Mosharraf Karim rejects ‘Best Actor in a Comic Role’ award

Actor Mosharraf Karim has rejected 'Best Actor in a Comic Role' award (2018). The producer of 'Komola Rocket' and the ICT ministry gave conflicting reactions to Mosharraf Karim's rejection.

At a press conference, Mosharraf Karim said that he cannot accept the award because the character of Mofizur played by him in 'Komola Rocket' is by no means a comedy character.

Additional Secretary (Administration and Film) of ICT ministry Mizan-ul Alam served as president of the jury board. He said, "It is his (Mosharraf Karim) personal decision. After the announcement of films to be considered for awards, a specific form has to be filled along with the submission of the film. Each character category has to be mentioned there. Mosharraf Karim's character was mentioned as 'comedic' there. What can we do about it?"

Abu Shahed Emon, a consultant and filmmaker for Impress Telefilm, the production company of the film 'Komola Rocket' said, "There are several submissions from Impress Telefilm every year. So, there could be a mistake while filling out the form. But the honourable jury members watched the movie. Did they not even think that the character had nothing to do with comedy? If we had mistakenly named Mosharraf Karim as the lead actress, would he have gotten the award in that category?"

The screenplay of 'Komola Rocket' is by well-known writer Shahaduzzaman. After the announcement of the award, Shahaduzzaman had something to say about it. His Facebook post reads, "While writing the film's screenplay, I never thought of Mosharraf Karim's character as comedic. I am quite surprised and somewhat intrigued by such an assessment of such a multi-dimensional character." 

Director Noor Imran Mithu was also embarrassed about the whole matter. "When the form was submitted for the National Film Awards, I was out of the country. I went to a festival with this film. It has been submitted by the production company. But this is embarrassing! Mosharraf Karim's character is by no means a comedy character."

Mosharraf Karim is currently in Malaysia. When contacted, he did not want to comment further. He said that the press conference stated what he had to say. There is nothing more to add.

On November 7, the winners for 2017 and 2018 National Film Awards were announced. The awards will be presented on December 8.