The screen that is currently vastly consumed along with the conventional big and small screen is the web screen. Youtube and other video content platforms are buzzing with various media contents and web series. One of them is the recently hyped thriller web series Baghbondi. The suspenseful episodes have grabbed audience’s attention and brought exposure to the whole team, more importantly the series’ director Vicky Zahed. Safa Kabir has also kept the audience at the edge of their seats along with Baghbondi’s two other leads, Jovan and Tawsif.
Vicky and Safa sat down with Dhaka Tribune’s Showtime team in a special segment where the director and cast faced each other in an interview session.
Safa was one step ahead at the beginning of the interview when he surprised Puran Dhaka’s Vicky that they’ll be interviewing each other. Vicky, at once, took control of the situation with an affirmative grin and asked Safa why she worked on the web series.
Safa replied that she had always been looking for good productions, whatever the medium maybe. She immediately began thinking about the project, which Vicky had offered over phone.
The plot was based on two heroes and one heroine. Safa thinks that, usually in these scenarios, the decision rests upon the heroine which is a blessing as well as a risk. However, according to the latest reviews, she thinks that she took the right decision by accepting the project of Baghbondi.
When Safa asked Vicky that why he decided to make a web series, Vicky again replied with a smile and said that in current times, the limitations of working on TV channel productions are huge and the scope to experiment is very little. He also added that he usually works less and experiments with things in his projects, which the channel doesn’t allow.
In his film, Dewal, the scene of March 25, 1971 which showcased the mayhem of that night, no channel would’ve allowed him to portray in such manner. Thus, he decided to think of different mediums.
In accordance, both Safa and Vicky agreed that the channels usually cuts some scenes from a content without even asking, which drastically affects the narrative. They explained that channels have no choice though they shouldn't change the story.
Safa added that when a scene is cut and it reaches to the audience, it becomes difficult to understand the story.
Vicky said the digital and web platform is very popular now. After making a couple of short films, he had been waiting for an opportunity to make a web series and as a result Baghbondi came into being.
Both of them are very happy that this is a web series. Vicky explained that television drama always had an appeal and Kothao Keu Nei is the biggest example of that. People of this country protested and brought out processions for a character in Kothao Keu Nei which is remarkable. He also added that even though some one-episode dramas or telefilms have created hype, it hasn’t overthrown the appeal of a TV drama series.
Safa told that the audience response they got after each episode was tremendous and thanked Vicky that he took her on-board. The director and actor duo also agreed that it was an amazing feeling when the fans eagerly waited for following episodes.
Vicky goes on to explain that he loves ‘a little fear and a little suspense’ recipe for thriller plots. He added that in order to grab the audience's’ attention, the plot of the web series must have twists and turns.
When Safa asked why Vicky chose her in this project, the director didn’t answer the question instantly. He answered by saying he cast Safa in Dewal, portraying a version of her which hasn’t been seen by the audience before. Hence, he did the same with Safa in Baghbondi.
He explained that he wants to experiment with his casts like they have never been seen before. He thinks that an actor must embrace new challenges, so he put Safa up to a new challenge. Vicky’s previous projects offered Safa to play a psychopath and a rural girl.
Safa agreed with him, who has constantly worked as a romantic leads in the past, said that she would like to play versatile roles in different projects.
Towards the end of their conversation, Safa updated about her schedule, while she is busy with studies, radio programme and watching movies. Vicky, on the other hand, is currently in the pre-production phase of his second web series.
The chat went on along with their plans for future projects, which will be on air very soon.
Picture taken by Saikat Bhadra
Thursday, June 04, 2026
