Chanchal Chowdhury

Chanchal Chowdhury was born in Pabna and is a Bangladeshi actor and model. Chanchal started his career in 1996 in the theaters of Bangladesh. He joined famous theaters such as Aranyak Natyadal and performed in stage plays like Prakritojoner Kotha, Joyjoyonti, Ora Kodom Ali, Mayur Singhason, Songkranti, Rarang and Che-er Cycle.

He has recently started to work on films and dramaserials of Bangladesh. As the lead actor of the Bengali film Monpura, it succeeded very well in the box office of Bangladesh, and is one of the first Bangladeshi commercial movies to come out. He also has filmed many dramaserials mostly in the genre of comedy. Chanchal worked in the dramaserial directed by Salauddin Lavlu, Vober Hat which was a very popular serial that aired on Channel I in 2007.

Early life

Chowdhury was born and brought up in the village of Kamarhaat in Pabna. He passed his SSC from Udaypur High School in 1990 and HSC from Rajbari Government College in 1992. He came to Dhaka in 1993 to apply for admission in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. His parents wanted him to be an engineer but an innate urge for art and culture drove him to want something else.

Chowdhury settled in Dhaka in 1993 and dived headfirst into as much culture as possible. As a third year student of DU, he joined the theatre group Aronnok. He then worked on stage for 10 years at a row. During this period he played minor roles in different television dramas as well. His first role as a hero was in the drama Grash directed by Faridur Rahman. Meanwhile Chowdhury pursued his profession in UODA as a lecturer of Fine Arts from 2001 to 2006.

It was in 2004 that Fazlur Rahman Babu (actor) introduced Chowdhury to Gias Uddin Selim and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. Chowdhury then started working more and more in television dramas. His initial works are Shurjer Hashi with Gias Uddin Selim, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shogbaad and a TV commercial, Maa with Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. At this point Chowdhury’s life took an upward surge towards success as the commercial gained him immense popularity.

One day Mostafa Sarwar Farooki asked me to meet him. He explained the script for the advertisement to me and I soon agreed as I felt that I could realise the emotion in the script

—Chanchal Chowdhury

Even the advertisement’s jingle was sung by Chowdhury. Though he never had any formal singing lessons, he is gifted with the talent to sing. ‘I always listened to Hemanto Mukhopadhdhay and Bhupen Hajarika and sang those songs to myself; I told Mostofa Sarwar Farooki bhai to give me a chance to sing the jingle because I really thought that my voice would suit the song. Ayub Bachchu and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki then listened to my singing and later let me know that my song had been selected.’ Chowdhury later won the Meril-Prothom Alo award as the best model 2006 for this commercial.

Career

Chowdhury came into the spotlight for the first time as a model in the commercial of Grameenphone which became immensely popular at that time. Pother Klanti Bhule - a very popular song of Hemanta Mukherjee attracted some more attention onto the advertisement. Eventually, that advertise brought him the prestigious Meril-Prothom Alo award in "The Best Model - Men" category in 2005. The commercial was directed by Mustafa Sarwar Farooki, with whom, Chowdhury worked with on the serial 'Talpatar Shepai'.

After the commercial, Chowdhury’s acting career started moving forward at a very good pace. He then worked with Salauddin Lavlu, Saidul Anam Tutul, Golam Sarwar Tutul and so on. Some of the dramas that Chowdhury specially likes are Vober Hat, Bongsho Rokkhe, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shongbaad, Ami Tumi Shottojit, Boral Parer Shitlai Gaon, Akjon Durbol Manush and also many more. The busy actor is also seen frequently in Eid-special TV plays.

Chowdhury plays a key role, called ‘Laley’, in Aronyak’s popular production Shangkranti. In Che-er Cycle (a Bengali Theatre production), he plays six different characters including those of Fidel Castro and a peace-loving young boy, Shubhro — demonstrating his versatility. Chowdhury considers his performance in Che-er Cycle as one of his best works on stage so far. On his contemporaries, the actor says, several artistes are doing well. Among them, A.K.M Hasan, Mosharraf Karim, Shamim Zaman, Anisur Rahman Milon, Tisha, Chandni and Richi Solaiman have done some impressive works. Chowdhury says that performing in front of the camera is relatively easy for him, thanks to his experience on stage. He adds, acting in films is more challenging than TV plays because of its duration and format.

Chowdhury loves playing characters that are little rustic as he can relate his roots to such characters. In his list of favourite roles are the characters of Fiza Master (Vober Hat), Japan Doctor (Sakin Sarisuri) and Shonai (Monpura) among others. ‘I spent my childhood in a village, so I am more comfortable portraying the rural types,’ he says.

Chowdhury spent a quality childhood in his village Kamarhaat. He was hydrophilic and so restless that made his name, ‘Chanchal’ very apt. ‘Right after my school was over I used to hurry back home to keep my schoolbag and then rush out to bathe in the pond. I used to stay in the pond for two or three hours making my eyes all red and my father used come to collect me from the pond with a stick in his hand. I got beaten up several times in my childhood for that,’ reminisces Chowdhury.

Though initially Chowdhury’s family was not happy with his decision to study fine arts, they are now happy to see him so successful. ‘My parents live in Pabna. After the release of Monpura I was talking to my father over the phone and he told me that people in our village are talking about me and my film “non-stop”. My father was so proud that he almost cried as he spoke. “I can’t tell you how soothing it is to see your success,” he said to me.’

Filmography

References

• Chanchal Chowdhury Profile
• Chanchal Chowdhury Interview