ওয়াশিংটন বাংলা রেডিও Washington Bangla Radio USA

^{Click on Play to listen to actress Suchitra Shatabdi talk about her debut Bengali film BLACK}

Washington DC, Jan 19, 2011 (Washington Bangla Radio) Dr. Suchitra Shatabdi is a rapidly upcoming actress and model from Bangladesh who has already established a name for herself with her success in modeling assignments for advertisements. She is debuting in full-length Bengali feature films with Shoaib Chowdhury's BLACK (interview) expected to release in 2011, and is playing a lead role in the film.

Arijit Chakraborty caught up with Shatabdi in this informal chit-chat with the beautiful young actress who will also become a Doctor of medicine in her professional capacity. Shatabdi grew up and lives in her ancestral home for many generations in Dhanmondi area of Dhaka. The elder sister to a brother, Shatabdi studied at Dhanmondi school and later at Dhaka City College and Dhaka Medical College where she is pursuing her graduate degree in medicine.

Shatabdi's entry into modeling was somewhat accidental - she had once attended the Poila Baishakh (Bengali new year) celebrations at Dhaka Shilpakala Academy (Bangladesh's National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts) when media photographers spotted her and subsequently published a few pictures of her in newspapers and journals, much to the excitement of Shatabdi ! This got Shatabdi thinking of a parallel career in showbiz and she started to take up a selected few assignments in modeling while letting a lot of offers for films and television dramas ("Natok") pass by as Shatabdi waited for the right script and character to debut in feature films.

Shatabdi is also a singer and has performed songs in her school and college. In fact, Shatabdi launched the shooting of BLACK by singing a song on January 12, 2011 - though she is more focused on  her career as an actress than as a singer. Of course, Shatabdi intends to pursue a career in medicine as well - she believes medicine is one way she can serve her country and her people and win their love and affection while giving back to her country.

Her patience for waiting for a great script and powerful role was rewarded when she accepted a role in Shoaib Chowdhury's BLACK - a film with a message and questions about issues facing contemporary Islam, women's rights, forced conversion of women and Islamic fundamentalism. The film tries to encourage people to transcend their rigid religious beliefs and take up humanity and compassion as the bigger cause.

Shatabdi plays the character of Malati - a Vaishnavi Baul in Black.

BLACK - a different kind of film with thought-provoking messages that raises questions and exposes contemporary issues facing Islam and Muslims across the world - will be initially made with dialog in Bangla, and subsequently dubbed in various languages and sub-titled for an international audience in  English, French, Hindi, Urdu etc. in an attempt to reach the entire Muslim world.

BLACK is centered around Shantigram - a remote village in Bangladesh. Thirty-five years ago, there was religious harmony in the area, where people from various religious beliefs were living in peace.

However, for past decades, Islamism and activities of Islamists became gradually prominent in the entire village. Clergies in the mosques and madrassas became increasingly influential in the locality, thus imposing Sharia law, which ultimately turned into a nightmare for the villagers.

Muslim men are encouraged by the clergies to have more than one wife, as Islam allows polygamy. Under such situation, wives of the Muslim men ultimately turn into mere slaves, thus taking part in domestic works as well as helping the husband in agro production. When a wife becomes physically ill, the husband shows unwillingness to send her to a nearby hospital for treatment, as the man considers hospitals evil, as male and female doctors work together there and women without a burqa.

Whipping and other forms of severe physical torture of men and women on various charges gradually become regular in the village. These are applied by local ‘Sharia Committee’ formed by clergies and Islamic fanatics.

In Bangladeshi rural areas, there are male and female Bauls. These are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal. Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group with many different subsects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments. Bauls enjoyed a loving status for centuries, while they are known to be people promoting religious harmony and tolerance. But, with the rise of Islamist groups, Sharia appliers and Muslim fanatics, Bauls were declared infidels in the locality, thus pushing their lives into misery. Bauls, who live on entertaining people through Sufi songs thus receiving donations and charities, are denied any help by the local influential Muslim leaders and clergies. They are given an ultimatum either to become Muslim or to leave the area. This though generates anger and severe reaction in the minds of Bauls, they are unable to speak out fearing harsh actions by the Islamists and Mullahs.

In the meantime, several Islamist NGOs become extremely active in the village, while they mostly target Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and non-Muslim families and get them converted into Islam either by putting them into financial trap or by force. In the name of offering loans of financial help, young boys and girls in those non-Muslim families are regularly abducted for forceful conversion into Islam. Gradually the village sees a systematic elimination of religious minorities.

BLACK is a film that shows the current situation in rural Bangladesh [which actually is very similar to villages in other Muslim nations], where Sharia law is forcefully imposed on people while systematic elimination of religious minorities continues.

Hidden tears of Muslim women under the imposed Islamic veils are clearly shown in this film.

This film is against Sharia, Radical Islamism, religious intolerance, hate speech and repression of women under Sharia law. This film is aimed at creating massive awareness in the people in Muslim nations in standing against Islamism and Sharia, and voicing the need for reform in Islam, Koran and Islamic codes.

BLACK is the first film of the planned series of seven movies. Each of the movies is aimed at ultimately projecting problems inside Islam and Sharia law in a very bold manner.

The initial language of BLACK is Bangla, while it will be dubbed in various languages in future. There are around 300 million Bangla speaking people in Bangladesh and India only. Our initial target group are these 300 million people. Later, with dubbing in other languages as well as using sub-titles in English, French, Hindi, Urdu etc, we shall reach a few hundred millions people in the entire Muslim world.

The initial goal of the planned seven movies under this series, though is to create public awareness against Sharia law, Jihad, Burqa, Stoning, Beheading, Polygamy and Child Marriage, the movies’ ultimate goal is to encourage people to speak out against such social evils.

Vibgyor Films can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]. Washington Bangla Radio encourages thoughtful dialog on issues raised by BLACK - please share your thoughts by leaving meaningful comments below.