“Always keep a smile on your face”

Tariq Anam Khan first got on the stage when he was in class seven. With a luminous acting career spanning over four decades, he now stands among the finest Bangladeshi actors of all time. Be it film, television or stage, he has a dominating presence. In a recent conversation, he walked down the memory lane to share his beginning as an actor, his accomplishments and more. Excerpts:

How did you begin as a television actor?

Tariq Anam Khan: I got involved with television in the early 1980s. Fortunately I received a scholarship at Delhi National School of Drama in 1976, with which I discovered a new door to the world of arts and literature. When I came back here, I did a number of off-beat characters in films in the early '80s but those did not work out and I quit the medium. Then I concentrated on television and side by side was continuing with Abdullah Al Mamun's troupe Theatre.

What was it like to work with Humayun Ahmed?

Tariq Anam Khan:  When Humayun Ahmed began making TV plays, we barely knew him. He asked me to play Baker Bhai in “Kothao Keu Nei”, but later changed his mind -- and it created a gap between us. The gap continued for a long time before I was cast in his “Ghetuputro Komola”.

He had told me that he did not like my acting and he had a notion that I did not like him. He actually tested me out through a TV play before casting me in “Ghetuputro Komola”.

It is then he called me a 'very good actor' and that he had a misconception about me. But he left us shortly after. He was an incredibly learned man; he had knowledge about almost everything. We would hang out together on the shooting sets for a long time. I still miss that, and I wish I could have done a few more films with him.

What do you still dream of?

Tariq Anam Khan: As an actor, I still dream of working in a Hollywood film. Although that hasn't yet come true, my name does show up in the “Avengers: Age of Ultron” credits, as I was production coordinator for the sequence shot in Bangladesh..

What's the difference between Tariq Anam Khan on and off-screen?

Tariq Anam Khan: It's not that I am a bad person, but my audiences are used to seeing me in negative roles. Maybe that I have a very serious type of face and am a serious man when I work, but I believe there's a child in very grown-up person. We often kill that child inside of us for whatever reasons, but I think we should nurture that child. Laugh it out and always keep a smile on your face; life needs humour.