Boli – The Wrestler

Boli – The Wrestler is 2025 Bangladeshi sports drama film. It is directorial debut film of Iqbal Hossain Chowdhury and it is produced by Piplu R Khan under the banner of Applebox Films.^[1] The film stars Nasir Uddin Khan in the lead role as the title character alongside Priyam Archi, AKM Itmam, Angel Noor and others.^[2] The film was received a grant from the Bangladesh government in 2021 and it is based on the tradition of 'Jabbarer Boli Khela' in Chittagong and 'Coastal Myths'.^[3][4]

• Nasir Uddin Khan as Moju
• Priyam Archi as Shafu
• AKM Itmam as Dofor
• Angel Noor as Rashu
• Tahadil Ahmed as Milon
• Prangan Shuvo
• Tanveer Ahmed

Boli directed by Iqbal Hossain Chowdhury is being released in 8 theaters across the Bangladesh on 7 February 2025. Before it is release, the film also screened at several prestigious film festivals around the world and also screened at the Dhaka International Film Festival.^[5][6] The film also screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival.^[7]

Wroted by International Feature's survey "The Wrestler, Iqbal H. Chowdhury's debut feature, is a mesmerizing exploration of coastal life and traditional wrestling in Bangladesh, offering viewers a unique blend of physical combat, mysticism, and the raw beauty of a remote village. Set against the backdrop of the Bay of Bengal, the film dives into the world of Boli khela, a slow-paced but intense form of wrestling that reflects Chowdhury's contemplative storytelling style. This is not a typical sports drama, but rather an evocative meditation on aging, ambition, and the otherworldly presence of nature. The result is a film that feels both deeply grounded in regional authenticity and rich with esoteric mystery".^[8]

Wroted by John Berra in Screen Daily's survey "Iqbal H Cowdury's first feature The Wrestler may share its title with Darren Aronofsky’s gruelling 2009 sports drama, but its depiction of one-on-one combat and the metaphysical manner in which it grapples with the theme of mortality are far removed from the unabashed rock ‘n’ roll tragedy of its namesake. Set around the Bay of Bengal, the film features a form of wrestling that is unique to Bangladesh and embodies Chowdury's measured storytelling sensibility: Boli khela requires competitors to precisely employ such techniques as clinching, joint locking and pinning holds if they are to triumph".^[9]

Wroted by Siddanth Adlakha in Variety's survey "In Bangladesh, the sport of boli khela — or the wrestler game — is a meticulous, methodical affair, a tone Iqbal H. Chowdhury re-creates for his debut feature, “The Wrestler.” Straddling a line between observational and oblique, the film seems designed to fascinate and frustrate in equal measure, gesturing toward masculine boundaries in a rural, often overcast coastal setting without fully articulating them. In leaving much of his story up to intuition — and taking a climactic turn toward the surreal — Chowdhury crafts a scrupulous slow-burn drama about a kind of obsession that, despite being opaque, comes off as entirely tragic".^[10]

Wroted by Priyanka Dasgupta in The Times of India's survey "A Bangladeshi film — ‘The Wrestler’ (‘Boli’) — starring Nasir Uddin Khan and AKM Itmam about an eccentric old fisherman who trains rigorously in a traditional form of wrestling, ‘boli khela’, before taking on the village champion in Chittagong has won the top award at Busan International Film Festival. At the recently concluded festival, where the film by Iqbal H Chowdhury won the top award in the New Currents section on Friday, Bangladeshi films had a formidable presence with three films in competition and one at the Asian Project Market. However, all these are from ‘Opar Bangla’ and not Tollywood".^[11]

• The film won the Best Film award at the 28th Busan International Film Festival in 2023.^[12][13]
• Bangladesh has been officially selected the film in the 'Best International Feature Film Category' at the 97th Oscars.^[14][15]

• Boli — The Wrestler at IMDb