‘Our social structures have taught us to imitate’

Shafayet Mansoor Rana is a celebrated name with the triple identity as a writer, producer and actor at the same time. This Eid, he came up with three plays that are now being widely discussed- Amra Firbo Kobe, Cafe Triple Nine and Char Shoptaho. Rana obliged the Showtime team with a visit and a chat on this latest buzz. Amra Firbo Kobe was especially an audience favourite this Eid. According to Shafayet, viewers have developed a distinct taste now, especially the youth. “To travel, fall in love and travel again was the primary idea of Eid plays for the past few years. A good comfy family drama hasn’t come out in the past five or six years but new ones are now coming to light.” However, family dramas have always been on demand, which is why Adnan Al Rajeev’s Bikel Belar Pakhi was so relatable. Yet, Shafayet added, this trend could lead to the creation of more straight line sitcoms, as well as delve into more thoughtful productions. When this phenomenon starts losing its spark, some other trend will take over. “Yet I believe, family dramas can be even better,” Shafayet stated.Familiar territoryShafayet also talked about Boro Chele and his own short film Amra Firbo Kobe. “The stories were simple and full of heart, which is why they were widely appreciated.” He tends to roam around this particular subject. He stands strongly to rectify his position here, saying, “I try to portray the stories that I am surrounded with.” He adds that he dares not work with ‘folk art’ or the people and social groups that are unknown to him, since he fears he might not be succesful in this endeavour. “If I start working on such, I might become just another operator and fail as a director.” He fears of failing to introduce the emotions of the lower classes, and believes one should stick to doing what they are good at. Moreover, he believes that trends are essentially set by producers. “Afterwards, that ‘trend’ is then labeled as a National Crisis,” he says with a slight, sarcastic tone. “Our social structures have taught us to imitate without giving the action a bit of thought,” he added. With the desire of scoring a ‘hit’, we tend to imitate and thus end up making the same, tired old production. Shafayet puts an end to the discussion about trends by saying, “We love shortcuts. We want quick fame, rising and falling and hitting the rock bottom- this is a frequent occurrence in the industry. It doesn’t matter if he/she lacked in potential.”A man with a methodWe got further insider details about his work and methods, such as how he sometimes tends not to deliver scripts since he remains busy with other occupations. However, he makes sure he sits with the actors and collaborators for an ample amount of time to divide the work roles, usually over a cup of tea. This has helped him to create an artist block around him, and whether for work purposes or due to his social circle, he has ended up at the centre of gossip quite a few times because of this. Shafayet also makes sure that the artist gels with the character he has cast him in, otherwise he seldom forces them to play the part. There’s a condition you have to abide by to work with him – which is, you have to have spare time to grab a cup of tea and chat with him. Shafayet believes that a friendly work circle creates a good work environment. This might be why he directs fewer dramas, although Award Night from last Eid was another success. This might be considered to be a satire, he reckons. Personally, he does not want to keep recreating his own plays, and he refuses to fall into one specific genre. Hence, Cafe Triple Nine had multiple storylines to bring the love story to the centre. Shafayet tells us that he is a huge fan of Farhan Akhter from Bollywood. He wants to meet Farhan one day and also step into the world of cinema, but he feels like he still needs a bit of mental training. Compromising is not an option he wants to choose while making a cinema, he stated. Apart from having all these features, he has another identity – that of being a teacher, which makes it hard for him to appear on screen. He works on his own scripts most of the time, but he has also worked on his ex-colleague Tanvir Chowdhurys’s scripts as well, since he feels a sense of independence when working with him. By the end of the interview, he promised to produce an out-of-the-box work, very soon indeed.