Nababarsha Special

	Stop rushing... ...become more professional Subarna Mustafa ..................................................... IF anyone asks me what is the difference that comes to my mind first about the acting profession between the time I began and now, I would quickly say -- it's the mad rush that everyone goes through today. Earlier, we used to work in a very relaxed atmosphere, nobody seemed to be in any kind of rush or hurry. But these days there is this tendency to finish work as quickly as possible from the directors to the crews to the actors. The actors are working in three or four mega serials at a time, so they want to divide their time accordingly. Obviously it's not very good, because you may be busy today, but it might have a negative effect on your career later, because it will definitely show in your work. I think we, the actors, cannot concentrate on the sets if we are constantly worried about reaching the next shooting spot as soon as possible. At least I cannot. One might say that may be its because the newer generation of actors get more opportunities to work since there are more than one television channels that air a large number of serials everyday. One might also say that in the earlier days we could do only one TV drama in a month on the only channel, BTV, so things were more relaxed. But I always believed and still do that quality is more important than quantity, any time. I agree that the youngsters have taken up acting on television as a full time profession, which is a very positive thing. But at the same time, one has to be very honest in whatever one is doing -- be it a creative medium like acting or a bank job. I know that I have been honest to what I had been doing, and, taking my experiences of all these years into account I also know that it's not physically possible to be honest to your profession if you are doing three shoots a day, rushing from one set to another and just give your shots. If one tends to search for short cuts, ultimately the quality will suffer. There is always a storm before things settle down. May be this is an indication of that. I am not saying that the quality of work is not maintained, but the ratio of it is definitely smaller. The other crisis we have been facing lately is the lack of good scripts. I have been saying repeatedly that we do not have good writers from the new generation. Earlier we used to work for scripts written by Atiqul Haq Choudhury, Shahidullah Kaisar, Abdullah Al Mamun, Mamtazuddin Ahmed, Selim Al Deen -- all great writers. Some of them still do write, but I have to say that some of them did not maintain the quality. And that's why even if the story-line is interesting, I do not find the script gripping or the dialogues up to the standard. It's a fact of life that the new generation will always takeover the older generation, and they will always have something new, something better to offer. I accept that and always said that the young generation with their fresh ideas, fresh thinking process, enthusiasm to do something different must be encouraged. But I also think that they are not given enough freedom in their creative work by their seniors. I know people will frown, but that's the reality. I am frequently asked in interviews that what advice do I have for the newcomers. First of all they should be allowed to execute their own ideas and expressions. We, the seniors, can share our experiences with them. But we should never dominate them with our own ideas. I do not want clones; that is so boring. I want to work with fresh ideas, thoughts. I have been quite lucky because lately I have been working with young groups of people and I feel very excited about it. Because their working style is so different yet so refreshing. May be there are teething problems, their reasoning is childish at times, but at least they are trying. And that's why I think they should be allowed that amount of space to work on their dreams. Some of those I have worked with recently like Afsana Mimi, Amitava Reza were so satisfying. They are sincere, hardworking, innovative -- working with them was a revelation for me. On the other hand, the new actors do not seem to have that kind of sincerity, dedication in their chosen profession. As I said earlier that they are in such a rush to get things done in the shortest possible time, it is humanly impossible to do good work. These days some of the actors do not even memorise their dialogues. I have seen them putting dialogue sheets with big alphabets behind the camera while giving solo shots. That is simply appalling. Obviously they do not, rather cannot, do it in combination shots with me; I make them sit down and learn the dialogues with me. This is just another glaring example of lack of professionalism and sincerity. It is a job they are doing and getting paid for it, so the least they can do is learn the dialogues and deliver them. I understand that there might be the question of insecurity. For example, if I don't do a particular role, somebody else would do it and I would lose out on a good role. But what they do not understand is that at the end of the day, the audience will always remember a good actor. I always tell them not to ever undermine their audience; they might like you today for your good looks or may be its there on the channels, but if you do not deliver according to their expectations, they will forget you. Herein lies the very big responsibility of a good director; to bring out good acting from his cast, to be aware of the plus and minus points of the actors and take his own decisions. But unfortunately, these days most of the directors are also in a rush. Because, their producers are always breathing down their neck to finish filming quickly, and the channels are after the producers because they cannot have blank airtime. So we are in some sort of a vicious circle. It probably does not paint a very rosy picture, but I am sure things will settle down in the New Year. I am an optimist. I expect the channels to set a standard for TV drama serials. I expect to see more young talented people in the field, I hope their work would be properly patronised. I also want to see the eminent writers of yesteryears making a comeback. If they could do great work in the past, why not now. And finally, I expect the young group of actors to take the profession more seriously. Because we know that they are talented; there are so many potentials. They must learn how to hone their talents and excel in their work. Instead of concentrating on media exposure, which in any case do not really promote real talents, they must concentrate on their acting skills. I really hope that this day next year I will change my opinion.

Stop rushing...
...become more professional
Subarna Mustafa
.....................................................

IF anyone asks me what is the difference that comes to my mind first about the acting profession between the time I began and now, I would quickly say -- it's the mad rush that everyone goes through today. Earlier, we used to work in a very relaxed atmosphere, nobody seemed to be in any kind of rush or hurry. But these days there is this tendency to finish work as quickly as possible from the directors to the crews to the actors. The actors are working in three or four mega serials at a time, so they want to divide their time accordingly.

Obviously it's not very good, because you may be busy today, but it might have a negative effect on your career later, because it will definitely show in your work. I think we, the actors, cannot concentrate on the sets if we are constantly worried about reaching the next shooting spot as soon as possible. At least I cannot.

One might say that may be its because the newer generation of actors get more opportunities to work since there are more than one television channels that air a large number of serials everyday. One might also say that in the earlier days we could do only one TV drama in a month on the only channel, BTV, so things were more relaxed. But I always believed and still do that quality is more important than quantity, any time. I agree that the youngsters have taken up acting on television as a full time profession, which is a very positive thing. But at the same time, one has to be very honest in whatever one is doing -- be it a creative medium like acting or a bank job.

I know that I have been honest to what I had been doing, and, taking my experiences of all these years into account I also know that it's not physically possible to be honest to your profession if you are doing three shoots a day, rushing from one set to another and just give your shots. If one tends to search for short cuts, ultimately the quality will suffer. There is always a storm before things settle down. May be this is an indication of that. I am not saying that the quality of work is not maintained, but the ratio of it is definitely smaller.

The other crisis we have been facing lately is the lack of good scripts. I have been saying repeatedly that we do not have good writers from the new generation. Earlier we used to work for scripts written by Atiqul Haq Choudhury, Shahidullah Kaisar, Abdullah Al Mamun, Mamtazuddin Ahmed, Selim Al Deen -- all great writers. Some of them still do write, but I have to say that some of them did not maintain the quality. And that's why even if the story-line is interesting, I do not find the script gripping or the dialogues up to the standard.

It's a fact of life that the new generation will always takeover the older generation, and they will always have something new, something better to offer. I accept that and always said that the young generation with their fresh ideas, fresh thinking process, enthusiasm to do something different must be encouraged. But I also think that they are not given enough freedom in their creative work by their seniors. I know people will frown, but that's the reality.

I am frequently asked in interviews that what advice do I have for the newcomers. First of all they should be allowed to execute their own ideas and expressions. We, the seniors, can share our experiences with them. But we should never dominate them with our own ideas. I do not want clones; that is so boring. I want to work with fresh ideas, thoughts. I have been quite lucky because lately I have been working with young groups of people and I feel very excited about it. Because their working style is so different yet so refreshing. May be there are teething problems, their reasoning is childish at times, but at least they are trying. And that's why I think they should be allowed that amount of space to work on their dreams. Some of those I have worked with recently like Afsana Mimi, Amitava Reza were so satisfying. They are sincere, hardworking, innovative -- working with them was a revelation for me.

On the other hand, the new actors do not seem to have that kind of sincerity, dedication in their chosen profession. As I said earlier that they are in such a rush to get things done in the shortest possible time, it is humanly impossible to do good work. These days some of the actors do not even memorise their dialogues. I have seen them putting dialogue sheets with big alphabets behind the camera while giving solo shots. That is simply appalling. Obviously they do not, rather cannot, do it in combination shots with me; I make them sit down and learn the dialogues with me. This is just another glaring example of lack of professionalism and sincerity. It is a job they are doing and getting paid for it, so the least they can do is learn the dialogues and deliver them.

I understand that there might be the question of insecurity. For example, if I don't do a particular role, somebody else would do it and I would lose out on a good role. But what they do not understand is that at the end of the day, the audience will always remember a good actor. I always tell them not to ever undermine their audience; they might like you today for your good looks or may be its there on the channels, but if you do not deliver according to their expectations, they will forget you. Herein lies the very big responsibility of a good director; to bring out good acting from his cast, to be aware of the plus and minus points of the actors and take his own decisions. But unfortunately, these days most of the directors are also in a rush. Because, their producers are always breathing down their neck to finish filming quickly, and the channels are after the producers because they cannot have blank airtime. So we are in some sort of a vicious circle.

It probably does not paint a very rosy picture, but I am sure things will settle down in the New Year. I am an optimist. I expect the channels to set a standard for TV drama serials. I expect to see more young talented people in the field, I hope their work would be properly patronised. I also want to see the eminent writers of yesteryears making a comeback. If they could do great work in the past, why not now. And finally, I expect the young group of actors to take the profession more seriously. Because we know that they are talented; there are so many potentials. They must learn how to hone their talents and excel in their work. Instead of concentrating on media exposure, which in any case do not really promote real talents, they must concentrate on their acting skills. I really hope that this day next year I will change my opinion.