We are magicians, making the audience laugh and cry with us: Shamol Mawla

"Mohanagar" star Shamol Mawla has been ruling over OTT screens with an indomitable presence. The actor has already charmed the audience through his exceptional acting skills in a multitude of OTT web-series and web-films, including "The Silence", "Mohanagar", "Café Desire" and "Tekka" amongst others

In a casual chat with The Daily Star, 'Afnan Chowdhry' from "Mohanagar" shared his experience with OTT platforms.

Shamol, who is praised as the 'prince of OTT' initially started his acting career on the theatre stage and made his way onto the OTT screens. "I have acted on theatre stages, in television, and in OTT projects. Honestly, for me there was not much difference in those platforms—I just focused on my acting which the essentially the chief aspect for an actor. Though these platforms just have different capacities, as an artiste, my craft is what truly matters."

The actor has been active in multiple OTT platforms, about which he shared, "The OTT platforms in our nation is still in its infancy stage, and could be considered small in our industry. However, it has the potential to be as vast as the sky."

"However, currently OTT still does not have the proper funds, proper work environment, or settings to truly showcase its brilliance," added Shamol. "Truth be said, it's already a blessing that we are producing such good works in such situations."

Shamol continues, "Albeit, the platforms are destined to expand step by step. We have just crossed level one, as many series on OTT platforms have released their second seasons—there are still many more levels to cross."

With second seasons or spin-offs of many series like "Myself Allen Swapan", "Mohanagar 2" and "Karagar"; Shamol has grown quite expectant about the OTT platforms' future. Building on that expectation, he believes that our platforms might one day go head to head with other international streaming platforms, which have more than five seasons.

When asked about how consistently he chooses unique characters in multiple series like "Mohanagar", "The Silence", and "Money Honey", the actor shared, "I don't know, the credit for my unique characters would go to my directors. They are the ones who selected me for the roles. I just did my job."

"However, I have to say that I have been very fortunate with my OTT projects, as nearly most of the projects I signed were excellent productions that the audience loved," added Shamol.

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Shamol Mawla talks ‘Mohanagar’

In answer to a vital question about his connection with a character, Shamol mused, "For me, an actor is a magician who makes the audience laugh with him, cry with him and feel the situations that the character is going through."

Speaking about his future projects, the "Nikhoj" actor mentioned, "The Chorki original film 'Antonogor' might be released next month. Meanwhile, I have also signed multiple OTT works which will be a surprise for the audience."

Moreover, Shamol also revealed that Vicky Zahed's "The Silence" season two's story is still being worked on, and they will jump to production as soon as possible.

"So far, the audience has supported us with their good responses," said Shamol. "Initially, we did not plan for a second season of 'Sodor Ghater Tiger', but the audience's support convinced us otherwise. The same thing happened with 'Myself Allen Swapon' as well."

"I pray that the audience continues to support us, so we can present them with more of our magic," concluded Shamol Mawla.