Actor Zahid Hossain Shovon's performance in the three running daily soaps “Doll's House”, “Gulshan Avenue” and “Shongsar” have been much lauded. These serials are aired on ATN Bangla, Banglavision and Channel-i respectively.
Shovon is also currently busy with a drama serial called “Chor Kuthuri”, aired on ATN Bangla. In the pipeline is another mega-serial “Eka”, to be aired soon.
“I usually go for supporting roles in TV serials, since acting is not my day job. I am passionate about acting but my job (Shovon works for Best Air) doesn't leave me with enough time to concentrate solely on TV plays,” explains Shovon.
The actor says that at one stage he did consider pursuing acting as a profession, and quit his job at Thai Airways, so that he could focus on TV plays and Dhaliwood (mainstream Bangladeshi film industry) films. However, due to unavoidable reason he changed his mind eventually. “It's more convenient to take up acting as a part-time profession, or what is known as an 'amateur' actor in the circuit,” Shovon says.
As an 'amateur' artiste Shovon has had a extensive career in theatre as well. Though he has played central characters in several plays produced by the group, Theatre (Natok Sarani). Currently he plays the protagonist of “Balod”, which his troupe has been staging for many years.
Asked why the troupe hasn't come up with new productions of late, Shovon says, “The current theatre scenario in Bangladesh is quite different from how it was in the 1970s. After the electronic media boom in the mid-'90s, most talented actors became busy with TV plays.
“Theatre troupes in the country face a dearth of dedicated actors/directors/ activists/enthusiasts. This explains why more or less all troupes struggle to produce new plays, and continue staging popular productions. However, we plan to bring out new plays soon.”
About his plans, Shovon asserts that he wants to continue acting -- on the side -- on both TV and theatre. He also plans to direct the upcoming production of his troupe.