She was the best of us

What is the best thing you can say about a person? That they made you laugh. Kaarina Kaisar was, sometimes unwittingly, the funniest person I knew. In a world that tests you at every waking moment and asks for some kind of sacrifice each time you want something, she was unapologetic, unconditional, and giving. 

She allowed you to forget the harsh realities of the world through her absurd, quirky humor. Whether it was breaking into a strange dance in the middle of the road or parodying a brand’s ridiculous approach to women’s empowerment, her brand of comedy was unheard of in Bangladesh until she brought it to the fray.
However, humor was not all she was—she was also the kindest and most giving person you could meet. She was the type who would send you voice messages to praise and encourage you, even if you had just met. If she perceived you to be talented in any way, she would go above and beyond to encourage you to pursue your craft.

It was easy to forget that Kaarina Kaisar belonged to a royal family when it came to prestige. Her grandmother, Rani Hamid, remains the face of chess in Bangladesh to this day. Kaisar Hamid, her father, is a national award-winning footballer. Yet, when you saw them through Kaarina’s lens, you had the rare chance to see her family as people rather than celebrities. Kaisar Hamid was simply Baba. Like any other father, he cared, was sometimes annoyed by her antics, but loved her irrevocably. A video where her mother obsesses over a random glass jar she bought also comes to mind. Kaarina definitely knew how to humanize people, and she knew how to treat people like humans.

"They thought they could break my spirit; instead, they fueled my determination to combat this mindset. These are the mass representatives of society. They make you feel inadequate for not fitting into a certain body standard," she said in an interview with The Daily Star.

Her words did not ring empty, as she wrote the screenplay and acted in “36-24-36”, a seminal film in the context of body positivity in Bangladesh. After its release, a senior colleague—a renowned writer and researcher—reached out to me to say, “I want to write about this film. This concept moved me to my core.” Kaarina had essentially made the jump from comedy to slice-of-life screenplays, including “Internsheep” and the recent “Ekshathe Alada”.

The screening for the latter is where I last met Kaarina. She had conjured up a ‘Sehri’ screening of the very intelligent film, which tackles the theme of divorce and the amicability between two people after a split. She had invited only close friends from the industry and family. For a comedian, it was an incredibly risky story to tell, considering the taboo surrounding divorce that still resides firmly in our country. Through the lens of Rezaur Rahman and the acting chops of Yash Rohan and Parsa Evana, she gracefully tackled the issue.

By the time she reached 30, she had achieved the rare status of becoming a “celebrity’s celebrity.” She would tell actors, singers, and practitioners that she was a fan of theirs, only to hear back that they were fans of her untouchable humor.

It was no wonder that when Kaarina was hospitalized after liver failure in early May, the entire entertainment industry in Bangladesh held up their hands in prayer. When her parents were struggling for funds to secure an air ambulance, her friends mobilized the industry in a group chat to collect donations.

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Kaarina Kaisar no more

Even though Kaarina Kaisar is no longer here with us, every person she once made smile, encouraged, or motivated will remember her as one of the best human beings to come out of our relatively small showbiz industry. Some, including myself, are playing back her voice notes on Messenger to honor her presence; others are posting pictures and mourning in their own way. There is no mistaking that she was the best of us. She will always be the best of us.