Dilara Zaman: A powerful actress

Dilara Zaman with Dr. Inamul Haque in a TV play

That's not all. She is currently working on the scripts for two new TV serials: Ei Tumi Shei Tumi (directed and written by Zeenat Hakim) and a yet untitled work of Aziz Munna. In the former she plays a typical mother in conflict with her daughter-in-law. In the second serial she enacts the role of a critical mother who dominates the family, the son and the daughter-in-laws. The first serial will be aired on TV soon and the shooting is on in Uttara.

Dilara believes that serials in which she has worked, such as Ekannoborti, Eishobdinratir and Iey Biey, are popular because they mirror middle class values and universal feelings. As Dilara observes, ' People like to identify with the TV characters and their lives, loves, struggles, conflicts and emotions reflected on TV. I empathise with these characters who eschew fighting, dancing and other unnatural elements.'

Dilara's performances are like a breath of fresh air in a sometimes-decrepit artistic milieu. To quote her,' People like the sense of belonging. Nowadays our values are decaying. We can't give time to our children; they are deprived of love and affection. They just stay indoors. They stay away from nature, fail to acquaint themselves with the open sky, the birds and flowers. Maybe, the mothers don't have time to read out the fairy tales. Children are gradually moving away from their culture and roots.

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Among her successes, she counts Humayun Ahmed's TV serial Auyomoy, In this drama she plays an old iron lady who is cruel and blind. She is an oppressive zamindar and she relentlessly imposes her will on her family and others like servants, peasants. This serial is still on. Recalling Auyomoy's popularity, she says ' If I go to a village, even today they call me Mirza's mother because this was a popular character that I played.'

Dilara has been a TV, stage and radio actress. However, she has opted out of the stage because of certain personal problems. Says Dilara, 'On stage you have to put a lot of stress on voice, so nowadays I prefer to work for TV and radio.'

Dilara has been in the education field for many years. She retired from Viquarunisa four years ago as assistant headmistress.

Tracing her early interest in acting, she recalls seeing films and dramas in her childhood in Jessore. As a student of class five in Bangla Bazar Government Girl's School in Dhaka, she saw a drama called Rakter Dak. The performance of the two actresses, Mumtaz Lily Khan and Zohorat Ara, left her enthralled. Says Dilara,' ‘Rakter Dak depicted real life. Actors laughing, crying so naturally. I could empathise with the characters. Looking at the tearful actresses, it was difficult for me to control my emotions.'

In 1964, she did a play for the Dhaka University Students Union called Mayabi Prohor. In this play, she enacted the role of the second wife of a village leader.

Dilara got married when she was 20. In 1965, she did her first TV drama called Tridhara. It was about twin sisters and she was cast opposite renowned actress Ajmeri Zaman. In the same play were actors like the well-known late Ahsan Ali Sydney and Lily Chowdhury, who played the mother.

'It was my first TV drama and I was very excited and nervous. I acted very well considering that I was just 20. The play was directly telecast from a studio in DIT building. It was a very small studio and we had to work there,' says a nostalgic Dilara.

There is a world of difference between TV today and the medium of yesteryears, says Dilara. In her words, 'There have been a lot of changes in acting, direction and shooting techniques.'

There have been other milestones also: her work with the drama group Arindom in Chittagong, the direction of Shamne Jai Thak Train Cholbei (written by Hasnat Abdul Hai) and acting in Bertolt Brecht's play called Rifle.

Dilara's stellar contribution to the medium of television has not gone unrecognised. She has won awards from the Bangladesh Cine Journalists Association and the Jai Jai Din Award for best supporting actress. In 1992 she got the highest award of Ekushey Padak for her pioneering work in drama. 'When I started my career there were very few women in the 1960s on stage and TV. Traditionally Muslim girls didn't come out on stage,' she reminisces.

In 1993, the Television Drama Artistes' Association, gave her an award for best actress.

Dilara has exciting plans for the future. Having done over 200 TV dramas, she hopes to maintain the momentum. What's more, she wants to do her utmost to secure a better life for the underprivileged. As she asserts, 'I see thousands of children who have no amusement or shelter. Through my work I would like to address the social issues that confront the under-previleged children of our society.'