I'd rather be known as a filmmaker than an influencer: Kaarina Kaisar

"Main Apni Favourite Hoon" - the very moment Kaarina (Kaisar) heard Kareena (Kapoor Khan) deliver this self-absorbed dialogue in 2007's iconic rom-com 'Jab We Met,' the 13-year-old little girl knew that this was the energy she needed to live with for the rest of her life.

Fast forward to 2024, Kaarina Kaisar is now one of the better-known faces of the Bangladeshi 'influencer gang' and has been a content creator for about five years. 

While her self-absorbed nature might come off as snobbish or narcissistic to many, it's exactly what transformed her into a popular figure on social media. 

And it all started for Kaarina with a Snapchat filter!

"Back then I just used those flower and shiny filters on Snapchat to make short videos that my friends really enjoyed," said Kaarina. 

Encouraged by a friend, Kaarina shared her humour through a video on Facebook titled 'Girls on Chand Raat,' which surprisingly gained 10,000 views rather quickly. Despite the initial success, Kaarina remained cautious about turning it into her main source of income and sought other jobs.

"It was just there; not like I was extremely active on it," Kaarina explained. Things really took off when she was employed under 'Daekho TV' - an entertainment platform that produced short content for social media - where she met two of her closest friends, Reza and Ishfaque. 

"I clicked with them so well on my first day that after that we became an inseparable trio. Shortly after, the videos we made for Daekho really took off," continued Kaarina. 

After an impromptu ad shoot without a script, Kaarina was assisted by programme coordinators and also by friends into making content, writing scripts and shooting for Daekho. 

As her career progressed, the allure of adventure and the desire to produce both commercial and meaningful content led Kaarina to venture into a new endeavour. 

Along with her friend, she established 'House of Chaos,' a production studio. Their vision for the studio was not just to cater to the commercial demands of the industry through advertisements but also to craft content that resonates deeply with the audience, adding a layer of significance to their creative outputs.

'House of Chaos' released its first web series, 'Internsheep' which was released on OTT platform Chorki, earlier in 2023. 

"In Bangladesh, when we casually sit for dinner, we look for something that feels good, is relatable and that everyone can enjoy. Internsheep is such a series, " said Kaarina. 

Further into the conversation, Kaarina spoke about how she often gets 'trolled' on the internet due to being a plus size woman.

"I feel like a part of this often comes from the insecurities most of them have towards themselves, which they pull out by posting hate comments on me." 

" I got body-shamed quite a lot. Now I've owned up to it and I'm very vocal about feeling beautiful in my form," Kaarina continued, believing that voicing her thoughts could help out another girl facing the same.

Before concluding our conversation, we asked Kaarina how she feels about her work and about her aspirations beyond content creation.

Kaarina said, "I don't want my work to feel like an obligation, I cannot go through all that pressure. I do it for fun."

"However, I would like to pursue filmmaking. My ambition lies within filmmaking and I would rather be known as a screenplay writer or a filmmaker, than be given the tag of an 'influencer'," she concluded.