Shagota's roots of talent runs deep. Coming from a singing background and a musician herself, she entered the media after winning the 'You Got The Look' competition.
She has acted in films that went on to become hits and her work in TV is well known as well.
However, despite all this, she still hasn't quite reached the full breadth of her potential that the audience expects. Star Showbiz sat down with her to find out more about her career and maybe find the answer to this mystery.
I like doing many things. I am constantly involved in different cultural activities. Before all this, I was a musician and was very busy with my band, called Mohakal, and then after I won the 'You Got The Look' competition, I came into the media.
I am not diverting my attention to fields outside cultural activities so my focus is here. When I did my first film with Manna Bhai in 2006, I was an amateur. Back then, nobody was working in this media.
I wasn't sure yet whether I would continue in the film industry or not. I did that project as I wanted to try it once and test the waters so to speak. The opportunity found me at the right time.
7. Even when the movie became a hit, I still felt that I needed to better prepare myself before I launch myself into films again. Through my other film experiences in commercial, digital foreign, etc. I have gained even more understanding and now, if I am asked to do a film, I have the confidence that I will be able to do it perfectly.
I am serious about acting in films. I plan to start working in a film project soon, the details of which shall soon be released.
After the first film, the reaction was divided at first. Many thought that I wouldn't be able to pull it off, but my performances won them over and gave me some space.
Moreover, the wholehearted support that I got from Manna Bhai, Moushumi Apu and Joynal Abedin, the director of the film, was the whole reason that I could do the film at all.
I love acting, more than the prospect of displaying my beauty. In film terms in Bangladesh, a heroine is one whose sole job is to be seen on screen portray herself first, and acting comes second. I don't really want that.
If you saw someone in your living room TV, why would you go out to a movie theater to see that same person? A while ago, these two mediums had clear boundaries. Now with good story and execution, this definition is quickly disappearing.
The thing that many don't understand is that film is made for the mass media, which means you can't spring something abstract out of nowhere and expect the audience to accept and appreciate it.
The definition of a 'good film' is important. You need to understand the taste of the audience and conform to that.
As for the popularity of foreign programs such as Hindi and Kolkata serials, it's all a matter of quality. See when they start a production for say 100 episodes, they maintain the same effort, cast and quality throughout the entire 100 episode run. This doesn't happen in Bangladesh, in my opinion.
If we commit to a 100 episode run, our effort, cast and quality would last for the first 25 and then keep degrading. Until we learn to fix this and maintain a consistency, we can't regain our audience, which is a shame because compared to their productions, our ones have more diverse and unique stories.
I am currently involved with a lot of TV Serials and a TVC titled 'Beautiful Bangladesh', where I played the character of a snake charmer, for which I needed to learn to handle a snake which I had never done before!
I believe that we need to develop our story telling skills because that is a very crucial factor in any production or industry.
