Brihonnola is a 2014 Bangladeshi feature film directed and produced by Murad Parvez based on a short story named "Gaach-ta Bolechilo" (The Tree had Told) by Indian Bengali author Syed Mustafa Siraj.
The film stars Ferdous Ahmed, Sohana Saba, Azad Abul Kalam, Jhuna Choudhury, and Intekhab Dinar.
Brihonnola is a tale of the goodness inherent in human nature prevailing over religious prejudice and racial dogmatism.
There is a local health centre minus a permanent doctor (Azad Abul Kalam) as no one is willing to work and live in a village.
Finally, his application bore fruit, a qualified doctor was sent from the district town, and on the same day the village carpenter Tulsi's(Intekhab Dinar) goat died on the public land.
To prevent the recurrence of such incidents the vicinity of the tree was declared inaccessible to all human beings, their cattle, and other domestic pets.
But at one time children used to play hide-and-seek around that banyan tree on the public land, on scorching hot days cowherds dozed in its soothing shade, peasants working in the fields cooled their perspiring bodies under its leafy branches while eating the lunch brought by their wives or daughters.
But in a few days time, the cursed tree claimed its second victim, the carpenter Tulsi's old mother (Dilara Zaman) who went gathering dry leaves under it.
The newly qualified doctor Abir Ahmed at the village health centre examined the dead woman and said that she had died of a heart attack.
The Brahmins began to proclaim that the tree deity could only be appeased by performing puja under it and offering human sacrifice.
Arati – ritualistic worship with oil lamps and burning sense accompanied by the loud ringing of bells and beating of gongs – was performed every evening in the temple till late, although worshippers were careful not to begin it until the Muslims had ended their namaz.
There were heavy rains and thunderstorm that night and the next morning the thief was found lying stone dead under the tree.
The veteran homoeopath Araj Ali asked: "If the man has indeed been killed by that tree, why is there a vicious bruise on his head?"
The homoeopath Araj Ali repeatedly sent applications to the district town praying for the interference of the authorities to resolve this situation.
One day a Police Inspector arrived to make inquiries into the questions involving the banyan tree.
Araj Ali's letters had already appraised the Inspector of the dirty politics behind the incidents taking place in the village.
Finally, the police managed to disperse the crowd by wielding sticks and the Inspector even had to fire a few rounds.
In spite of that one night, some men wearing caps managed to tear off the red ribbons hung from its branches.
The government responded with strict orders that neither side was to erect any kind of structure in the vicinity of the disputed tree.
But two months later, the awards were cancelled after allegations of plagiarism against the director Murad Parvez proved true.
Indian writers Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay and Debesh Roy requested Information Minister of Bangladesh Hasanul Haq Inu to pay Siraj's family Rs 150,000 as royalty for the story.