While Farooq feels happy to reach the final destination of his journey, somewhere in the back of his mind he knows a new one begins from here. He desperately needs to find some work; maybe he’ll loan some money to open a small shop in Kolkata selling jewelries and will be able to admit his son to a good school. After all, the almighty really loves his disciples.