A group of seasoned fishermen leave from Cox's Bazar to make their regular catch, but instead discover they have caught a beautiful and mysterious young girl. They then come to realise they are not able to catch fish any more and tension begins to rise. The story of the film is based on a fairy tale.[9]
The film was theatrically released on 29 July 2022 in Bangladesh.[9] It received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its story and Chanchal Chowdhury's performance. It was released in Australia and New Zealand on 13 August 2022 and in the United States and Canada on 2 September 2022.[14] It was shown for more than 100 days in the Bangladeshi movie theatres.[15] It released in West Bengal on the scheduled day in 34 cinemas.[16] It was released in Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh on 6 January 2023.[17]
Distribution
On 7 December 2022, Reliance Entertainment announced that they and CEPL had become the distributors of Hawa and the film will be released on 16 December in West Bengal and 30 December across India.[18]
Hawa was digitally premiered in Bangladesh through iScreen from 16th March 2023.[22]
After that, it was also digitally premiered in India and Singapore through SonyLIV from 7th July 2023.[23]
In India, this film is available in four dubbed versions (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam) along with its original Bengali audio.
Controversies
After the release of the film, some on social media claimed that the film was a remake of Sea Fog, but the director denied these claims saying that the subject of Sea Fog is human trafficking and which is not featured in this story.[24]Chanchal Chowdhury claims it is an original story film while some call it a plagiarized version of Abhijan film directed by Razzak.[25]
The film was also accused of violating the Wildlife Protection Act 2012, where Chanchal Chowdhury was seen eating the meat of a starling.[26] The director denied the claim but the wildlife crime unit registered a case against him on August 17.[27] After 11 days, the wildlife crime unit applied the court to withdraw the case and expressed their desire to fix the issue through discussions with the production team.[28] Nargis Sultana, the plaintiff in the case, was arraigned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on August 29 for filing the case.[29]
A legal notice was issued on 22 August 2022 to stop and ban the screening of the film citing violation of wildlife conservation laws, use of obscene language and violent murder scenes.[30] On 29 October 2022, another case was made against producer and Chanchal Chowdhury for not showing anti-smoking warning in the film.[31]
Reception
Critical response
Hasib Ur Rashid Ifti, a columnist for The Daily Star praised its cinematography and color grading. He also praised the acting of Chanchal and Nasir.[32] Saykot Kabir Shayok from The Business Standard praised its dialogue and background music and said: "Hawa is reportedly houseful across the country on the first day and I would say it is truly worth the hype."[6] According to columnist Ahsan Kabir, it is the most talked film of Cinema of Bangladesh in 2022. According to him, the song "Tumi Bondhu Kala Pakhi" from this film takes people to another world and he appreciated the song.[33] According to Tanmoy Pal of Ajker Patrika, the best part of this film is its actors. He felt the film's dialogues were uninteresting and the character named Gulati lacked variety.[34] According to Indradatta Basu of Anandabazar Patrika, Hawa, the film was made with care and highlighted the plight of a woman in a male-dominated society and critiqued patriarchy politically. According to her, the story would have been able to reveal its multi-dimensionality if the character of Gulti had been silent throughout. According to Basu, as a thriller film, it failed to create a thrill.[35] Alam Khorshed of Bangla Tribune appreciated the director's political and social relevance of the country's folk mythology in the film. According to him the film has a touch of excellence in every aspect.[36]
Response from India
After the film was released in Nandan, Kolkata on the occasion of the 4th Bangladesh Film Festival, audiences there flocked to see it, a rarity in the city in the past few decades. There it was decided to screen the film in four shows. But two more shows were extended due to the interest of the residents to watch the film. Indian film director Raj Chakraborty praised the acting, cinematography and direction of Hawa.[37] Those who were unable to watch the film in Kolkata demanded that it be released in movie theatres in West Bengal.[38]
Box office
Hawa grossed est. US$213,461 (৳2.035 crore) in the United States and Canada till 6 September 2022, making it 27th film in the US Top Chart.[2] On 22 October 2022, it was reported by The Daily Star that the multiplexes in Bangladesh sold tickets of the film Hawa worth of more than ৳14 crore.[3] It earned ₹34,000 in first week of its release from West Bengal.[39]
