Wanted to explore the criminal, not the crime: Shihab Shaheen
Whether for the song Boiam Pakhi or the unpredictable personality of Allen Swapan, everyone loved Chorki's original series, Myself Allen Swapan.
The character was first seen in Syndicate, where Allen Swapan only had a few scenes, but Nasir Uddin Khan outright stole the show, culminating in the much-hyped spinoff.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. We asked director Shihab Shaheen, the mastermind behind the character, about why he felt the need for a separate series for Allen Swapan.
"Allen simply won hearts with his quirky personality, accent and mysterious aura. Moreover, as he was the mastermind of all the criminal activities in the series, the audience demanded to know about this character's origins," he said. Since the release of the spin-off, everyone has been asking about what will happen to Allen Swapan in the next season.
In response to this question, Shaheen replied, "In the next season, we will dig deeper into the life of Allen Swapan, and show how he became the powerful kingpin that was shown in the series Syndicate."
"If you watch Syndicate, you will see that the person who is the assistant of Allen Swapan is the same person who beats him in the last episode of 'Myself Allen Swapan'. In this series, he is the assistant of Tanzil, who is against Allen. So, in the next season, we will see how his allegiances changed."
Even though Rafiath Rashid Mithila put one of the best performances of her life with Allen Swapan's wife, Shayla, she was criticised by many because of her 'provocative' character in the series.
Shihab Shaheen explained why didn't want to make Shayla an innocent victim.
"When Shayla's husband dies and another person impersonates his dead husband, we begin to think how a woman will react in these situations. Will she try to do anything to survive in this city alone with her daughter? Will she try to find happiness out of all this? We wanted to delve into these questions while making the character," said the director.
"We see Shayla as a little self-centered, a woman who not only thought of her child, but also thought of her happiness too. She is a multi-dimensional and grey character. We didn't want to make her a 'typical' Bengali woman," he added.
Some audiences wanted to see more of the lead character's shady businesses and rise in the crime world, rather than the relationship between Swapan and Shayla.
"When a drug dealer leaves his hometown and comes to an unknown city where he tries to erase his former identity, it's important to show how he did it. How he convinced his brother's wife and eventually made her his wife, to create a different identity for him," he said, in response to those audiences.
He also wanted to tell the story of a drug dealer, rather than drug dealing itself. He wanted to delve into the psyche of a criminal and how he brutally commits a crime.
"In the last episode, when the character faces a brutal consequence, he did nothing because hiding his identity was more important to him. We wanted to show how brutal and selfish these criminals are," said the director.
Shihab Shaheen is working on the second seasons of "Syndicate" and "Myself Allen Swapan". He is also gearing up to start shooting for the psychological thriller series, "Ashur", based on the life of Roshu Kha, who was considered to be the first serial-killer in Bangladesh. Between 2007 and 2009, Roshu Kha raped and murdered 11 women, according to his confession to the police.
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