Art director Shihab Nurun Nabi talks to The Daily Star

"Lights, Camera, Action!" As familiar as we are with these words, more often than not, the people who bring the vision of the film to life are left behind the curtains.

One of the unsung heroes, that are responsible for everything that you see on the screen apart from the protagonist, is the production design crew. And a facet of that department is Art Direction.

That is what Shihab Nurun Nabi had to say, when I asked him to describe what is art direction to him. A part of the growing industry for the last 15 years, Shihab Nurun Nabi is the recipient of the National Film Award 2021 for Art Direction, for his amazing work witnessed in "Nona Joler Kabbo". He has worked in almost 500 TVCs, multiple films, OTT projects and more. Some of your favourite projects like "Mohanagar", "Rickshaw Girl", "Shonibar Bikel", "Sincerely yours, Dhaka" have his involvement. More recently, he has worked with Coke Studio Bangla season 2, to help visualise the songs that have captured everyone's hearts.

"Whatever the director or the producer creatively visualises, art direction helps bring it forward on the screen," remarked Nabi to The Daily Star on a discussion over the internet about how the local industry's perspective about this aspect of filming has grown.

Bangladesh's film industry is still growing, adapting with the times to give artistes their due recognition and credit for their work. Even 20 years ago, the credit line of an Art Director would rarely be found in the end credits of a film, nor at the back of a CD case.

"We've had to fight for our recognition that's true, nothing comes without struggle." The award category of Art Directors in the National Film Award was introduced in 1975, where there haven't been many variations in the names of winners. While Uttam Guho is one of the most frequent winners for his exceptional works in "Mrittika Maya", "Gohin Baluchor" and more, quite a few years have passed in between without an awardee. Does that reflect the lack of interest in the field?

"We do want more people to venture into this industry," said Nabi, "People think that success will be instant, unfortunately it's not. You have to work, like I said, struggle is inevitable. Despite that, Nabi believes that there are immense opportunities to be explored in the field of Art Direction, as more people venture into the farthest corners of filmmaking, more variations will be seen creatively. 

Nabi's artistic outlook has been illustrated on the sets of the latest season of Coke Studio Bangla. When asked about his experience in working with the studio with changing themes, he pointed out that if you're a bit eagle-eyed, you will notice the master set. The 'master-set' refers to a structure that acts as the background, and other set pieces according to the theme are constructed around it when necessary. That is exactly what Nabi and his team did.

"The biggest challenge was that we had to work everyday. We had to build a new set every day, and then dismantle it when the shoot was done," Nabi recalled. He also mentioned that he achieved the tiring task of constructing a set within 8 hours and then dismantling it within three, with the help of his team.

"Team effort is a big aspect of Art direction or production design. For the music videos I directed, me and my team sat down with the artistes, listened to their lyrics months at a time, and discussed their musical vision with them. That's where we drew our inspiration from as well."

Coke Studio has already turned into a global phenomenon, with different countries adding their own spin to the productions under the banner. How was the Bangladeshi essence emulated into the videos of the songs?

"What Coke Studio mainly does is create a blend of folk and modern. To keep the local essence, we focused on the folk part of it. For example, in "Bonbibi '' the myth (of the same name) was our source of inspiration. Similarly in "Kotha Koiyo Na '', you will see a huge tree-like structure in the video, that stands as a cheeky nod to the act of 'hiding behind the trees', to hide from prying eyes'.

When asked about his favourite visually pleasing movies, Nabi tactfully avoids answering the question. He believes that art direction doesn't need a certain genre or type to be pigeon-holed into, it is everywhere. From period pieces, to documentary or even action movies, the latter happened to be his favourite type of films. Despite working in rather serious productions, Nabi used his affection towards action films, translate onto projects like "Mohanagar" or "Shonibar Bikel", the latter still awaiting clearance to be released in Bangladesh.

On a parting note, Art Direction not only attributes to the overall aesthetics of a film, but rather adds depth to the overall project. Thus if you're looking to understand the craft better, Nabi advises, "Forget the character, look at the background. Then find the odds and get rid of them. The best art direction is no art direction at all, making it look seamless."

Lastly he adds, "The more blended it is with the story and characters, the better it will be".