Both on TV and stage, Noor has accomplished audience's praise. Recently, however, he has entered the country's political arena. And as if success was inevitable there too, he became an MP on getting party-nomination for the first time. Although political life now consumes most of his time, Noor's cultural persona is still quite in action. In an interview with Harun ur Rashid of The Daily Star, Asaduzzaman Noor talks of various aspects of his life.

The Daily Star: How are you? How is life?

Asaduzzaman Noor: With acting, business and politics, life has become tremendously busy. I come to office [of Asiatic] around 9 in the morning and have to attend to visitors until around 12. A lot of people come from my constituency, from other places too. Often there are also party-events that I need to participate in.

TDS: Is there any possibility that your involvement in politics might lead you to stop acting?

AN: Certainly not! I haven't yet thought of that. I'm still continuing as much acting as my busy schedule allows me. It's been only a few days, in fact, that I finished shooting a film.

TDS: Which film?

AN: Its name is Chandrakotha, a film by Humayun Ahmed.

TDS: What role are you playing in it?

AN: Mine is a character of a Zamindar. There are a few touches of the Mirza of Ayomoy in this role. But yet it's a different character.

TDS: Of all your identities, people chiefly remember and love you as an actor. How did you come into acting?

AN: In school and college life, I acted in several plays on many occasions--just as many people do. My father had interest in cultural activities. While in high school, one of my teachers named Sunil Ratan Banerjee inspired me much. In college too I was involved in cultural activities--in fact, I was elected the Cultural Secretary of the East Pakistan Students' Union. In '73, I was in Dhaka and joined the theatre group Padatik. But there I actually worked off the stage.

TDS: When did you start acting then?

AN: This was an interesting incident. I often did the prompting in Padatik during rehearsals. And as you may guess, often the entire dialogue of a drama got memorised by me automatically. During one such rehearsal, Abul Hayat got badly wounded in a sequence that involved some violence. The show was only two days ahead. Now, who would replace Hayat? Director Aly Zaker took the risk of sending me on stage to do that role.

TDS: What was the drama about?

AN: It was about a crisis of that time created artificially by some dishonest dealers who illegally hoarded kerosene. The drama was written by Rashid Haider.

TDS: What was Abul Hayat's role--that is, your role?

AN: My role was that of an ordinary person beside whose house one such hoarding is discovered. People chase the black marketeers, they get into the house of that man, and during this chaos one container of kerosene is found in the house which the man collected for his household use. People take him as one of the criminals, so they beat him.

TDS: Which character that you've played so far in TV dramas do you like most?

AN: That of Mirza in Ayomoy. There is also that of Younus, a professional murderer, in Humayun Ahmed's play Pinjirar Moddhey Bondi Hoyarey.

TDS: But it was surely Baker Bhai that moved the audience most. Why do you think the character created such impact?

AN: Well, it was a time when the whole country was fettered by the dictatorship of military regime. Especially the youth suffered the most. I think the character of Baker, a kind-hearted gunda with immense love for a girl, gave people a stimulation of liberty from that confinement. The character worked as a vent for the ordinary people's anguish. Moreover, Baker's Robin Hood image made him a hero in the audience's eyes.

TDS: Did you follow any such real-life character in portraying Baker?

AN: Yes, I remembered one Yousuf gunda who I had seen when I was studying at Carmichael College in Rangpur. Yousuf used to sit in front of the Oriental cinema. I heard numerous stories about him.

TDS: At present there are few such characters like Mirza and Baker Bhai that win the audience's love and praise. Why do you think is the situation so? Has the quality deteriorated?

AN: I think so. Many argue though that in the past there was only one TV channel, so it got all quality pieces. But there wasn't the professional competition then, as there is now. I think the degradation has spread into every aspect of TV drama--script, direction and acting. We had a warm association between the actors, directors, producers and everyone in the team. That is what the present productions lack in.

TDS: How do you take people's reaction to your political identity?

AN: When it comes to political ideology, those who are opposed to my political party will surely stand against the 'political Noor'. But in my area I always try to work with people from all political parties. And they also take me as one of their own rather than one from the opposition block.

TDS: What changes do you wish should occur in the politics in Bangladesh?

AN: I believe, the political parties should practise more tolerance than at present. The professional groups should be united on issues related to their profession. Doctors, for example, should not be politically divided when they need to protect and promote the interest of doctors as a whole. Likewise teachers, journalists, engineers, actors--all should have their own platforms where there will be no compromise with the political interest.

TDS: How do you think could it happen?

AN: Of course, the political parties should take the initial steps. But the ordinary people will also have to consider one thing. At different times the political environment has become polluted in our country. Political party like Awami League has had to compromise with many unwanted things in order to overcome the obstacles imposed on it. And to 'clean up' the mess is not a very easy task--it needs some time.

TDS: What are you planning for future--will you continue politics?

AN: I will perhaps continue politics for one more term. After that I wish to do some writing--plays, memoirs etc. Next month I'm starting to work for Roktokarobi for the stage. I'm doing the King's character.

TDS: Do you wish to come into direction?

AN: No, I don't think I do.

TDS: Anything to say for the readers of the Daily Star and for the countrymen?

AN: Only this much I wish to tell that we had started a procession in 1962. We have carried it on through '69, '71, and the '90s. The procession is still alive. Let us all work together so that we may bring an end to this procession.