Totini: A stream flowing into a river
In her relatively new career, Totini has already worked in television dramas with Afran Nisho, Ziaul Faruq Apurba, Tawsif Mahbub, Farhan Ahmed Jovan and Yash Rohan
Close Up 'Kache Ashar Golpo 2023' famed Tanjim Saiyara Totini preferred to keep a low profile in her early days as an actress. But she could no longer do so thanks to her much applauded role in 'Kache Ashar Golpo,' after which she began taking on more drama roles, especially during Eids.
In her relatively new career, Totini has already worked in television dramas with Afran Nisho, Ziaul Faruq Apurba, Tawsif Mahbub, Farhan Ahmed Jovan and Yash Rohan. It has barely been a couple of months since Eid-ul-Adha, but Totini is already working on her third project since. Even though she has been working on a lot of projects, the quality of her performances have not diminished as she has been garnering praise from her audience.
"My audiences are really liking my work and I'm grateful for that. I'd say that's because of my hard work, but I must admit some luck was also there. I didn't imagine I'd get all these accolades in such a short time in my career," Totini said with excitement.
Before 2020, Totini was a small-scale performer, acting only in commercials. She debuted as an actress in 2021 in an anthology titled 'Ei Muhurte' on the OTT platform Chorki, under the direction of Piplu R Khan.
In the series,Totini's character, Kalpana, raises the question of drawing the line between invasion of privacy and freedom of expression. The appreciation she received for that role from her co-actors moved her to give acting a serious thought.
The word 'Totini' means river. Keeping true to the literal meaning of her name, Totini believes her career transition from commercials to dramas was just like a stream flowing into a bigger river.
"Initially, I wanted to stay in small scale dramas and hone my skills there, before moving on to performing bigger roles," Totini remarked.
Few of her recent works include 'Last Night' directed by Rakesh Boshu, 'Pronoy' by Pathik Shadhan, 'Shesh Ghum,' 'Bahiragata' and 'Chatgaiya Hedom'- most of which were aired on multiple TV channels and other platforms on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha.
Totini was also going on ahead with her studies at North South University (NSU), while being a full-time TV and OTT actress. In fact, Totini's aim was to become a gynaecologist but fate wanted her to be an actress and she became one.
Fast forward to 2023, she is clearly one of the young performers under the limelight. With the buzz she created among viewers through her work, she feels very blessed to have received such positive support, which always inspires her to work even better.
"I feel very lucky to be respected in the media. I have received constructive advice from seniors and popular actors I have always looked up to, like Chanchal Chowdhury, Jaya Ahsan, Nusrat Imrose Tisha and Aupee Karim. This helped me deliver even better performances," she said.
She also performed in the short film titled 'Shomoy Shob Jane,' directed by Shakeeb Fahad. The short film explores the 'humiliation' of teen pregnancy through its storyline. She feels blessed to have been a part of projects that convey important messages regarding sensitive and social issues.
Totini feels that if she can work in projects through which positive messages are spread, it would inspire her to act more. This in turn would prepare her to move to the big screen in the future.