LIVING WITH THE STARS

One of the popular faces we love to see on screen belongs to our beloved Shomi Kaiser. For a long period of time, evergreen Suborna Mustafa remained as the audiences' favourite pick but after a long hiatus we finally found Shomi and Bipasha. We were probably fonder of martyr's daughter Shomi; her father was a freedom fighter. From the get-go she stunned everyone with her brilliant acting and ever since, she has always been identified as one of the country's top notch actors. But unfortunately, her acting career did not proceed the way we expected. She had to hitch-hike through the hurdles of her personal life. What was more heart wrenching was to witness her being so young and at the peak of her acting career but her political stance making it all go topsy-turvy, as she was banned from the media. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion – be it political or social, but sadly enough it's only possible in Bangladesh to ban someone for expressing those opinions. After the ban was lifted, Shomi decided not to return to the media and I'm sure she has her reasons. She started fresh as an entrepreneur. But when acting runs through the veins, it's difficult to completely deny it. She has plans to return to acting. She is still young and she can once again shine with her astounding brilliance – it's something we are eagerly looking forward to.
On another note, there has been an addition of thirteen new Bangladeshi TV channels to our palette. There are already twenty-eight of them. This is alarming considering the fact that the actors, producers and sponsors often complain that they are losing viewers and their popularity. TV shows aired on channels of our neighbouring countries have most audiences. Therefore, it is difficult to comprehend how the addition of thirteen more channels would help the situation. We should focus on producing standardised TV programmes rather than making quantity our focal point. Actors, makers and sponsors should all come together and develop a grading system. Furthermore instead of producing all kinds of programmes, it will be beneficial if different TV channels direct all their resources to specialise in producing just one particular type of programme – news, documentaries, movies, dramas, music or entertainment. Recently we have learned of such a TV channel called Gaan Bangla that solely produces and airs music. We appreciate their initiation and wish them much luck and success as they embark on this new endeavour.