Mimi puts on a new hat

Afsana Mimi has been known to her TV audience as an actress for decades, but she ventured into TV direction a while ago. And now, the veteran media personality has a new identity: she is the founder of an academy, named the Bangladesh Film and TV Academy (BFTA).

The academy was inaugurated recently in the capital's Uttara, by Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, in presence of a number of prominent faces of the television and film fraternity.

About her decision, Mimi spoke to The Daily Star: “I began my acting career in theatre, and we heard a lot about the National School of Drama (India), but it was not easy for us to go study there. Similarly, when I started making TV dramas, I would have ideally liked to learn it somewhere, like the Pune Film Institute (India). Whatever we learned was through the course of our work, but there was no formal training, and it has long been a regret of mine.”

“I started thinking long ago about making an institute. I started sharing the ideas with some people close to me, and finally decided on going through,” Mimi added.

The academy will primarily offer only diplomas in acting, and will expand eventually. “We often think how much further we could have gone if we had the training, and now we want those thoughts of us to benefit this generation,” she added.

Aside from BFTA, Mimi is currently busy with directing the second series of “Doll's House”, titled “Saat-ti Tara's Timir” which is airing on ATN Bangla.