Photo: Ridwan Adid Rupon

Ferdous is one of the busiest and leading actors of Dhallywood today. He became hugely popular after he appeared as the protagonist in the acclaimed film “Hothat Brishti”. Besides Bangladesh, the three-time National Film Award winning superstar has won hearts of millions of Indians during his long acting career. Ferdous recently shared memories of his first blockbuster with The Daily Star:
“It was a great achievement for me to just act in that movie. It was the time when I just acted in only one movie of Dhallywood, 'Buker Bhetor Agun'”.
“Manna, Rubel and Omar Sani were very popular actors in those days. I worked part-time in the media world besides my studies at Dhaka University. All of a sudden, my producer Sanwar informed me over phone that I would have to go to Gulshan Club the following morning to meet Basu Chatterjee. Ii was a great surprise.
“The following day, I went there dresses in a casual outfit where I met Chatterjee, clad entirely in white. 'I am going to make a film – 'Hothat Brishti'. Would you be interested to act in it”? He asked. I was totally taken by surprise by the offer. Basu Chatterjee then briefed me on the storyline, based on a young man liked by three women.
“I was still in disbelief that Basu Chatterjee would give me a role for his film. Later, I heard that the director wanted to meet me after watching a few clips of my movie 'Buker Bhetor Agun'.
“A week after leaving Dhaka, he phoned me to visit Kolkata. At the time, I was doing some modeling with Bibi Russel, and we were scheduled to go to Spain. I cancelled my Spain tour and left Dhaka for Kolkata. Chatterjee received me very warmly at his house and then I went to the hotel.
“The director rejected all my costumes that I'd carried. The next time I met him, he took me to the shopping mall and bought me T-shirts and suits.
“The shooting for the movie began in 1997. My first scene was shot on Circular Road in Baliganj. We worked very hard to shoot the song 'Sonali Prantore' in Rajasthan during the hot summer. The sequence of climbing the camelback was tough. It had to be shot several times.
“'Hothat Brishti' was first released in Kolkata, and after the first week, it was a flop. It was then decided that the film would be premiered on BTV on the day of Eid. I was astonished once again.
“On Eid day, I went to my friend's home where we 15 to 20 friends got together. I bribed my friends to watch it, because they were not interested to watch a Bangla film on Eid day. But after it started, my friends were complimenting me.
“At night, when I came back home, my father told me about phone calls from Afzal Hossain, Shibli Mohammad and Shamim Ara Nipa. I received about 400 calls the next day. It was a great achievement as an actor. My life had turned around. It was 'Hothat Brishti' that made me the Ferdous I am today.”