Defining Success

Film Actor Emon
Talks to
Rakibul Hasan

	Courtesy: Emon

I studied at Mughdapara Hyder Ali High School, Dhaka. At school, I was kind of a teacher's pet and I had always followed the rules. Since I was the youngest amongst all my siblings, I presume, my parents were a bit overprotective about me. However, I have always been very active with sports. I was quite good at football and cricket, and different sports teams from nearby neighbourhoods used to hire me to play for them. There was this one time when some of my friends formed a football team, but, surprisingly, didn't consider me to be on their team, because, apparently, they thought I am too skinny to be a good footballer. I was so angry that I joined their rival team. However, eventually, they discovered my sporting skills and requested me to join their team!

After graduating from school, I joined Dhaka City College. College days were supposed to be a bit more liberating than school, but the rules and regulations at Dhaka City College were so strict that I felt rather hinged. Days in college were not very eventful and soon after my graduation from college, I got myself admitted to Dhaka College for my Bachelor's in Management.

I got into the field of modelling almost by co-incidence. I was playing cricket at a playground, while a TV commercial was being shot, nearby. Suddenly, I discovered that a friend of mine was playing a character in the TVC. He, immediately, recognised me and then introduced me to the maker of the TVC, who, by the way, was noted actor, Tariq Anam Khan. Khan invited me for a modelling audition and I was selected with flying colours. The year 2005 was very exciting for me since I modelled in a TVC of a cold beverage for the first time and it was quite popular with the audience. From then on, I started modelling for TVCs on a regular basis. I also performed in some television plays. I discovered my feat in movies for the first time with 'Daruchini Dwip', a movie adopted from a famous Humayan Ahmed novel. I would like to pursue my career in movies, because I think it is a very powerful media, which can change the society in a positive way. Currently, I am busy with a number of movies, in which I am playing the leading roles. Though, the general perception about the state of our current film industry is not very positive, I think there is no dearth of good actors and directors in our country. If only we get enough funds, we can produce world class movies.

To the youth, my message would be, always think out of the box and try to do something for your country. Every person is unique and one can become successful in life simply by believing in one's own instincts and with a lot of hard work,