Entertainment
“Many thought my decision to quit job for acting was a mistake”
When the dream is big, age or time can’t contain it. The career graph of actor Nasir Uddin Khan is a testament to this.
Although Nasir became popular with the web series ‘Mohanagar’, he has been acting for more than two decades.
Nasir started acting in 1995, through joining the Chattogram-based drama group Teerjok. Soon, acting became his main focus instead of studies or jobs.
Read VR installation begins at Drik Studio reimagining future of libraries
Meanwhile, Nasir started a family and was soon blessed with two children. However, passion ruled over practicality and Nasir took the bold decision of quitting his job and focus solely on acting.
Read: Distributors claim “Hawa” among top 30 US box office hits
His massive success justifies that decision.
While talking to UNB, Nasir said that when he first came to Dhaka in 2016, he had no idea what would happen next.
“People close to me used to say that I should get a job for the sake of paying my bills. But I came to Dhaka to be an actor, nothing else. Most people who knew me thought I was making a big mistake. But I was confident and now I know that my decision was right,” said Nasir.
Although the showbiz industry had to go through a tough time during the Covid-19 pandemic, the OTT platforms started to gain popularity at the same time. Bangladesh was no exception.
Read When Bollywood actor Padmini Kolhapure kissed King Charles
A wind of change has taken over the local entertainment industry since the start of web series production. While these web series have offered the audience the expertise of multiple directors, they have also turned many actors into stars overnight.
“The OTT platforms met the needs of the audience at a time when the showbiz industry was going through a crisis. My career also took a turn after acting in a web series, thanks to the OTT platforms,” said Nasir.
Nasir has recently become the talk of the town after the release of the film ‘Hawa’. Many are saying that the film is the turning point of Nasir’s acting career. But the actor thinks otherwise.
Read Green University English Club stages “Macbeth”
“Life doesn’t follow a straight line. We have to live with both the good and bad. I view my career this way. There will be many highs and many lows in my acting career. Hawa will definitely help my career grow, but I don’t think this will be the turning point,” added Nasir.
Currently, Nasir Uddin Khan is busy with Hawa’s publicity and shooting for some new films. The actor is working on two new films and some new web series.
‘Indigo Giant’ staged to ruminate historic tyranny Komola Collective
In partnership with the British Council, award-winning arts company Komola Collective has recently staged “Indigo Giant”, a gripping drama written by Ben Musgrave, at Bangladesh Mohila Samity Complex.
From September 8-10, audiences had the opportunity to enjoy the performance by Komola Collective’s ensemble of theatre-artists from diverse backgrounds and creative disciplines.
Indigo Giant projects a story inspired by eminent writer and dramatist Dinabandhu Mitra’s epic play “Nil Darpan”.
Also read: 23rd Young Artists' Fine Arts Exhibition ends
Translated and produced by Leesa Gazi, Indigo Giant revisits forgotten moments from the history of the British period, while touching down on the irrefutable emotional whirlwind of the then Bengalis, said a media release on Sunday.
Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed, Md Sohel Rana, Sharif Siraj, Dr Sydur Rahman Lipon, Mamdudur Rahman Mukto, Mitali Das, Sadman Syed, Shipra Das Roma and Shishir Rahman portrayed different roles in the drama directed by Naila Azad.
Also read: ‘The Fabelmans': Steven Spielberg debuts autobiographical film at Toronto Film Festival
“It has born out of a dialogue between Bengali and British theatre artistes”, said Leesa Gazi about the drama. “Indigo Giant aims to form a living bridge between the trailblazing 19th-century Bengali play Nil Darpan and contemporary attitudes to indigo and multi-national commerce.”
The event was supported by the GCRF QR Rapid Response Scheme, University of East Anglia, The Charles Wallace Bangladesh Trust and Living Blue.
‘The Fabelmans': Steven Spielberg debuts autobiographical film at Toronto Film Festival
Steven Spielberg premiered his much-anticipated “The Fabelmans" to thunderous applause at the Toronto International Film Festival, debuting his most autobiographical film and one the 75-year-old filmmaker said he's been building toward his whole life.
“The Fabelmans,” which Spielberg wrote with Tony Kushner, draws extensively from the director's own childhood — from his parents, played by Michelle Williams and Paul Dano in the film, and from his early formation as a filmmaker. The film opens with a timid young boy outside a cinema going to see his first movie ("The Greatest Show on Earth"). His mother encourages him: “Movies are dreams, doll."
“It's something obviously I've been thinking about for a long time,” Spielberg said on stage after the screening late Saturday. "I didn't really know when I was going to get around to this. It is not because I decided to retire and this is my swan song. Don't believe any of that."
Spielberg said he first talked about what would become “The Fabelmans” with Kushner during the making of “Lincoln.” The playwright, Spielberg said, played the role of therapist as Spielberg unloaded his memories. But it wasn't until the pandemic that the director resolved to tell, for the first time, his own story.
Also read: When Bollywood actor Padmini Kolhapure kissed King Charles
“As things got worse and worse, I felt if I was going to leave anything behind, what was the thing that I really need to resolve and unpack?” said Spielberg.
Spielberg, whose three sisters were in the audience, later added: “This film is for me a way of bringing my mom and dad back. And it also brought my sisters — Annie and Sue and Nancy — closer to me than I ever thought possible. And that was worth making the film for.”
Universal Pictures will release “The Fabelmans” on Nov. 11 in New York and Los Angeles before expanding it nationwide Nov. 23. Its world premiere at Toronto — which happened to immediately follow Rian Johnson's “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” at the Princess of Wales Theatre — was a major event, and an unusual one. It was Spielberg's first film at TIFF, and he said while introducing the film that it was his first time ever in a film festival's official lineup.
The two-and-a-half hour film was immediately received as a grand and personal opus for Spielberg, all but certain to play a staring role at the Academy Awards. Aside from Williams, who is pregnant with her third child, and Dano, the cast includes Seth Rogen as a close family friend, a brief standout performance from Judd Hirsch, Jeannie Berlin and newcomer Gabriel LaBelle who plays Sammy Fabelman, the fictionalized young Spielberg.
“Steven was generous about letting us into his life,” said Dano, who said he had access to Spielberg's old photographs, home movies and lengthy conversations over Zoom with the director. “The goal was to capture a life lived.”
Also read: Playing Marilyn Monroe was life-changing for Ana de Armas
While there are vividly drawn moments of movies transporting Sammy, “Fabelmans” may surprise some for how complexly it weaves filmmaking and family life. Cinema in Spielberg's film is both a transformative power and something dangerous; a way to express genuine emotion and to hide from it. Kushner, a frequently collaborator with Spielberg, said the film demonstrates how “film is an unreliable friend.”
“It will take you to into a place of safety and right through safety is something unexpected and scary," said Kushner. “It happens over and over again in the movie.”
“The Fabelmans” is populated by early experiments with 8-millimeter cameras, little movies made with family members and increasingly ambitious short films. All mirror Spielberg's own first forays into filmmaking, though there are some differences.
“I made all the behind-the-scenes stuff in this movie much better than the actual films I made when I was Sammy's age," Spielberg said with a smile. "It was a great do-over."
23rd Young Artists' Fine Arts Exhibition ends
The 23rd edition of the Young Artists' Fine Arts Exhibition came to an end at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) Saturday.
Known as one of the flagship art events of the BSA, the month-long biennale exhibition is organised by the BSA's fine arts department. It showcased 422 artworks by 356 artists this year.
Since 1975, the biennale exhibition has earned recognition from art lovers around the whole nation as a festivity and celebration of modern artworks and crafts.
VR installation begins at Drik Studio reimagining future of libraries
Read: International art exhibition held in Kathmandu paying tribute to Sultan
An immersive virtual reality (VR) installation has begun at the Drik Studio in Dhaka's Panthapath, reimagining the future of libraries as interactive spaces that engage visitors through multisensory forms of storytelling.
Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, in partnership with The Tech Academy, is hosting "The Infinite Library."
The VR installation takes visitors through a cave with access to small chambers that double as portals, or micro worlds, that allow one to travel in time.
It seeks to embed human stories within a much grander narrative, one which includes the birth of the planet and the evolution of all life forms.
The "Library" part of the installation is conceived as a living organism, a kind of embodiment of knowledge that introduces itself to visitors personally before inviting them to explore its house. This includes a QR code game, holograms, 3D-printed objects, audio-visual works, and the project's central piece: a vast VR library set in a cave.
When Bollywood actor Padmini Kolhapure kissed King Charles
It was a kiss that hogged media limelight in India and Britain in the early 1980s when social media was a distant dream.
Bollywood actor Padmini Kolhapure posted the kiss on the cheek of King Charles, then a Prince and heir to the British throne, after garlanding him as the latter visited the sets of her 1981 film 'Ahista Ahista' in Mumbai.
Read: After a lifetime of preparation, Charles takes the throne
The kiss not only became the talk of the town in India and also made the Bollywood actor famous in Britain as the "woman who kissed Prince Charles".
"It was just a peck on the cheek...the media took it somewhere else. It was no big deal," Kolhapure had later said in an interview with a local media outlet.
Kolhapure began acting as a child artiste in 1972 at the age of 7. In 1976 and 1977, she acted in two hit flicks -- 'Zindagi' and 'Dream Girl', respectively. But she hogged limelight for her role in 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram'.
Read: At age 73, Charles becomes King
She became a sensation when iconic filmmaker Raj Kapoor cast her as the lead heroine in 'Prem Rog' in 1982 opposite his son Rishi Kapoor.
Kolhapure went on to give box office hits with her performances in 'Vidhaata' (1982), 'Souten' (1983) and 'Pyar Jhukta Nahin' (1985). She later forayed into the regional Marathi films.
Shironamhin enthrals Dhaka audience
Connoisseurs of music were enthralled by the majestic performances of Shironamhin in Dhaka on Thursday night, as the popular Bangladeshi band played their most popular tracks one after another alongside the Mumbai-based Symphony Orchestra.
Celebrating 25 years of togetherness, Shironamhin’s final concert of their year-long silver jubilee celebrations was held in Dhaka's International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) on Thursday night.
The 6 to 10.30pm special concert was arranged in collaboration with Brandmyth Experiential, a marketing communication agency.
Playing Marilyn Monroe was life-changing for Ana de Armas
Andrew Dominik had been trying to make a movie about Marilyn Monroe for over a decade.
The film wouldn’t be a biopic, but an experiential portrait delving into the psyche of Marilyn Monroe and Norma Jeane. It kept falling apart, but the New Zealand native couldn’t let it go. Then he found Ana de Armas, and, he said, the movie came alive.
“It was like love at first sight,” Dominik said Thursday, before the world premiere of the film at the Venice International Film Festival. “When the right person walks through the door, you know it.”
The nearly three-hour epic is based on a work of biographical fiction by Joyce Carol Oates and examines the public and private life of the Hollywood icon from her troubled childhood as Norma Jeane to her global stardom as Marilyn Monroe and various relationships along the way, from her mother (Julianne Nicholson) to her marriages to Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale) and Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody).
Also read: Met Gala 2022: Kardashian as Monroe, a gilded Blake Lively
“I wasn’t very aware of Marilyn. I was familiar with some of her movies, but for me it was a huge discovery and learning process,” de Armas said. “We wanted to honor her in the recreations where she was Marilyn, but I also had a lot of room to create the real woman underneath that character. It was about understanding and empathizing and connecting with her and her pain and her trauma.”
She added: “If you put aside the movie star she is, she’s just a woman, just like me. Same age. It was a project I knew I had to let myself open and go to places I knew were going to be uncomfortable and dark and vulnerable.”
Filming began on Aug. 4, the day Monroe died in 1962 at her home in Los Angeles at age 36. It was an accident and just the result of some delays. But it also was one of many times the filmmaker and his cast felt a somewhat mystical connection to the subject of their film. Though the story takes many liberties with the facts of her life with the intent of getting to the truth of her life, the production did use real locations like the apartment she and her mother lived in when she was a child and the house she died in.
“It took on elements of being like a séance,” Dominik said.
De Armas agreed that “there was something in the air” being in the same places Monroe had lived.
Also read: Warhol's 'Marilyn' auction nabs $195M; most for US artist
“I wasn’t in character all the time. But I felt that. I was living that. I felt that heaviness and that weight in my shoulders. And I felt that sadness,” de Armas said. “She was all I thought about. She was all I dreamed about. She was all I talked about... It was beautiful. “
“Blonde” has been hotly anticipated for some time: For taking on a figure like Monroe in an experimental way, for its rating, the first ever NC-17 movie that Netflix has made, a designation set by the Motion Picture Association that forbids those younger than 17 from watching the film in the theater. There’s also curiosity around de Armas’s performance. The Cuba-born actor worked with a dialect coach for a year to prepare.
“Storytelling that is as brave as this is essential,” her co-star Brody said.
And for him, de Armas did more than just play the role. She channeled the person.
“The first day of filming, I went home with this sense of awe that I had the privilege of actually working with Marilyn Monroe,” Brody said. “It’s very rare that I can say that someone transported me to another time and place.”
For de Armas, it was about the challenge.
“I did this movie to push myself... to make other people change their opinion about me,” she said, through some tears. “This movie changed my life.”
“Blonde” opens in select theaters starting Sept. 16 before becoming available on Netflix on Sept. 23. It’s one of many Oscar hopefuls launching in Venice, where it is also among the films up for the festival’s awards on Saturday.
Distributors claim “Hawa” among top 30 US box office hits
After conquering hearts in Bangladesh, Mejbaur Rahman Sumon’s film “Hawa” is now thriving in the United States, placing among top 30 films in US box office, the film’s distributors say.
On September 2, the film premiered in 73 theaters in US and 13 in Canada.
This is the first time a Bangladeshi movie has ranked in the top 30 in US box office, according to Md Waliullah Sajib, President of Swapna Scarecrow Bangladesh, which is the distributor of the film in North America.
Read: ‘Aat Ta Baje Deri Korish Na’: hidden gem of ‘Hawa’ soundtrack released
According to Swapna Scarecrow Bangladesh, the gross box office collection of "Hawa" is $213,461 till now, a combined collection in Canada and USA. A total of 25,444 people (9,930 in Canada and 15,514 in US) have seen “Hawa”, a record for a Bangladeshi film.
“Hawa” is the second Chanchal Chowdhury-starring movie that has been commercially successful in North America. The 2018 film “Debi”, starring Chanchal and Jaya Ahsan, secured a lifetime box office collection of $125,414.
With its collection of $127,149 in the US market and $86,312 in Canada, “Hawa” broke the record in just three days.
Read:Wind of 'Hawa' blows full
“We observed a whirlwind by 'Hawa' in the US box office, thanks to the enthusiasm of the Bangladeshi audience in Canada and the United States. We had no idea the response would be as intense as it was,” according to Sajib.
Following a “bede” (gypsy) woman who is rescued and sheltered on a fishing boat that has become stranded in the middle of the sea while narrating a story in the style of magic realism, the film features an ensemble cast including Chanchal Chowdhury, Nazifa Tushi, Sariful Islam Raaz, Sumon Anwar, Nasir Uddin Khan, and Sohel Mondal in the lead roles.
The screenplay was written by Sukarna Sahed Dhiman, Zahin Faruq Amin, and Sumon, while Sumon wrote the story and dialogue for the movie.
Read Environment Ministry to withdraw case against Hawa upon 'agreement'
“Hawa” has been produced by Sun Music and Motion Pictures. Jazz Multimedia is the distributor of the film in Bangladesh.
Green University English Club stages “Macbeth”
Green University English Club (GUEC) celebrated "Shakespeare Fest 2022" with an enthralling stage performance of the legendary playwright William Shakespeare’s popular tragedy “Macbeth” at its Mirpur campus auditorium on Monday.
Green University of Bangladesh (GUB) Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Golam Samdani Fakir joined the event as the chief guest, while Prof Dr Farhana Helal Mehtab, Dean of the GUB Faculty of Business, Arts and Social Sciences, joined the fest as the special guest.
Prof Shafi Ahmed, Vice President, Theatre Education and Training Committee, International Training Institute (ITI) joined the event as its guest of honour, alongside popular thespian and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Theatre and Film Department Director Afsana Mimi and Md Herock Mushfik, Assistant Professor at the Theatre and Performance Studies, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University.
Prof K M Wazed Kabir, Department of English and Proctor of the Green University of Bangladesh, delivered the welcome speech and shared the history of the Green University English Club (GUEC) and its stage performances since 2016.
The stage performance of “Macbeth” then began by the students of the Green University English Club (GUEC), under the directive and supervision of Ashik Istiak, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Moderator of GUEC.
Read: 'Chilekothar Sepai' staged at JU
“Macbeth,” the world-famous tragedy and one of the most-staged plays in the entire world, was written by William Shakespeare in 1606. The play dramatizes the detrimental physical and psychological ramifications of political ambition on individuals who strive for power.
In this tragedy, the protagonist Macbeth, driven by prophecy and demented by ambition, kills the Scottish monarch and assassinates him in order to take the kingdom. Driven by remorse and paranoia, the new king and his wife launch an increasingly brutal struggle to uphold their power and position.
The characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were played by Pranto Kumar Saha and Tanisha Tafsin Basher, and the entire cast and crew members were showered with acclamation by the audiences for their brilliant portrayal of the characters in the play.
Presided over by Prof Dr M Shahidullah, Chairperson of the GUB Department of English, the event was also joined by other distinguished faculty members including GUB Treasurer Prof Dr Md Fayzur Rahman, Chairperson of the EEE Department Prof Dr ASM Shihavuddin, and Proctor of the Green University of Bangladesh Prof K M Wazed Kabir, to name a few.
Faculty members and students from different departments also joined the event and cheered the performance of the students. Afsana Mimi highly appreciated the director, performers, backstage performers and volunteers for staging the play while portraying its full glory.
Md Herock Mushfik, Assistant Professor at the Theatre and Performance Studies, Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, recalled his memories of playing the character of Macbeth during his student days while praising the performers. Prof Shafi Ahmed talked about the overall scenario of the stage performance and direction of Shakespearean plays and appreciated the performers of GUEC and the director Ashik Istiak for their hard work and perseverance in making the event a success.
Under the supervision of Ashik Istiak, Green University English Club (GUEC) began celebrating Shakespeare Day on July 31, 2016.
The club performed two plays of Shakespeare (Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice) on May 24, 2017, in honour of Shakespeare's Day. In 2018, Othello (in English) and Romeo and Juliet (in Bangla) were staged as full-fledged two-hour plays on March 28 and 29, respectively.
The event was sponsored by Englishology, a premium English language teaching centre and the media partner was Somoy TV.