THE HUNT BEGINS
One of my senior colleagues called me up. Once in his room, he grabbed a piece of paper wrote down, “Michael C. Hall”. He looked at my wondering eyes. Again, on the same paper he wrote, “Hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon”. I shouted, “Dexter!” He shushed me and told me to keep it down. This was in September, 2013. Who knew I would have the opportunity to meet the most beloved serial killer of television? There he was, in the simplest possible outfit sitting alone in the lobby of the hotel. My colleague introduced me to the man whom I have been watching on TV since 2001, when he was in HBO's hit series, “Six Feet Under”. We shook hands and got introduced to his five-member crew. One of my revered teachers, Prof. M. Omar Rahman, Vice Chancellor of IUB was there too. Within a few minutes, they all got on to the streets with the cameras rolling; Prof. M. Omar Rahman was showing Michael the streets of Dhaka. The whole team walked through the slums of Kawranbazar beside the railway. I kept following while my camera kept taking pictures. We walked for miles. When rain came, we took shelter in a makeshift slum office then we went into the bazar. By then darkness had already set in. I returned to office after getting the confirmation that I will get a chance to interview Michael with permission from Michael's agent in New York. The crew will be leaving Dhaka for a
weeklong tour to hurricane prone areas of Bangladesh. So, the hunt to get Dexter's interview began. The first thing I did was send an email to Michael's agent asking for an exclusive interview. Then I opened Facebook. WHAT THE… I screamed! So much for keeping it a secret! Within minutes of me leaving the team they went to visit to the largest shopping mall in town. Walking through the slums is one thing, but a shopping mall? You can't hide Michael C. Hall in a shopping mall anywhere in the world! Facebook was full pictures of Dexter at Bashundhara mall. I thought of uploading a few of the pictures I took. Then came the email from Michael's agent. She replied with a bunch of conditions. The most painful was that I was not allowed to publish anything before April, 2014. NOT EVEN A PICTURE ON FACEBOOK! Well, I had follow the code – like Harry's code in Dexter – I must refrain myself for almost half a year to get an exclusive with Dexter a week later. And I also must not ask anything about the final episode of Dexter. Oh, come on! That was too much. It was a time when people were fighting over which finale was better, Dexter or Breaking Bad and who's the more sinister killer, Dexter or Walter White!
Now that it is April 2014, I am finally being able to publish the exclusive interview (centerfold)!
- Zia Nazmul Islam
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