Quite a sensation among his fans, Arifin Shuvoo, recently released a music video 'Mon Ta Bojhena' as an Eid-gift to his fans as he has no new film lied up because of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The Dhallywood hunk sang the song penned and tuned by K Zia and composed by Fuad. The actor received a blast of applauds from friends, fans and others for the song.
He recently talked to Prothom about the response to the song, the condition of the industry right now, his future plans and much more.
How did the fans react to the song?
Everyone seemed to liked it. I didn’t expect that. it was my first music solo ever. I couldn’t even use the latest gadgets or technology to shoot the video. And it would have been an even bigger hit if I could have filmed it abroad.
What did your friends and colleagues say?
Tahsan, Adit, Imran, Nusrat Faria, Oishee, Pooja, Taskin and many others praised the song. Some of them called me up over phone and others shared the video on social media with compliments. It really motivated me.
Will you sing commercially in the future?
Not really. I wish to focus on acting. But to be honest, I was overwhelmed by the positive response from the fans and friends. I may sing occasionally, but not commercially. Indian singer Farhan Akhter sang a song for his fans and it became a big hit. I am thinking of singing another song for Eid-ul-Azha. But of course, not more than that. All I wanted was to cheer up my fans confined in their homes due the virus outbreak.
How did you like the song?
I liked the song very much. I wouldn’t have done it I if wasn’t sure. It has been with me for one and half years. I sang it to many friends and everybody liked it. So I released it for my fans. And they also liked it as you can see. My YouTube subscribers jumped to 40 thousand from 13 thousand in 24 hours. I didn’t even promote the song much. All I did was posted it on my social media accounts.
Movies and filming have been held up due to the pandemic and nobody knows when things will be back to normal. What are you thinking about movies right now?
Our industry was already in a bad shape. This pandemic has just worsened it. We hoped for something better this year, but it’s all gone now. I feel our industry has to start over with new ideas, new plans, new hope and new strength.
And exactly how will that happen?
The concept of entertainment has changed worldwide. People are not going to the cinema now, they are enjoying all sorts of films and series online on TOT platforms. People are not interested in age-old clichés now. Our own industry hasn't emerged out of that. Leadership in the industry and people’s taste, both will change. The old will fall back while new ideas will take over. This is how our industry will flourish and our movies will compete in the internationalarena.
What are your plans for this Eid?
All I can say is, the world was restored to normalcy 100 years back during the Spanish Flu. It will get back to normal again as we are more advanced now. My family and I will not buy new clothes this Eid. If you miss your friends or relatives, please make a video call and talk to them. Do not step out of home. My message to my fans is, please stay home. We will enjoy many Eids in future if we live.
*This interview, originally published in Prothom Alo Bangla online, has been rewritten in English by Farjana Liakat