It’s still possible to live without the urge to become something: Afzal Hossain

We reached on time. I asked him, “You were talking about editing something while speaking over the phone last night. Have you made anything new?”

Afzal Hossain replied, “I just can’t sit idle, there’s always something going on inside my head. Last night (Monday) I was making video recordings of my own poems. People are less interested in reading poetry nowadays. If it’s presented in a suitable way to enjoy visually and audibly many might watch and listen to it with interest.” From poetry, the conversation drifted to a variety of issues in the course of discussion.  

Afzal Hossain loved drawing and painting since childhood. With the dream of becoming an artist he came to Dhaka in 1970 and got himself admitted to the Art College. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. There was no Master degree for Fine Arts back then. After finishing college he joined Dhaka Theatre group.

The same year, Abdullah Al Mamun gave him a break to act on television. Soon he became a popular television actor, star. Another popular star of that time, actress Suborna Mustafa and Afzal Hossain then acted in a series of hit dramas and turned themselves into a popular onscreen couple.

Next year, Afzal Hossain will step into the forth decade of his acting career. 

Afzal Hossain had already started drawing book covers and line drawings while he was still a student. He induced significant changes in both forms. He has written a number of dramas for television also. The drama titled ‘Parle Na Rumki’ written by him is a popular romantic production even today. Also, he’s widely known for his fame as a television presenter.

Afzal Hossain is a poet also and has published five collections of poetry already. His first poetry collection titled ‘Tin Narir Pathshala’ was published in 2007. Then his second poetry collection titled ‘Shudhu Ektai Pa’ was published after four years.

He received City Ananda Alo Literature Award for these two publications. His other published poetry collections are titled ‘Kono Jonaki E Ondhokar Chene Na’, ’19 No. Kobita Mokam’, and ‘Amra Dhulokadar Amra Adorsholipir’.

Afzal Hossain has a habit of reading poetry since student life. He said, “While studying at the Art College, whenever we friends used to gather around everyone would ask me to recite poems. That means people do have an interest towards poetry.”

“The atmosphere back then was like one of our friends may be playing a guitar while we all might be sitting in a circle around and suddenly they would tell me, ‘you should recite a poem’. Then I would recite a poem while another friend played the guitar. That’s how we spent time when we got together. Gradually I also started getting interested in poetry more and more.”

The poetry of quite a few poets used to excite this actor back then. Jibananda Das, Nirmalendu Goon, Abul Hasan, Shamsur Rahman and Syed Shamsul Haque are on Afzal Hosain’s list of favourite poets.

Though he’s not that connected with the present-day poets, he did have the opportunity to read some of their poetry. Among the ones he has read, he likes the poetry of Eraj Ahmed and Altaf Shahnewaz while, he finds Tariq Sujat’s poems unique.

Afzal Hossain also has a contribution behind the huge transformation in the advertising sector of Bangladesh. Afzal Hossain has been writing and drawing regularly these days. He said that he finds these two activities very engrossing that he does this solely for himself. Besides, it’s a huge plus point that he can do all this on his own as he wants, without anyone’s assistance.

When asked, “What are you writing about at the moment?” He said that he’s been writing a long article on advertisements. Plus, he’s been trying to write a novel for quite some time now. He said that sometimes he can write pages after pages while some other times he just can’t write at all.

“It requires a lot of thought and planning to write a novel. I cannot think of an instance where I could write poetry in a planned and organised way. I never sit down to write thinking that okay I’ll write down a poem now.”

“Poetry is conjured up out of nowhere and knocks on the door of my conscience while I just unbolt the door. I do not command poetry. Sometime I could write down six poems in just four days, while sometimes I couldn’t write even a single poem in a whole month,” said Afzal Hossain. He also mentioned that he has plans to hold an exhibition of his drawings next year.

It seems like Afzal Hossain had a fresh start after the Covid pandemic. After watching him on television and in films the audience discovered him in a brand new avatar on OTT, when he worked in Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s ‘Ladies and Gentleman’, ‘Amitabh Reza’s ‘Bodh’, Syed Ahmed Shawki’s ‘Karagar’, and ‘Nuhash Humayun’s ‘Pett Kata Shaw’.

When asked how he is enjoying this second innings, Afzal Hossain said, “My first innings went wonderfully. Any actor would want their second innings to go a bit differently. And, it’s going well. I finished working in Nuhash Humayun’s ‘Pett Kata Shaw 2’. Just recently he said that this one has turned out even better than the last season. I am feeling excited about it.”

He has started shooting for a new film recently. A group of youths are making the film. Mukitul Bari is the director of th film ‘Shilpojibi’. Afzal Hossain said it’s the story of an author that revolves around the crisis and struggle of his desire to write and inability to do so. Another storyline runs simultaneously with this crisis and struggle.

Afzal Hossain appears with actress Afsana Mimi here. The two of them worked together for the first time in a drama titled ‘Bhokatta’ about two decades ago. Although they have worked together again several times after that, this is the first time they are working in a film.

In reply to the question, why does Afzal Hossain take breaks in between his onscreen appearances? He said, “I do love acting but that’s not my profession. So it does not become possible for me to appear in projects on a regular basis.”

When asked, “You are working under young director’s production, don’t you feel hesitant?” he directly replied, “No.” Afzal Hossain said, “Today's youths did not get down to filmmaking just because they stumbled upon the idea or out of any whim. They don’t do that. They come here with a lot of knowledge and with dreams.” 

“After collaborating with a few of them I feel that the knowledge and understanding of the new generation is fresh and different from ours. So, the excitement and the pleasure of working with youngsters hit differently. And it comes with the opportunity of learning a lot of things in a new way.” 

He’s only a bit worried about one thing concerning the youth. He sees everyone doing calculations to become hit even before starting with the production. He considers this to be surrendering before beginning the fight.  

This Ekushey Padak-winning actor let out that relationships are his favourite subject of interest. The relationship between people is so diverse, appealing and deep. Most people in the country do not see relationship as a matter to ponder upon and to feel. If people could see more stories on relationships, they could have become more sensitive, he believes.

Just when the conversation was about to be wrapped up we asked Afzal Hossain, “You were supposed to be making a film, what’s the update on that?” He said that he wants to make films for children. He has been playing the titular role in a children’s drama series ‘Chotokaku’ for a long period now.

He enjoys the fact a lot that teenagers call him ‘Chotokaku’. He wants to make a film on ‘Chotokaku’, based on Faridur Reza Sagar’s teen detective stories of the same name. He said he will come up with the official announcement at the beginning of the new year.

Lastly Azal Hossain was asked, “You spent time on so many things for so many years. Do you ever feel that you couldn’t do justice to yourself in the attempt of doing so many things at once?”

He just smiled at these words and then said, “If I had had any objectives of of making big profits in my mind I certainly might have felt that it has been a loss project. Whenever I put in efforts into something, I did it lovingly with the hope of enjoying life. You only live once, so people should show respect towards life.”

“You’ll lose many things if you sell your life hoping for profit in an attempt to become something in life. Whenever the river erodes on one bank, the bank builds up on the other side. It’s still possible to live a splendid life without the urge to must become something. Everything I do, keeps life fulfilled all the time. What more do I need?”