Desk Report,
Actor-turned-producer Sharif
Sharif Siraj made his name on the big screen after acting on stage for more than a century and a half. After starting his career in film, he realized that many people were skeptical about FDC genre movies, some looked down on them, and even heard negative things about FDC movies. Some advised him to work with producers from dramas instead of directly getting involved in FDC movies.
Actor-turned-producer Sharif
Experience in FDC work
Sharif could not understand why the work was separated by the FDC genre for a long time. ‘As far as I understood later, most of the crew of FDC genre works are from FDC. Again, most of the work with producers from dramas is done by artists and crew from the theater. In OTT, it is a mixture of the two genres. I have worked with all kinds of teams. Everyone is good. I will say in particular, FDC has a different place. Here, the professional space is different, so is the professionalism. They know more about how to respect artists. I have nothing negative about FDC. I am comfortable working with everyone,’ said Sharif.
I often hear in the foreign film industry that actors like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan are making their names as producers. But in Bangladesh, this picture is completely opposite. Even if they make their names in the restaurant business by acting, no one wants to produce. This has been on the mind of young actor Sharif since he started acting. He said that he has been associated with theater for 21 years. Later, he started looking for opportunities to produce by entering the cinema. Suddenly, a group of familiar faces from the stage and all his friends told him that they were going to make a movie and wanted him as a producer. Sharif said, ‘I know all the young people. I had strong faith in their creativity. When they told me that the film does not have a star cast, but has a good story, I happily joined their initiative.’ Although the producer is now added before his name, Sharif Siraj always wants to introduce himself as an actor. He believes that he finds himself in creative work through acting. This is his philosophy. He said, ‘I do not want any harm to my acting career, acting is my main priority. For 21 years, I have considered acting as food for the mind. Along with that, I will work as a producer in interesting projects to encourage my colleagues.’
