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About Director
Mohammad Alam Bhuiyan as known as Totho Timothiyo (তোতো তীমথিয়) is an independent Bangladeshi filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and actor working across cinema, OTT, and theater. A Statistics graduate from the University of Dhaka, his work bridges analytical depth with gritty urban realism and character-driven narratives. As a director and writer, Toto focuses on ground-level realism and socio-cultural nuances, showcased in his co-directed short fiction Verbs and his signature short film Namaz Shikkhaa (Director, Writer, Producer, Actor). His screenwriting credits span major digital platforms and narrative projects, including the Hoichoi series Bohemian Ghora, the Chorki Original film Mew, Once Upon a Time in Wari-Bateshwar, and Luggage. Beyond directing, Toto has performed in Bangladesh’s first 3D feature Alatchakra, along with films like The Last Moan and Domer Chita. His theater background includes notable stage productions such as The School For Wives and Two Strangers vs Oleander Flowers. He has also served as a visual script consultant for Noora Health Bangladesh. Through Namaz Shikkhaa, Toto consolidates a sharp, visually expressive directorial voice.
Synopsis
At a congested Dhaka traffic signal, Bilkis barely survives on the harsh margins of street life. Her world shatters when a local thug brutally attacks her, leaving her maimed and unable to work. Desperate to survive, she receives a small Namaz Shikxa (prayer guide) from an elderly tea seller. Hoping for safety and a livelihood, Bilkis dons a burqa and starts selling religious booklets inside sweltering city buses. The veil becomes her shield in a society that demands women be silent. However, during a record-breaking summer heatwave, a passenger uses the pretext of buying a book to sexually harass her. Realizing that no holy text or religious veil can protect her from male violence, Bilkis snaps. Breaking her silence, she transforms her bundle of sacred books into a weapon and unleashes a ferocious physical assault on her attacker—reclaiming her dignity and shattering the illusion of her quiet surrender.
Director's Statement
Namaz Shikkha is born out of the raw, suffocating reality of Dhaka's streets—a world where survival is a daily negotiation and hypocrisy wears the cloak of virtue. The film confronts a brutal truth: for marginalized women on the urban fringes, safety is an illusion and dignity is rarely given. When Bilkis adopts the burqa to sell religious booklets, it is not out of sudden theological devotion, but as a tactical shield to navigate a male-dominated environment. The sacred guide Namaz Shikkha becomes both her novel trade and her mask of respectability. But under the scorching, oppressive heat of a city heatwave, this illusion shatters when a seemingly respectable passenger sexually harasses her. Visually crafted with unvarnished indie realism, the film turns environmental pressure into psychological tension. Bilkis’s eruption—transforming her bundle of holy books into a weapon—is primal, physical, and uncompromising. As a director, my goal is not to offer polite social commentary, but to deliver a visceral, empowering confrontation that breaks the silence on women's agency and structural violence.