Nusrat Faria is looking for greener pastures. Last year around September, the word on the street was that this newcomer, to the Bangladeshi movie scene, had landed the role in a Bollywood movie. The movie, ‘Gawah: The Witness’ also starred Emraan Hashmi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
However, things haven’t gone as planned for the starlet. She recently confirmed the news that she has opted out of doing the movie. The reason behind kicking aside this once in a lifetime opportunity? To save herself from notoriety, she says.
The actor had gained fame by starring in a music video titled ‘Allah Meherbaan’ and internet trolls took her and the movie makers to task. Not only was Nusrat attacked for dressing provocatively but the title of the song was attacked too. While the whole thing did blow over soon enough and Nusrat remained one of the most coveted new discoveries of Dhallywood, Bollywood soon came calling and seems like it they would be going back empty handed.
Nusrat claims that working in a Bollywood movie would add to the controversy following her while me thinks that boat has sailed long ago. But if an actor is already a hit in the local scene, why would they feel the need to look for newer opportunities in Bollywood?
The answer is simply the pitiable quality of our local movies. From poorly thought out plots to obese actors, these movie don’t garner the kind of attention and revenue as a movie should. Even though revamping efforts in the recent decade has led to some promising changes, the industry has far too much to learn from its counterparts in Bollywood. Thus its not a surprise at all that most actors would jump at a chance to feature in any Indian movie.
Indian movies, on the other hand, are more widely watched in Bangladesh then perhaps Bangladeshi movies are. These movies dominate our TV channels and online feed. Moreover, the plot holes which do exist are considerably better hidden with the use of ethereal looking actors and over the top music videos. In fact, most viewers today will be better able to quote Hindi movie lines than perhaps a line from a Bangla movie.
So don’t judge poor Nusrat Faria too harshly for her career choices. She was only trying to live out the Bollywood dream.