Dhaka: Just months before the General election, Bangladesh is rediscovering its founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman through Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal’s biopic, Mujib: The Making of a Nation. But Rahman isn’t the only one to have an interesting tale to tell — his daughter and Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina’s story is rich with artistic potential too.
The year 2023 hasn’t been easy – Hasina is bracing for the toughest fight ahead and is up against Islamist groups, protests, and violence on the streets. And Bangladesh’s top actor Rafiath Rashid Mithila is taking notes on her political journey.
Mithila is to Bangladeshi cinema what Swara Bhasker is to Indian movies – a deadly combo of art, activism, and acting without the glamour. She played a woman who accepts an imposter as her husband after rediscovering passion and intimacy in the Bangladeshi OTT series Myself Allen Swapan. She wowed audiences by playing an alter ego of Lady Macbeth in the film Mayaa, a retelling of the Shakespearean tragedy, and is set to star in a Tollywood movie, Meghla. But it’s the Bangladeshi Prime Minister who has caught her attention.
The timing is perfect for a biopic on Hasina, and Mithila wants the part.
“Tell me a journey that is more interesting than Sheikh Hasina’s. A world leader who has braved all odds, survived assassination attempts, seen her family being wiped out and yet continues to lead her nation with an iron will. I would consider myself extremely fortunate if I get to play her in a biopic,” says Mithila.
She’s at her artist friend’s studio in Dhaka. The walls of the cosy attic studio are chock-a-block with paintings, but even in this riot of colour, Mithila stands out.
She has been a part of Bangladesh’s popular culture since she was a child, having started her acting career when she was in Class III. Mithila’s rise is in sync with the growth of OTT platforms like Bangladesh’s Chorki and West Bengal’s HoiChoi, which are blurring borders with relatable content. She has been called the ‘activist-actor’ and the ‘thinking man’s heroine’.
But her love for the stage and the cameras goes hand-in-hand with her need to keep learning. She has a bachelor’s degree in the education programme and two master’s degrees, one in political science from the University of Dhaka and the other in early childhood development from BRAC University. Mithila continued her studies in this field at the University of Minnesota and is now doing Ph.D. in early childhood education at the University of Geneva.
At 39, she chooses to play roles of strong women. But for the longest time, she was the girl next door in telefilms, falling in love with the hero, fighting society to keep her love alive, and walking into the sunset holding her lover’s hand. Bangladesh fell in love with Mithila, but she was ready for more.
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“I was tired of playing the same role again and again. I must have acted in 100 telefilms in Bangladesh playing such roles. They made me very popular, but I was also getting bored,” she says.
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Blurring borders
Filmmaker Raajhorshee De’s Mayaa allowed her to plump the depths of the female psyche. The film debuted in West Bengal cinema halls in July this year.
“I play Mayaa in the film who is a cross between Lady Macbeth and the three witches. It was a performance appreciated on both sides of the border,” Mithila says.
In one of her upcoming movies in Bangladesh, Jole Jole Tara, she plays a village circus dancer and sex worker. It is the story of a girl on the margins of society who doesn’t give up on life.
These kinds of roles draw Mithila to acting, whether in films, TV serials, or OTT platforms. Dancing around trees and being put on the covers of fashion magazines is not something that interests her, she says wryly.
One of her recent performances in Bangladesh’s OTT platform Chorki, Myself Allen Swapan got her critical acclaim and online brickbats in equal measure.
Set against the background of the violent world of drugs and the border police, the web series begins with the Bangladesh government trying to eliminate drug lord Allen Swapan.
He escapes and steals the identity of his estranged brother, Samsur Rehman, whom he then kills. Swapan goes to stay in his brother’s house and starts living the stolen life. But Rehman’s wife Shayla, played by Mithila, feels something is amiss even though Swapan looks and behaves like her husband. It is only when the two have sex that she realises the man in the house is an imposter.
“Shayla was in a sexless marriage with Samsur Rehman. Not only does she exercise her sexual choice and sleep with a man who is not her husband, but she also lies to the world that Allen Swapan is Samsur Rehman even after realising that the new man in her life is a wanted criminal. It was a role that definitely pushed the envelope for OTT content in Bangladesh,” Mithila says.
The complexity of the role riled Bangladesh’s conservative viewers. Mithila was attacked for “corrupting society by playing women like Shayla who step out of the boundaries of marriage”. She says Shayla is the ‘everywoman’. And while playing her, she had to tap into her own survival instincts as a woman.
Through her work, Mithila embodies the essence of women’s empowerment, showcasing how women can lead and inspire change in society.
She drew from her experiences working with NGOs and women’s self-help groups where she met women from all sections of society.
The online hate does not bother Mithila too much.
“I believe in the roles I play and the social message they convey. I guess it’s the activist in me who is not deterred by difficulties along the way,” she says with a smile.
Art and activism
As head of the early childhood development programme at the NGO BRAC International, Mithili doesn’t just work with Bangladeshi women but also those from countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, and Philippines. Education of the girl child is one of the issues close to her.
“Unlike Shayla, I come from relative privilege. However, my NGO work has made me look at life from the lens of those who are not as fortunate as me. Whenever I have to play someone from a different social class, I only have to remember those I work for,” says Mithila.
My life is more than scaling vertical heights in the glamour industry, says Rafiath Rashid Mithila.
The actor says living between continents, and working for children and the oppressed, has given her artistic self a sense of responsibility toward society.
In a 2015 article for The Guardian, Mithila discussed her involvement in a programme that aimed to bring the classroom to adolescent girls in African countries, and not the other way around. Many schools are unsafe spaces.
“I have stretched myself thin horizontally, travelling from one part of the globe to the other. My life is more than scaling vertical heights in the glamour industry,” says Mithila.
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Chorki and cultural exchange
Having acted in both West Bengal and Bangladeshi cinema, Mithila is happy that Chorki is now in India. She wants to collaborate with artists and directors from West Bengal.
“Bengali, as a language, is not just restricted within a country or a state. It is far bigger and more global than that. If we can bring talents from two Banglas – Bangladesh and West Bengal – together, we will get outstanding content that will enrich the global market,” Chorki CEO Redoan Rony said in an interview.
Mithila is excited by the possibility of content strengthening cross-border ties. Hoichoi has also reached Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi actors such as Azmeri Haque Badhon and Jaya Ahsan have made their Bollywood debuts this year. Mithila is not averse to the idea but she insists the role has to agree with her and the project should not hinder her commitment to work for the girl child.
“There is a sense of Bangladesh as a conservative, Muslim-majority country. It is a stereotype that our OTT content routinely breaks. We do some amazing work in Bangladesh and collaboration with the film industry in West Bengal will only make the game stronger,” she says.
Mithila is an intelligent actress, well-read and with global exposure because of her NGO work, says Subhrajit Mitra
National-award-winning filmmaker Subhrajit Mitra, who is working with Mithila for his magnum opus Devi Chowdhurani: Bandit Queen of Bengal, says cinema in West Bengal will be enriched with a talent like her.
“Mithila is an intelligent actress, well-read and with global exposure because of her NGO work. She is a dialect coach to my actors in Devi Chowdhurani. I wish to see her more in our cinema and OTT space,” he says.
Her fans in Bangladesh and India may want to see more of her. But Mithila can afford to be selective no matter who comes knocking at her door.
“I will not play any role. It has to agree with my sensibilities. If there is a film or an OTT drama that promotes misogyny or domestic violence, I won’t do it,” she says.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)