The team of the film “Debi” addressed all major news media outlets of Bangladesh through a lovely “meet the press” event, held on Mondayat the Dhaka Club, with Minister for Information Hasanul Haq Inu as chief guest.Among the speakers the most notable were Minister for Information Hasanul Haq Inu, Chairman of Jaaz Multimedia Abdul Aziz, music director of ‘Debi’ Pritom Hasan, and Bangladesh Film Censor Board members Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar and Iftekhar Uddin Nowshad. Producer and actor of ‘Debi’ Jaya Ahsan, co-actors Chanchal Chowdhury, Animesh Aich, Sabnam Faria, and director Anam Biswas also spoke, and later answered questions from the media outlets
The event began at 8pm, and was hosted by the film’s marketing consultant Rumman Rashid Khan. A total number of 17 people spoke to promote the film, and also requested everyone to watch it with an open mind.
Among the speakers the most notable were Minister for Information Hasanul Haq Inu, Chairman of Jaaz Multimedia Abdul Aziz, music director of “Debi” Pritom Hasan, and Bangladesh Film Censor Board members Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar and Iftekhar Uddin Nowshad. Producer and actor of “Debi” Jaya Ahsan, co-actors Chanchal Chowdhury, Animesh Aich, Sabnam Faria, and director Anam Biswas also spoke, and later answered questions from the media outlets.
Following the speeches Jaya Ahsan and Chanchal Chowdhury announced the winners of the poster making contest and Tiktok challenge, which were organized to engage the fans of “Misir Ali” series as part of promoting the film. Some visuals such as the teaser, trailer and two (already released) music videos of “Debi,” along with a Revive shampoo commercial featuring actors Jaya and Sabnam, were also shown to give glimpses of the film that will release on October 19. The event concluded with a cake cutting ceremony, where the entire team of “Debi” participated.
Jaya told the Dhaka Tribune Showtime: “I read the book when I was a child. I was touched by the story. When I started acting in films I thought I would be offered the role, but no one adapted the story at that time.
“So I thought why should I not make the film? I have always enjoyed frightening people in fun, and loved the characters of Misir Ali and Ranu in the book.
“A big support in realizing the project was the government grant. However, the biggest credit for all that has been done so far goes to my entire team, starting from director Anam Biswas. Anam’s adaptation was so spot-on that I barely could understand which lines were from Humayun Ahmed and which were his own,” Jaya added.
Chanchal Chowdhury said regarding his role Misir Ali: “All the fans of Misir Ali have their own unique image of the character in their mind. They have their own unique interpretations for his actions. While doing home-work for the role I knew very well that I will not be able to make everyone happy. Therefore I designed my portrayal in a way that will be accepted by most fans of the series.”
In response to which film’s work was more challenging between “Aynabaji” and “Debi” Chanchal said: “I would say both were equally challenging. In ‘Aynabaji,’I portrayed six characters which was a different challenge. In ‘Debi’ Misir Ali being such a favourite character of many people, the challenge was also tough. Right now I am as nervous as examinees before the night of their exam. My exam is on October 19.From left, Jaya Ahsan, Sabnam Faria, Anam Biswas and Chanchal Chowdhury answered questions from the reporters after the floor was opened to them .
“The entire team helped design the character of Misir Ali. I learned a great deal from the experience just as I learn from all the film roles I have done so far,” the actor added. Sabnam Faria told Showtime that she is a staunch fan of Humayun Ahmed’s writings and one of her favourite characters was Nilu. She had previously worked in many adaptations of Humayun Ahmed’s stories directed by Meher Afroz Shaon. Sabnam said: “Acting in the role of a Humayun Ahmed character almost comes naturally to me as I know the dialogues very well. The support from the team of ‘Debi’ was immense. When I was first offered the role I decided to reread the novel before saying yes. I am happy that I said yes.”
The film has been produced by C Te Cinema with partial finance from a government grant and is being distributed by Jaaz Multimedia. The broadcast partner for the “Debi” is Maasranga Television Limited, and it is being supported by United Commercial Bank, sponsored by Ispahani, and promoted by Revive.
A total of 90 film personalities from both Bangladesh and West Bengal showed their support for the film, by recording their best wishes for its success in small video clips, which were all shown during the cake-cutting ceremony. The most noteworthy are Suborna Mustafa, Shakib Khan, Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, Champa, Afsana Mimi, Bipasha Hayat, Zahid Hasan, Mou, Akram Khan, Chotku Ahmed, Giasuddin Selim, Mamunur Rashid, Moushumi, Omar Sani, Riaz, Purnima, Ferdous, Arifin Shuvo, Aupee Karim, Bonna Mirza, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Ishita, Ayub Bachchu, Shafin Ahmed, Redoan Rony, Asfak Nipun, Elita, Badhon, Nadia, Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, Mehazabien, Zakia Bari Momo, Mithila, Sabila Nur, Chayanika Chowdhury, Khijir Hayat Khan, Kaushik Shankar Das, Sadat Hossain, FS Nayeem, Konal, Rumana, Misha Shawdagar, Monalisa, ABM Sumon, Dipankar Dipon, Biplob Saha, Mousumi Naag, Shoeb, Dipa Khandaker, Shahed Ali, Jenny, Runa Khan, Bijori Barkatullah, Intekhab Dinar, Tanvin Sweety, Iftekhar Chowdhury, Gausul Alam Shaon, Richi Solaiman, Bhabna, Nabila, Siam, Rosy Siddiqui, Rahmat Ali, Faruk Ahmed, Prito Reza, Mithila Farzana, Monira Mithu, Shahnaz Khushi, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherji, Arindam Sil, Jishu Sengupta , Abir Chatterjee and Sohini Sarkar.
