Television of a Lifetime

Continued from Vol 01 Issue 13
The biggest programme recorded on BTV (Bangladesh Television) auditorium was 'Jodi Kichu Mone Nakoren'. The first day of shooting was had to be cancelled due to rain. Some may think that the audience didn't show up because of rain. But the real reason was rain poured through the modern studio roof of the auditorium and flooded the floor. But again, the audience showed their patience and waited for the programme to start. Fazle Lohani was sitting with the audience in the makeup room with his hands on his head. The audience assured that they would show up for the re-recording.
Television always was loved by its audience. Television is for the people – they wanted something good from it. But it is always difficult to produce the best programmes.
A few days back, HSC (Higher Secondary Certificate) students of Holy Cross School went to Bashundhara Cineplex to watch 'Molla Barir Bou'. Those students had a lot of interest in Bangladeshi films. Talking to them, it became clear that those students were as interested in watching the movie as seeing Bashundhara Shopping Complex. Those students had watched 'Devdas' or 'Black' many times on DVD at home. It is astonishing to learn the number of people watched an old movie like 'Mughal E Azam' after colorizing it. The reason behind mass popularity of those movies is cinematography and set-design. This applies to television as well. Ekushe TV was careful about their set-design. Other TV channels are not at all serious about set-design. Yet there were many well designed studios in BTV. It takes time to design a set; yet the determination and hard work made set-designs great at BTV. Nowadays, set-deigns don't attract the audience at all. One of the reasons behind this is the lack of communication and coordination between art director and director. Another thing I must add regarding this is that recently art director is titled 'art direction' and 'cinematographer', yet the kind of shot has to be taken with a camera is decided by art director. If 'Shongshoptok' is the first hit TV drama, set-design played an important role in it.
All wondered about where Abdullah Al Mamun got such huge set for 'Shongshoptok'. Surprisingly enough, shooting of 'Shongshoptok' was done in 'under-construction' studio of Rampura TV station. Camera control was done on a wooden plank. Lights and everything was done in an organized way; in such condition, only thing that kept it running was dedication. Later, many facilities were introduced at Rampura studios but no other drama series was as popular as 'Shongshoptok'. Even the remake of the drama series failed to attract the viewers. Nowadays, elaborate plans are taken for set-design. But viewers were astonished to watch a train pass by in Atiqul Haq Chowdhury's drama or waves behind a musical programme by Mustafa Kamal Syed.
 

During the DIT days, literally there used to be research on should be on display during interlude, because singer's close up face often looked expressionless. An important bank officer, artiste Anowar Alauddin Khan was an exception. He was very expressive. Leaving cardboard designed set, sari design of female artiste used to be on display during interlude. One time a director fell in trouble when sari design was on camera while a male singer was singing.
Later, Mustafa Kamal Syed produced the most musical programmes in BTV history, and brought many varieties. Recently, with his friend Mohammad Mozakker, Mustafa Kamal Syed produced a programme called 'Kichu Kotha Kichu Gaan' hosted by Abdul Hadi on NTV. The programme turned out to be a popular one. Mustafa Kamal Syed used to use paintings of famous artists. He also used pictures of mosque on religious programmes; this idea is still used today. Among musical programmes, 'Gaan Guli Mor' hosted by Ferdousi Rahman was on air on NTV. Again, Ferdousi Rahman was the first performer of a musical progamme on BTV.
To be continued…
The writer is Managing Director, Channel i
Translated by Zia Nazmul Islam