Saad Hammadi spends an evening with celebrated actor Fazlur Rahman Babu and finds out that cynicism is not just a part of the characters he plays

It’s 8:30 at night. The floor is all heated up owing to the intolerable temperature, humidity and on top of that, the high voltage lights turned on.

A sudden scream from one room and I find a patient biting the doctor’s hand. The doctor happens to be none other than actor Fazlur Rahman Babu shooting at the set of Byasta Daktar MBBS [Busy Doctor MBBS], a sitcom, the location – a shooting house in Uttara. I am here for the interview of one of television’s most popular sitcom actors, a genre redefined by Babu through his past performances in comic yet cynical characters, something I would find out later on, not very far from his real self.

In the break, he offers me a seat and takes a chair himself to watch the ongoing Indian Premiere League match. With his latest performance in Monpura alongside singing the title track of the film, Babu’s popularity has reached newer heights.

Like most seasoned actors, he is another theatre find, but the artist is distinguished for his overwhelming success in all platforms of acting – from stage to television drama, silver screen and playback singing.

‘I never consider myself a singer. Singing was part of a regular rehearsal in the theatre and every artiste should rehearse singing in order to fulfil his artistry in the true sense,’ he says. ‘After having the opportunity to sing the title track of Monpura, it so happens, that I am requested to sing,’ he says.

Although most actors of his stature would value the interest of a reader to know about his earlier days, Babu feels too wary to divulge such information.

‘I do not answer such questions,’ he says. Much to his frustration, the seasoned actor believes that most journalists who come to interview him are contributors earning between Tk 200 and Tk 300.

He awaits the day when he will be interviewed by BBC Hard Talk. Also, for an actor whose career has taken longer than ever to find important roles in television plays until Ekannyabarti (51 barti) gave him the break – according to renowned scriptwriter Anisul Hoque – Babu refuses to acknowledge the drama amongst his best.

But five years ago, perhaps out of excitement from his unprecedented popularity playing Jainal in Ekannyabarti, he preferred being known by his screen name than his actual name.

‘I still remember Babu saying, “I know this is the kind of role you will give me” [with a sense of resentment] when I introduced his character at the premiere of Ekannyabarti,’ says a smiling Anisul. The role may have been small but it was after Ekannyabarti that Babu had bagged several offers in important roles including some protagonist characters in single episodes, says the noted scriptwriter.

Although Babu’s witty and humorous characters in dramas like Ekannyabarti, 69 and Dainik Tolpar have made him popular among his fans, he says, ‘most of my earlier characters were serious, some holding to the spirit of the independence war.’

He proudly claims to be a part of the top 10 television dramas made on the independence war.

Anisul is proud to have revealed Babu’s skill in characters that add wit and humour, plays like Ekannyabarti. The actor has a vital role in Anisul’s ongoing drama serial on Channel-i Dainik Tolpar, the success of which largely owes to his character as a journalist who holds the wit to poke fun on his colleagues.

‘One of his strengths is his innate ability to find the most interesting part in a character,’ says noted scriptwriter, dramatist and director Mamunur Rashid who introduced Babu to mainstream theatre.

Babu’s roots began from theatre – Baishakhi Natya Ghosthi – in his hometown Faridpur which he joined in 1978. Five years later, in 1983, Babu found his ticket to mainstream theatre when Mamunur Rashid enrolled Babu into his theatre group Aranyak Natyadal. Some of his best performances in theatre include Nankar Pala, Pathar and Moyur Shinghashan.

It was Kazi Nazrul Islam’s Mrittu Khuda that marked the actor’s debut on television in 1991 but he was recognised in television drama through Rashid’s Itikatha that secured him further roles in dramas like Shundari and Danab.

The actor is popular for his humorous characters of late but if one looks back to the characters he played in stage dramas like Danab and Jay Jayanti, they were totally different, so thinks Rashid.

‘He was not just a regular artiste in theatre but many a time he has given proxy for others’ characters,’ says Rashid. Unfortunately, not many know him for his earlier performances except for those in the entertainment fraternity. Rashid believes much of Babu’s success is owed to his financial hardship that drove him to perform well.

‘Lacking the platform to exercise creativity was one of the worst forms of struggle during the days’, says Babu.

‘Back in the days there wasn’t the scope to make a living from performing on theatres and plays alone. I have also had to find an alternate work that allowed me to support my commitment towards theatre,’ he says. For sometime Babu had been a banker, but he is no longer comfortable talking about his time at the Agrani Bank.

The actor continued to work for television and theatre simultaneously until 2000 when he bid farewell to theatre because of the stressful shooting dates for television that nearly occupies him 25 days in a month, he says.

With theatre ending, Babu made his debut in the silver screen with filmmaker late Abdullah Al Mamun’s Bihanga between 2000 and 2001. The actor has done nine silver screen performances, bagging a few awards along the way.

Babu however, does not consider awards worthy enough to earn him recognition. ‘It is all a business. Who asked them to give us awards?’ he asks with a sarcastic smile.

About his family, the father of two daughters, Babu is of opinion that, ‘one can give time to family in the villages but say a cricketer who gained success playing cricket, how much time does he spare for his family outside his practice? It is the same for most artistes of that calibre.’

The artiste indeed lacks the time for his family with simultaneous schedules for the shooting of drama serials Byasta Daktar MBBS, Josna Kal, Mama Bhagne, Dibaratri Khola Thake and Doll’s House. ‘Mind you, the list excludes the date for single episode dramas.’