New villain in Dhaka film industry

On completion of his Masters in Fine Arts, Mesbah joined Directorate of Agriculture, a department under Ministry of Agriculture in its design section. During his childhood, he had dream of becoming an actor one day. With this ambition in mind, he joined a local theater group several years back, with the aspiration of learning pros and cons of acting. Though Mesbah has been performing in stages for years, his ultimate goal has always been to be an actor in film.

By now, dozens of drama's where Mesbah worked, has been telecast on local television channels in Bangladesh. But, his career entered the turning point, when Mesbah was picked by director Shoaib Choudhury for his telefilm named Shongshoy. Before working in Shongshoy, Mesbah mostly played positive roles, while Shoaib Choudhury wanted him to play the role of a tantric, which in reality is a villain in the telefilm.

Commenting on that moment, Mesbah said, "I was introduced to Mr. Shoaib Choudhury by one of my friends in the theater. On an evening, I went to his office, seeing a smiling young man talking to a few artistes, journalists and musicians. After spending almost an hour in his room, I was gradually getting confused, as to whether this young director would actually be able to show any brilliance in his work, as his topic of discussion for the entire time was either music or multiple topics, except acting. Moreover, for the entire time, he was merely looking at me. Though tea and snacks were served, but I was getting almost exhausted, seeing his no attention either to me or on the topic of the telefilm.

"After almost one and half hour, he suddenly sent most of the people off and we are just 2-3 people in the room. He looked at me and said, "I can cast you in a negative character in the telefilm". I was surely shocked, as I went for a positive role in the telefilm. But, before I would give my answer, he ordered his assistant to give me the script. In his very genuine and lasting smile, Mr. Choudhury told me, "Take ten minutes and look into your sequence". He even did not explain the sequence to me. I read the script and was simply spell bound seeing richness of it. I knew, the script was also written by him.

"Exactly ten minutes later, he said, "Okay, show me". I delivered my dialogue. He said, "No, you have to conceive the character". Then he explained the character to me and showed me the way I should deliver the dialogue. Once again, I was astonished, seeing the very special and brilliant way of his style of motivating the actor and almost pushing him to the depth of the role. But, I was still in confusion about his skill as a director, till I went to the filming spot of the telefilm.

"Just five days later, I was given the location of the filming and was asked by the staffs of Shoaib Choudhury to reach the location by 7 am. Accordingly, I went there and took breakfast with the unit members. Just at 8 am, Mr. Choudhury entered the makeup room and explained my character to the makeup man and instructed him to finish my makeup in an hour. I was happy to sense finishing my work by the first half of the day.

"After an hour, he came back to the makeup room, and told the makeup man that the makeup was yet to be perfect. Then the makeup man sat with me again. Meanwhile, filming of other sequence started and Mr. Choudhury was busy with that. I was once again waiting inside the makeup room for his comment on my makeup and costume.

"Almost two hours later, he came back and said, "Yes, now it looks perfect". I asked him, if I should get ready for the shoot, he just looked at me and said, "You will be called on time". While other sequences were continuing, I was simply waiting like a worthless person inside the makeup room, wearing costumes and makeup. Five hours left and for obvious reason, I was getting angry inside, sensing, his [Shoaib Choudhury] ignorance towards me. I was asked to take lunch with makeup and costumes. Then again I was put on waiting queue. Almost ten hours left and I finally made my mind to leave the place without working, as it just crossed my all tolerance level. But, suppressing my anger, I went to Mr. Choudhury and asked, if I should wait more. He looked at my eyes again, and said, "No, you get your final makeup touch in ten minutes and come on the floor". I almost run to the makeup room and came back for the shot. By that time, I had both anger and impatience in me. He explained the sequence once again to me and giving me no time to think, uttered "Action"! Very surprisingly, the shot was more than perfect. And, now I think, should I not be waited for the entire day, it was impossible for me to appear on the screen like an ever-angry person.

"This has been the beginning for me to play negative characters. Now, I am delighted to be signed to play a role a movie named Black, which will be directed by Shoaib Choudhury."

Mesbah has now been signed to play a role in Bangla feature film BLACK, which is being directed by Shoaib Choudhury. Keya, Aman Khan, Kazi Hayat, Probir Mitra and others will also work in this film.

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New villain in Dhaka film industry

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