I try to do justice to any character I am given: Imtiaz Barshon
With a deep voice and bold appearance, Imtiaz has secured many new projects, including the most recent web film Nishwas on Chorki
Imtiaz Barshon - known to viewers as the Barrister from Kaiser - is fast becoming a familiar face for his outstanding work in gritty roles. Even though he has been working in theatre and drama for a long time, his rise to stardom came much later.
With a deep voice and bold appearance, Imtiaz has secured many new projects, including the most recent web film Nishwas on Chorki. The Business Standard reached out to Imtiaz to learn about his journey and experiences working with OTT platforms.
As the villain of the story of Kaiser, his cold yet charming persona drew people's attention easily. Before Kaiser, Imtiaz had a short cameo in Munshigiri, so Kaiser is his biggest project till date as a web series.
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"I haven't done anything like that before. Thus, it was a challenge for me, as well as for director Tanim Noor and the team, to utilise my talent for this titular role of Kaiser," said Imtiaz.
Imtiaz said creating Kaiser was a rigorous and interesting process. Every character was analysed, researched and discussed beforehand to bring out the best onscreen.
"I wasn't selected out of nowhere. I also had to audition and then I became a part of it. With all the amazing reactions we have received since its release, the hard work we put in feels worthwhile," said Imtiaz.
His new critically acclaimed film Nishwas, by Raihan Rafi, was just released this month. His experience with Nishwas was fairly different.
"Kaiser is a mystery thriller and Nishwas is based on a story about a terrorist attack. Both have dark themes, but the genre is completely different. The character requirements were different as well," said Imtiaz.
"There are no movies based on terrorist attacks so far in Bangladesh, so Nishwas has a unique premise. Every character, including my character Shamim, has layers to it," he further added.
The directional attitudes of Raihan Rafi and Tanim Noor are quite different, so both the works were equally challenging for Imtiaz and helped him add more diversity to his profile.
His new film 'Ora 7 Jon' by the director Khijir Hayat Khan will be released in December. In this movie, he plays the role of a freedom fighter, which has always been a dream for him.
But as he has become the talk of the town for playing the role of Barrister, we asked him whether portraying an antagonist is his speciality.
"I enjoy exploring different genres and try to do justice to any character I am given, be it playing a calm-headed evil person in Kaiser, or a religious extremist in Nishwas. All of them are equally fascinating to me."
Imtiaz is originally from Chittagong and studied Political Science at Chittagong College. He was passionate about acting since his student days and completed a precision course on acting at FAME School of Dance, Drama and Music. He began working formally as an actor in 2011, after arriving in Dhaka.
"When I first arrived in Dhaka, I started as a director. I worked on a few projects as an assistant director, and through that, I got an opportunity to act in television. After I started to work in the movies, I took a brief break. My big break was 'Unoponchaser Batash'", said Imtiaz.
"I learned how much I enjoy acting while continuously performing in theatres,'' he added.
When we asked him about his best work so far he said every work has its own memorable experiences.
"I can't choose one, as every work is dear to me. However, it was a surreal feeling when my first film Unoponchas Batash was released. The shooting and post-release experience were both thrilling to me," said Imtiaz.
Imtiaz Barshon's biggest inspiration is Irfan Khan. Among Bangladeshi actors, Chanchal Chowdhury inspires him a lot. He will soon start working on a new film, but the name has not been disclosed yet. He is working on a few web projects as well.
