Sadi Mohammad Shahnewaz

Culture reveals what a society chooses to remember, and what it finds acceptable to forget

How to start earning from your Facebook posts.

We must learn to coexist; there's simply no other option

Real strength lies in acknowledging one’s limits

Over & Out! is a quest driven single-player adventure game set in early ’90s urban South Asia.

Privacy violation at the heart of controversy centring Tangia Zaman Methila

With the web film ‘Tomar Jonno Mon’, director Shihab Shaheen has crafted yet another bittersweet and relatable love story—this time featuring the acclaimed pair of Yash Rohan and Tanjim Saiyara Totini. The director, known for his mastery in subverting audience expectations, speaks to The Daily Star about the project, his upcoming work, and more.

Legendary music director Prince Mahmud, however, has been outspoken about the need for music in primary schools. “I would argue that government primary schools are where we need music teachers the most,” said the audibly determined musician over the phone.

I haven’t shared it with anyone, but we will announce a sequel this month. Whether it is “Surongo 2” or “Taandob 2”, you’ll have to wait and find out!

Jaya Ahsan played an instrumental role in ensuring justice for elephants. Responding to a writ filed by popular actress Jaya Ahsan and PAW Foundation Founder and Chairman Rakibul Haque Amil, a court suspended the issuing and renewal of licenses to adopt elephants from the wild.

“I promise that I won’t take another 10-year gap to release my next album!” jested Shayan Chowdhury Arnob, at the intimate launching ceremony of “Bhallagena” on October 27. This was his first solo album after “Doob”, which was released in 2015. A 10-year gap can be devastating to a musician, even someone of Arnob's stature—times change, styles become outdated, and industries move on. But this is Arnob we’re talking about—he helms Coke Studio Bangla, performs all over the world, and has relentlessly reinvented himself throughout the years, all while keeping his signature, quirky timelessness, which is also evident in “Bhallagena”.

As I was about to enter AB Kitchen, I was worried how the man would receive me after four long years of barely any contact. In 2014, I was a naïve teenager, who felt lucky to be included in a musical project with the great Ayub Bachchu – fascinated every time that my name would come out of his mouth.

Despite that, the actress soldiers on. She now refuses to partake in sub-par scripts. “I used to say yes to whichever script was handed to me at one point, but I won’t do that anymore,” says a stern Safa Kabir.

He faced a flood of negative comments over his post related to Bijaya Dashami

Before moving on to a photoshoot, Dhallywood’s ‘King Khan’ had a request for the journalists at The Daily Star, “Our film industry is a treasure-trove of possibilities. Even foreigners are watching subtitled Bangla films with utmost eagerness. Please, talk about our dwindling halls and how our infrastructure needs to improve. We need to raise our voices.”

There is something disarmingly honest in the way director Arafat Mohsin Nidhi and writer Raba Khan present these little exchanges — gestures so mundane they almost go unnoticed in real life, until you realise they are the building blocks of intimacy

Thanks to the release of the nationally beloved film “Utshob” on OTT, it has found its way into social media discussions. Lauded for its family-friendly, emotional, and evocative script, the film arguably peaks in the scene between Sunerah Binte Kamal and Zahid Hasan. A lighter facet of the emotional reunion of the father-daughter duo is Sunerah screeching, “How come this coffee is 350 taka? Outrageous!”, a humorous dialogue which has unexpectedly set off debates on social media.

The most obvious consequence of this surge in AI use has to be the deprivation of artists from jobs they would otherwise have. For a typical 2-minute OVC, an ad agency would have to commit to the cost of casting, filming, editing, and sound – a sizeable fee. It is becoming increasingly lucrative for companies to cut costs by simply using an AI render of what they envisioned.

I am currently recording a tribute album, one that I’d been planning for a long time. It will feature reimaginations of the ‘90s songs that we dearly love, voiced by the talents of the 2000s – It’s the ultimate ‘what-if’ scenario.

Review of ‘Jodi Lokkho Thake Otut: Shafolyer Khola Koushol’ (Anyaprokash, 2025) by Asif Iqbal