SUJIT MUSTAFA AND APORAJITA MUSTAFA

Favourites:

Colour

Sujit: White and Blue

Aporajita: Black

Food

Sujit: Khichuri and Gorur Mangsho (Yellow rice and beef)

Aporajita: Anything depending on mood



Movie 

Sujit: God Father, 3-Idiots, PK, Bela Sheshe and action movies

Aporajita: I don't have any specific favorite movie but I have a favorite series. I could watch FRIENDS all day!

Actor

Sujit: Uttam Kumar, Madhuri Dixit, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amitabh Bacchan, Sophia Loren, Tom Cruise, Al Pacino

Aporajita: Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone for now, but it keeps changing

Music/Genre

Sujit: Anything that is soothing to the ears

Aporajita: Anything apart from Death Metal

Musician

Sujit: Manna Dey, R.D. Burman, A.R.Rahman and of course Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal

Aporajita: Quite a few 

Dancer

Sujit: Pandit Birju Maharaj, Munmun Ahmed and Aporajita Mustafa

Aporajita: Pandit Birju Maharaj and my mother Munmun Ahmed

Rabindranath/Nazrul

Sujit: They were both phenomenal in their own ways, so I would say both

Aporajita: Nazrul

What brought you into music?

Sujit: I developed my attraction towards music from a very early age listening to movie songs from a nearby cinema hall in Pabna. I have spent two years in Rajshashi with my uncle (Abul Hayat Mohammad Kamal) who was the program producer in Rajshahi Radio, after my father (Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal) and mother left for PHD in London. Given this privilege of being the successor of such great personalities, my frequent visit to the radio station initiated my love for music even more. After the war a freedom fighter named Nurul Islam started a club in Rajshahi University called “Shurjo Shishu” where I was involved in many activities along with music. That was when I realized my knack for music. Later we again moved to Chittagong University and my journey in singing began with my first Guru Mihir Lana, followed by Chayanaut Sangeet Vidyatan. Then I was in Shilpokala Academy and later Shantiniketan to Delhi. Despite all these I feel I could not satisfy my Guru in India while my Gurus in Bangladesh were content with me.

Why would you choose dancing over music?

Aporajita: Because I have a terrible voice (laughs)! It's not that I never tried, though. I sat down with Baba twice or thrice but every time my mother would video tape or record it. She would laugh throughout the singing session and mock me later (laughs). I chose to dance not because I did not have any other choices but because I love to dance. I don't remember a time when I wasn't absolutely in love with dancing. Although I equally love listening to music, I am just too shy to sing out loud. 

Given your father (Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal) was amazing with a pen and a paper, why would you not adopt writing?

Sujit: You see, everyone has different hobbies and ambitions, just because my father was a writer does not mean I have to adopt writing as well. But one thing I adopted from my father is laziness (laughs)! Jokes apart, I sometimes discuss various social issues in social media. I was also supposed to publish a book this year “Status Shomogro”. My father was not only a writer; he was a singer as well. When asked why he chose the academic career over music he would say, “I compared both and decided that I am better at writing than music.” I did not do anything of that sort; I am just crazy about music. 

Did you ever take dance scholarly?

Aporajita: I did actually. I applied to a few schools in America for dance and theatre degrees but the places I got into, I did not get enough financial aids so couldn't afford it. I did not want to go abroad and study something academic so I stayed back and chose Economics for my Undergraduate Degree.

What are your views and comments on the music industry now?

Sujit: Music is something that one inherits, and not from family. Music is something god-gifted. I always say no matter how many 'Ustad' you have, you are your own teacher when it comes to singing. You have to know how much of it you have in yourself; the teachers are there just to guide you. A musician does not necessarily have to be classically trained, or has to be someone who has given his/her life in practicing and learning music. To me, everyone is good in their own ways.

Say something about each other that you like or dislike. 

Sujit: What I love about my daughter is that, despite living in a time driven by western culture, she loves our culture and language and cherishes it. But on the contrary, she has taste buds for western food. Also, something that both her mother and I constantly complain about is that, she is very irregular with her meals. She does not talk to us much about her plans but I am sure she has everything together in her head.

Aporajita: There are quite a few things that I admire about him and would love to adopt but amongst the mentionable ones, I would say that I am very short-tempered by nature whereas my father is very calm and handles the toughest of situations with ease. He is a very logical person, although sometimes he seems illogical especially in an argument (laughs) but he holds his rationales very well. This is something I would love to adopt because whenever I am in a heated conversation with anything, I just lose it.

By Rownak Nowrin Haque