Unoloukik: Yet another Bangladeshi thriller that will blow your mind

The Bangladeshi audience is now more into thrillers than any other genre. Web series such as Taqdeer and Mohanagar have received a lot of positive feedback from viewers. This indicates that Bangladeshi thrillers have successfully reached newer heights.

However, Unoloukik takes this a step further by taking a unique approach to introduce us to psychological thrillers.. It was a bold move by the creators indeed, and it could go either way. But, they have executed it almost perfectly.

Each episode contained a distinct storyline that lies in between natural (Loukik) and unnatural (Oloukik), which makes it Unoloukik. The casting has been fantastic overall for each episode, and they have also delivered their best, as expected.

Let's break down the contents of each episode separately. Spoiler alert!

Episode 1 - Moribar Holo Tar Shwaad 

The episode follows a middle-aged man as a protagonist (Mostofa Monowar) who suffers from suicidal borderline personality disorder. This causes him to have additional existential crises, prompting him to realize that surviving close calls is what thrills him in life.

Unfortunately, a darker truth is revealed to him unintentionally about how his psychiatrist (Gazi Rakayet) has been playing him all along. The episode ended on a cliffhanger, with the protagonist following the suicidal path for one last time.

Mostofa Monowar's performance was captivating throughout the episode. He effectively captured the character's essence on screen.

Episode 2 - Don't Write Me

A small village boy (Sohel Rana) comes to Dhaka to save his life from some powerful goons he testified against in court. Soon he discovers a novel that replicates his life story word for word.

He is not ready to admit that this is the ending of his story and pleads with the writer (Asaduzzaman Nur) to write a happy ending. Although the writer did his best, the boy did not find that so-called happy ending he sought.

Both Sohel Rana and Asaduzzaman Nur delivered intriguing performances throughout the episode.

Episode 3 - Mrs. Prohelika

A young lady (Nusrat Imrose Tisha) comes to see a psychologist (Chanchal Chowdhury) to seek help. She believes that after attempting suicide she has not woken up and is trapped in a dream world she herself created.

The psychologist finds it hard to believe and argues logically till the very last scene of the episode.

The key element that absolutely mesmerized me is the idea that the psychologist was created in the dream world by the lady. It stemmed from her memory of reading Humayun Ahmed's psychological thriller series 'Misir Ali'. She even gave Chanchal the exact face she saw in the film adaptation of 'Debi'.

The entire episode was shot beautifully in a room and the cinematography was mind-blowing. Tisha and Chanchal's performances were not compromised for a bit.

Episode 4 - Hello Ladies

A famous reality show for women 'Hello Ladies' is quite familiar among housewives. While the show is running on TV, a husband (Iresh Zaker) starts roughhousing with his wife during a fight and accidentally kills her.

The show host (Rafiath Rashid Mithila) seemed to see something through the camera in the home and the husband also notices it on the TV. He becomes convinced that the host saw him kill his wife. He ultimately reaches the host to seek help that supports the accident but the baffled expression of the host till the very last scene keeps the situation a mystery.

The episode was shot in black and white, which increased the suspense. The performance of Iresh Zaker was up to the mark and Mithila played well according to her screen time.

Episode 5 - Dwikhondito

A middle-aged man (Intekhab Dinar) came to a police station to tell an inspector 4four different stories and all of them have a common similarity - a conflict of two things being present at the same time in different places.

When the inspector asked him why he was telling these stories, the man then revealed his original motive. It was to gather eyewitnesses of himself that he was there, present in the police station at that exact time because he was convinced that at another place at that same time, he was committing a bank robbery and he did not want to get caught.

The story is told from a second person perspective, which is commendable. The tale may easily have been told from the perspective of a robbery, but the director chose not to. Despite the lack of action, it delivered the same excitement.

Intekhab Dinar's one-man show was crucial to the episode's success. He did a fantastic job of keeping up with everything.

All the episodes throughout the series have been well directed and have been linked to a common thrill of illusions - something is left inside us at the end of each episode.

Although each story was well-written individually, there were still many spaces for improvement. But all-in-all, it was a tremendous effort from the team for what they have already achieved.

What I am most impressed with is the length of the episodes. The directors managed to deliver pure psychological thrill under 25 minutes without making us feel as if the episodes were rushed.

Unoloukik is a revolutionary content for Bangladesh as it creates hope for more potential contents.

Director Robiul Alam Robi deserves a lot of credit for how subtly he presented it on film. Shibabrata Barman is the writer the thriller series.