"It can speak to audiences at any time."
To mark International Mother Language Day, Channel i is set to broadcast the special television drama Chithiwala on February 21, 2026.
Centred on a single unread letter, the drama gently examines memory, language, and cultural distance within an urban, upwardly mobile Bangladeshi household.
Written by Shafiqur Rahman Shantanu and scripted and directed by Rashid Harun, the story unfolds inside a self-styled modern middle-class home.
Anik lives with his wife Shaily and their young son Anindya, whom he proudly sends to an English medium school.
Busy and ambitious, Anik believes progress demands a clean break from village roots, inherited traditions, and even the Bangla language.
His carefully structured certainty is quietly unsettled when Hashem Chacha arrives from the village carrying a letter addressed to Anik.
Caught in daily routines and emotional distance, the family leaves the letter unopened, allowing its presence to linger silently within the home.
Hashem Chacha’s stay slowly alters the emotional rhythm of the household, exposing tensions Anik has long chosen not to acknowledge.
When the letter is finally opened, its emotional weight becomes undeniable, shifting the family’s moral centre in an instant.
Written by a language movement activist and friend of Anik’s late father, the letter blends personal memory with national history.
It recalls the sacrifices made for Bangla, the struggle for dignity, and the ideals that later shaped the independence movement.
Without accusation, the letter quietly asks what became of those dreams in a rapidly globalising society.
The implied response is unsettling, suggesting that forgetting often comes easily amid aspirations of modern success.
Veteran actor Mamunur Rashid portrays Hashem Chacha.
A towering figure in Bangladeshi theatre, Rashid returned to the country on January 14, 2026, after an extended stay in the United States.
He filmed Chithiwala on January 31 while balancing commitments tied to the anniversary celebrations of his theatre troupe.
Rashid said: “After a long time, I’m back in the country and feeling much better.
“The story of Chithiwala is genuinely beautiful.”
Ahsan Habib Nasim appears as Anik, capturing the quiet conflict of a father torn between ambition and inherited responsibility.
Sushama Sarkar plays Shaily, whose silences often reveal more than spoken words within the carefully ordered household.
Nasim believes the drama extends far beyond a single commemorative occasion and speaks to everyday choices.
“This isn’t a story only for Language Day. It can speak to audiences at any time.
“Those who think drifting with foreign cultures is the same as being modern may find themselves rethinking that idea.”
Rather than slogans or lectures, Chithiwala relies on restraint, allowing emotion and implication to carry its message.
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