I cried for real’

Monpura star Chanchal Chowdhury tells Sharmin Chowdhury of his climb to success and his earnest dedication to the film that made his role in Monpura utterly real to him and heartrending to his fans.......?
Now that Monpura has become such a huge hit, actor Chanchal Chowdhury is better known by his character’s name Shonai.

As Shonai, the ill-starred lover wrongly accused of murder, he made a sweeping robbery of viewers’ hearts that has shot him up to a new place in the film industry.

Chowdhury did not just play the character; he lived Shonai’s life during the making of the film. He displaced his own self to such a level that he could see himself experiencing what Shonai was experiencing.

‘After I had the script in hand I read it about
‘After I had the script in hand I read it about twenty times. Each time I read certain parts of the story, I cried for real. I got the character in me and became the character I was to play,’ Chowdhury says.

This very lively character is, as might be supposed from the anecdote, extremely emotional at the core. During the shooting of the film Monpura he became so close with the animals used in the film that the birds would respond only if Chowdhury gave them food. The cows and the goats would understand and cooperate with him surprisingly while the movie was shot. ‘It was very strange that while in a scene where I was bidding a goat farewell, just the moment I embraced it and said that I would leave, it put its head on my chest as if it could understand what I said,’ Chowdhury recalls.

Chowdury still remembers the animals on set and feels for them. ‘During the shooting of the film, a bird died after getting drenched in the rain. That was really upsetting.’ All his involvement and dedication paid off after the movie was released and spilled into a new record of success for the local film industry.

Though Monpura has defined his position in new terms, Chowdhury has always been very popular amongst his fans. Chanchal Chowdhury started as a small-time television actor before tasting triumph as a big screen actor, stage actor and also as a model. His journey stretches back to a very simple background that he has had to struggle through all these years to reach this point.

Chowdhury was born and brought up in the village of Kamarhaat in Pabna. He passed his SSC from Udaypur High School in 1990 and HSC from Rajbaari Government College in 1992. He came to Dhaka in 1993 to apply for admission in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. His parents wanted him to be an engineer but an innate urge for art and culture drove him to want something else.

Chowdhury settled in Dhaka in 1993 and dived headfirst into as much culture as possible. As a third year student of DU, he joined the theatre group Aronnok. He then worked on stage for 10 years at a row. During this period he played minor roles in different television dramas as well. His first role as a hero was in the drama Grash directed by Faridur Rahman. Meanwhile Chowdhury pursued his profession in UODA as a lecturer of Fine Arts from 2001 to 2006.

It was in 2004 that Fazlur Rahman Babu (actor) introduced Chowdhury to Gias Uddin Selim and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. Chowdhury then started working more and more in televisiondramas. His initial works are Shurjer Hashi with Gias Uddin Selim, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shogbaad and a TV commercial, Maa with Farooki. At this point Chowdhury’s life took a an upward surge towards success as the commercial gained him immense popularity.

‘One day Mostafa Sarwar Farooki asked me to meet him. He explained the script for the advertisement to me and I soon agreed as I felt that I could realise the emotion in the script,’ said Chowdhury.

Even the advertisement’s jingle was sung by Chowdhury. Though he never had any formal singing lessons, he is gifted with the talent to sing. ‘I always listened to Hemanto Mukhopadhdhay and Bhupen Hajarika and sang those songs to myself; I told Farooki bhai to give me a chance to sing the jingle because I really thought that my voice would suit the song. Ayub Bachchu and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki then listened to my singing and later let me know that my song had been selected.’ Chowdhury later won the Meryl-Prothom Alo award as the best model 2006 for this commercial.

After the commercial, Chowdhury’s acting career started moving forward at a very good pace. He then worked with Salauddin Lavlu, Saidul Anam Tutul, Golam Sarwar Tutul and so on. Some of the dramas that Chowdhury specially likes are Bhober haat, Bongsho Rokkhe, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shongbaad, Ami Tumi Shottojit, Boral Parer Shitlai Gaon, Akjon Durbol Manush and so on.

Chowdhury loves playing characters that are little rustic as he can relate his roots to such characters. In his list of favourite roles are the characters of Fiza Master (Bhober Haat), Japan Daktar (Shari Shuri) and Shonai (Monpura) among others. ‘I spent my childhood in a village, so I am more comfortable portraying the rural types,’ he says.

Chowdhury spent a quality childhood in his village Kamarhaat. He was hydrophilic and so restless that made his name, ‘Chanchal’ very apt. ‘Right after my school was over I used to hurry back home to keep my schoolbag and then rush out to bathe in the pond. I used to stay in the pond for two or three hours making my eyes all red and my father used come to collect me from the pond with a stick in his hand. I got beaten up several times in my childhood for that,’ reminisces Chowdhury.

Though initially Chowdhury’s family was not happy with his decision to study fine arts, they are now happy to see him so successful. ‘My parents live in Pabna. After the release of Monpura I was talking to my father over the phone and he told me that people in our village are talking about me and my film “non-stop”. My father was so proud that he almost cried as he spoke. “I can’t tell you how soothing it is to see your success,” he said to me.’