“No other festival in Bangladesh is as TV-centric as Eid”

Ashfaque Nipun has carved a niche among TV viewers of the country over the last few years with his stories and direction. With Eid just around the corner, he has his hands full with small screen projects. In a recent conversation with The Daily Star, Nipun spoke about his upcoming works, and about television's connection to Eid in Bangladesh. Excerpts:

“No festival in Bangladesh is as TV-centric as Eid. Throughout the year, we make TV plays without any assurance that the audience will sit down to watch it. But Eid is the only time when all families sit together and check out what's on television. As a result, we have more budget allocation and more viewership. But there is a downside too. We don't have enough quality writers and makers for all the entertainment channels we have, so to fill the time slots of all the channels, mediocre makers and writers enter the scene; and because there are too many channels, the budget gets divided too. But overall, Eid is a good time for the TV fiction industry.“

“I'm making three fictions this Eid. 'Khutinati Khunsuti', that stars Aupee Karim and Partha Barua as a married couple, takes place in Dhaka and Chittagong, and explores the dynamics of married life, its charms and its struggles. It will air on ntv.“

“I'm making another single-episode play for Channel i tiled 'Bahana', set in old Dhaka. It's a story of an elderly father, his three sons and an adopted daughter. While the sons try to ensure they get the best share of the inheritance, the father knows exactly what he needs to do to get his boys in line. Mamunur Rashid, Lutfar Rahman George, Marzuk Russel, Azad and Nilanjona are acting in it.“

“The other TV play is for Rtv. There will be a series of six plays based on short stories by six eminent writers on the channel this Eid – and I am doing an adaptation of Imdadul Haque Milon's 'O Radha O Krishno'. The story was adapted into a TV play in the 80s by Afzal Hossain starring Humayun Faridee and Subarna Mustafa, but I am doing an entirely contemporary, modern-day interpretation of the play, titled 'Koi Radha Koi Krishno'.“