Omer Aiaz Ony: Effortless acting
Thousands of avid Humayun Ahmed fans who are familiar with his unconventional character Shubhro will perhaps remember Omer Aiaz Ony who played the protagonist in a TV adaptation of the popular novel. Or, some may remember the English-speaking, slightly pretentious, but nonetheless interesting character in “Bhalobashi Tai”, a telefilm aired on ntv. Better still, viewers, who watched the special TV programmes this Eid, would recognise Ony, because his plays were broadcast on several channels.
The real Ony wears glasses. Do the characters he plays contribute to the shaping of his exterior? “Oh no (laughs), I don't want to be identified with the characters I play. And I also try to avoid those idiosyncrasies from my roles,” says Ony. “In fact, I often try not to wear my glasses since I worked in 'Shubhro',” he adds, sensing what the question implicitly hinted at.
Indeed, there is diversity in the roles he played so far. For example, in Nasiruddin Yousuff's “Guerilla”, Ony's presence on the screen as a freedom fighter during the Liberation War was short but very bold. Then, his role of a caring, loving husband in Shihab Shahin's star-studded “Bhalobashi Tai Bhalobeshe Jai” (aired recently during Eid) is also worth mentioning.
There is something about his temperament that makes his acting seem rather effortless. He had tried his hand at several professions, but had always been more or less involved with acting since the early 1990s. Ony joined theatre troupe Tribeni in 1994, and after about five years joined Nagorik Natya Sampraday, and worked in many popular productions of the latter.
He also works on radio adaptations of plays and is an enlisted artiste of Bangladesh Betar. With the proliferation of many satellite TV channels and the invention of new forms of entertainment, the popularity of radio adaptations is on the wane. But Ony likes giving vocals for the radio plays. “After theatre, I love working for the radio adaptations most,” he says. When asked about his future plans, he says: “I just want to be involved in acting.”
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