“Daily soaps are our way forward”

Anondo Khaled began his journey in the entertainment industry on theatre, but has found big success everywhere he has ventured. From single-episode plays, serials, TV advertisements, a hit film (“Chhuye Dile Mon”) and even music videos, he is one of the most recognizable faces of television today. The actor recently sat down with The Daily Star to talk about his thoughts on acting and our actors, and what he thinks is the way forward for the TV industry.

Do you think a lot of our actors are being pigeonholed into certain types of characters?

Anondo: Every actor has a range. Mosharraf Karim doing Apurbo's character in “Batch 27” would not work, nor would Apurbo as Sikander Box. I believe in range. I have a range and I play within it. Why should I compete with every actor? There is also a commercial aspect to it. In the last few years we have developed a young, urban viewer base for our TV plays. It's not just the rural backdrop plays or slapstick comedies. Actors like Tahsan, Siam, Tawsif or Jovan have their niche audience, as do Zahid Hasan or AKM Hasan. You have to cater to that audience; otherwise we will lose them. Once in a while an actor can do an off-beat role. Maybe Tahsan will do a bus conductor role, and people will love it. Or Mosharraf Karim will play home minister. But that will not be a regular occurrence, and it shouldn't be either.

Speaking of range, which actor of today do you think has a wide acting range?

Anondo: Allen Shubhro. If you see even his recent works, from “Bikel Bela'r Pakhi” to “Hotel Albatross”, he is a very versatile actor.

What are your thoughts on the content on on-demand and streaming services like YouTube or Bioscope?

Anondo: I think its viewership is increasing. I recently worked in a music video, and later when I was shooting in Manikganj people came up to me and said they watched it. So it's not just in Dhaka. Web-only series are getting lots of views. And I believe TV's 'monopoly' in this entertainment sector may not remain. YouTube content could give TV a strong competition.

What do you think can help grow our TV audience?

Anondo: I believe there is only one way out. We need to make more and better daily soaps. Our makers work so hard and bring out so many good plays during Eid, but not enough attention is given to five-days-a-week serials. Our serials have two episodes on Sunday and Monday, and by the next week the audience has forgotten about it. On the contrary, look how popular “Sultan Suleimen”, which is a dubbed series from Turkey, is. We need to have five-days-a-week soaps, with limited advertisement, and they have to be repeated at a different time slot, like in the morning. During the two Eids, we get a huge audience but the rest of the year this audience watches India Zee Bangla and Star Jalsha. Unless we can popularise daily soaps, our industry will not truly be ours. The younger audience will go to YouTube, the other will go to Zee Bangla. Some channels are doing it; Deepto TV is already doing it, and Nagorik also has that plan in the pipeline.