Shohel gets his elusive ‘black lady’
Winning hearts on both sides of the border, actor Shohel Mondol bagged his first Filmfare Award (Bangla) in the Best Debut (Male) category for the film "Mayar Jonjal".
The actor was unable to attend the award-giving ceremony and receive the honour in person. While sharing his winning experience, the actor also spilled the beans about his upcoming projects and more with The Daily Star.
Congratulations on your first 'Black Lady'! What is the first thing you recalled upon receiving the news of winning the award?
Thank you so much! This award holds much more for me than being a prize. It reminds me of the time when I was a nobody, and I was working only for recognition. Indranil Roychowdhury, the director of "Mayar Jonjal", believed in me and had the confidence to cast me in this beautiful film. I got nostalgic upon receiving the news and reminisced how he found me through the film "Sheola", directed by Jaheen Faruque Ameen. It's one of the films from the anthology series "Osthir Shomoy Shosthir Golpo", which was released in 2017.
After the award-giving ceremony, did you have the chance to talk to Indranil Roychowdhury?
Yes, he sent me a text immediately, writing, 'You deserve it!'; I am not sure if I really do, but all I know is that I have worked with a director like him, and getting such validation from him makes me proud of myself. The best thing is that we are still connected and he treats me like a young brother, and we share a friendly bond.
You couldn't attend the Filmfare Award in person, what happened?
The announcement of the nomination came just a few days ago, and within such a short time, it was not possible to get the visa.
'Taqdeer' earned you acclaim on both sides of the border, after that, projects like 'Boli', and 'Pett Kata Shaw' were your career remarks. 'Mayar Jonjal' was released after a while. How was the response to this film?
Certainly, the response was great. By the time "Mayar Jonjal" was released, the audience had already known me for my other OTT projects. I regularly get messages and comments of appreciation from the Indian audience just the way our Bangladeshi audience loves me. Although the film was released in local theatres as well, it only ran in the hall for a brief period. However, the response from West Bengal was overwhelming.
It has been some time since you last appeared on OTT. Why is that?
Actually, it takes time to prepare for a role, for both the silver screen and OTT. I was occupied with two big projects: Badrul Anam Saud's "Shyama Kabbo", and Masud Hasan Ujjal's "Bonolota Sen". I only worked on a few television projects in between these two. Now that these films await release, I will be focusing on OTT again. Meanwhile, the audience will find me in a few tele-fictions during this Eid.
Tell us about your upcoming projects.
I am working on an independent film, "Prithibi Nirontor Pandorar Box", directed by Mukit Al-Bari. My co-star in this film is Shirin Akter Shila, and we have completed seventy percent of the shoot. I am very hopeful about this project. Also, some of my works for upcoming Eid festivities include—Anonno Emon's "Obhab", Jamal Mallick's "Shariwala Clothing Centre", Marufer Rahman's "Moner Mondire", Atif Aslam Bablu's "Switch", Arman Rahman Prottoy's "Kather Putul", and the DeeptoPlay original web-film "Tribhuj", directed by Alok Hasan.