‘I never planned ahead for anything in my life’

‘Hawa’ and ‘Taqdeer’ famed Shohel Mondol has become a rising star in the Bangladeshi entertainment industry. The newcomer has successfully captured the attention of the audience with his recent performances. In a conversation with The Business Post’s Purba Zannat, Shohel talked about his acting career, work and a lot more

How was your overall experience of ‘Hawa’?

It was an amazing experience. I will say it was the toughest shooting experience of my entire career. It was amazing to shoot in the sea for 45 days straight with so many talented artistes. I learned a lot while shooting this film. I learned to swim properly and what it takes to become a fisherman. We had to deal with so many uncontrollable situations. In one particular scene, I had to chase a person. It took us like five hours; I was exhausted at a point yet completed the shoot.

‘Hawa’ will always be one of my best memories. As ‘Hawa’ became a super hit now, the responses received from the audience are just overwhelming. We didn’t expect the audience will appreciate the film this much. This is a matter of tremendous joy to me. I now believe, our films can reach both national and international audiences.

How was your journey from a theatre artist to a film artist?

It was a rough journey. There were so many ups and downs. My struggle began from the day I decided to become an actor. I acted in some films and some television dramas at the beginning. Later I had to take a break as I was not getting new offers. After that, I acted in ‘Shewla’ and ‘Mayarjonjal’. But my journey became a bit smoother after acting in ‘Taqdeer’ and ‘Hawa’.

However, I believe the journey ahead will be a challenging one as now the audience started to have high expectations from me. They will be expecting better performance from me each time they see me onscreen. Thus, this pressure will always be there. I think, in our entertainment industry, this struggle will be a constant for every artiste and this will always remain.

Tell us more about your experience with theatre.

I’ll say that theatre is more of a lifestyle. Theatre is not about just learning the methods of acting, designing and directing. When a person gets involved with a theatre troupe, it becomes a part of that person’s life. It doesn’t just impact the way of your life but also impacts your thought process.

I’ll say theatre played a major role in my acting career. It helped me with almost everything I know now as an actor. One can learn acting almost anywhere, not just from theatre school. But, in my case, I started my acting career as a theatre artiste. Now, as I’m working in the visual medium, I can apply the knowledge I gathered from stage performances.

How was your early acting career?

I started the journey when I joined Nagorik Nattyangon Institute in 2006. After that, I joined the Prachyanat School of Acting and Design. But even at that time I never thought of taking acting as my profession. I acted as it was something I liked back then. But when I was doing the stage plays then I actually found myself and realised that I can prepare as an actor.

It was in 2011 when I actually took acting seriously and started to concentrate more on learning the craft behind it. I never thought to become an actor but as I continued working in this field, I started to love the work. And now, here I am today.

What was your initial career plan if you were not an actor?

As I said, I didn’t plan to become an actor. Actually, I never could do anything by planning ahead. I almost never planned ahead for anything in my life. So, when acting came into my life, at that time, I actually didn’t know where it would take my life to. I was a student back then and had some leisure time to start working. Every child wanted to be a doctor, engineer or pilot. As a child, I also wanted to be the same and wanted to join the air force at some point in life. But never took those seriously later in life. I was always good in the cultural arena and maybe that had an impact on me. So, from that point of view, I would say my choice was to become an actor, though I found my passion in acting when I started to work in this field.

What do you think is the best medium for acting?

I used to think theatre performances are more enjoyable than the other visual media. However, now I think acting in all sectors is enjoyable no matter it’s the theatre or OTT or cinema. I cannot say which one is the best. Of course, for stage performances, the team has to take a long-time preparation and the performance highly depends on the artistes so, this has a different type of excitement.

But cinemas have a different kind of craftsmanship. The struggle and there are totally different. The challenges in these two sectors are the same. In both ways, we have to impress the audience with our acting. So, both are interesting.

What is your future plan?

I’m now busy shooting Badrul Anam Saud’s film ‘Shyama Kabbya’ which is expected to be released by next year. I will be doing another project which will be directed by Goutam Koiri. I’ll be starting the work on an international project soon.

Apart from that, I’ll be seen in Robiul Islam Robi’s ‘Café Desire’ which will release on the OTT platform Chorki. Another film ‘Mayar Jonjal’ will be releasing soon too.