Seasoned actor KS Firoz says that the remuneration of the artistes has decreased over the years in TV plays, though the expenditure of life is ever incising. The artistes are awfully busy as the number of productions has increased in the numerous private TV channels in the country, continues Firoz saying that these channels do not pay well for these productions.
‘Unfortunately the whole industry has become highly commercialised and the artistes are sometimes deprived of the deserved payment,’ says Firoz who is appearing regularly in different drama serials including Nirbikar Manush, Thikana Jana Nei, O Amar Chokkhu Nai aired on ATN Bangla; Anginay Joshna Tey aired on BTV and Aporijita aired on NTV.
‘But, these channels air hundreds of commercials during telecasting the plays, which rather kills the interests of the audience and force them to switch to other channels. As a result people don’t watch plays these days despite many good plays are produced by the talented artistes,’ lamented the actor.
‘We, the artistes who have taken up acting as profession, would have benefited if the channels paid better for the teleplays. Besides, the quality of plays would have improved as better productions require better price,’ added Firoz.
However, Firoz, who has an eventful acting career comprising of five decades, is very optimistic about the quality of teleplays and the actors of present days.
Many talented teleplay makers are coming in teleplay making and the actor are also doing good. ‘Nowadays I have to work with many young directors and actors and I find them really talented. However, they are more advantageous than we were in our time as they can have easy access to the outer world through internet or cable TV channels,’ expressed Firoz.
For his busy schedule for acting teleplays, once regular in theatre, Firoz does not performed in the productions of his troupe Theatre (Arambagh) these days. ‘Being preoccupied with teleplays and other works, I now pay less attention to theatre though I have special passion for theatre,’ informed Firoz, who also shared that the troupe has become, to some extent, inactive because many of the members are now busy with other works. However, we have plans to revive the troupe very soon,’ informed Firoz.
Firoz further shared that he came into acting from his deepest love for it. He acted at a stage show for a local club in Azimpur in 1964. In the play, titled Aguntuk, the actor acted in a role of an old man at a very young age and was highly acclaimed for his acting.
The next year, Firoz got the opportunity to act in a teleplay titled Dwip Tobu Joley, which was written by Fakhruzzaman and produced by Zaman Ali Khan, at the then Pakistan Television, now Bangladesh Television. Firoz has acted in over thousands teleplays since then and acted in many theatre productions including Ayomoy, Pratisruti, Shei Ek Manush and others.
-With New Age input
