Love Studio: Capturing dreams in frames

When Tipu was around 15-years-old, his days would start with cleaning the teashop where he worked. The rest of his day was a blur of cleaning the kettle and serving people water. 

The break in his monotony would come once a week, when he could catch a movie at the nearby cinema halls for free. 

It's in the silver screen where Tipu found love. Drawn by actor Shahnaz - her look, posture, agility - captivated the young Tipu and contributed to burgeoning infatuation. The youth from Dhaka's Jurain would cry when she cried, laugh when he saw her do it. 

Of course, he always knew he could never get too close to her. It was all a dream, his love was restricted to the theatres and the screen. 

That is until he met Samsul Alam Helal, a visual artist from the capital's Postogola. When Helal heard of Tipu's silver screen love affair, he immediately got to work. He found a picture of the actor, printed out a life-size cutout and pasted it on an EPS sheet. 

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He presented the cut-out to Tipu, who was invited to the former's photo studio. There, Tipu's dreams came true, as he hugged his favourite actor and took a number of pictures. Love blossomed that day and at the end of it, Tipu still refused to let go of the poster. 

Tipu had always lived between his reality and the fiction. Helal's desire was to blur the lines between the two, even if just for a moment. 

And it is for this very desire, to capture dreams in frames, that Helal has become a well-known name around Bangladesh. 

A pining for the pulse

Samsul Alam Helal graduated with a degree in management from the Shaikh Burhanuddin Post Graduate College. He would, however, spend most of his time at the studio of an older brother. 

There, they would take pictures in groups. Helal loved the experience. In a spur of the moment decision, he began taking photography classes. He completed his graduation in photography from Pathshala South Asian Media Institute.

Like most artists, Helal was inspired by his surroundings, in particular the Jurain neighbourhood which was close to home. 

A decade or so ago, Jurain-Postogola was at the very edge of the capital. Its re-rolling mills, restaurants, match and garments factories, drew people from different villages. 

Its new residents arrived with big dreams for their city life - some wanted to go to Dubai, some wanted to become singers and others would settle for a house in Gulshan.

Within these dreams, Helal found his passion. Helal's aim, in his own words, has always been to make fiction which questions reality. He wants to break socio-political barriers and go beyond the real self of man. 

All this he offered in his famous Love Studio - his own theatre of dreams - located in Jurain.  

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Ruma, a dancer by profession, disillusioned with the workings of the world, came to the studio to act out her fantasy of taking revenge on the numerous wrongs. 

She took her picture armed with a prop rifle. Afterwards, she took another riding a motorcycle. Both were her personal protests in their own right: the rifle was to make her feel powerful, while the motorcycle was a statement as very few women were known to ride their own vehicles back when she was growing up.

Kamrul, a member of Ruma's dance team who came with her, stood behind the driving seat occupied by his colleague. The backdrop was a view of a river surrounded by mountains. Kamrul spread his hands and sang at the top of his voice. "What if this road never ends," he crooned, as Helal snapped the pictures.

Then there is Juhi, whose father worked as a waiter at a restaurant. He brought his one-year-old daughter to the studio. In conversations with Helal, the artists learned that the father's dream was for Juhi to pass at least her High School Certificate exams, secure a good job and live a financially-secure life. 

With this information, Helal placed the baby in front of an expensive red car and the flashes began. His father, a devout follower of a Pir, whose dream was to go to his Pir's grave, was given a long beard, a red turban, prayer beads and a black cap. 

Helal also took pictures of him against a backdrop of the Dubai cityscape, fulfilling yet another dream. 

Helal doesn't only take stills, but also dabbles in videography and installations. Instead of taking a single photo, he creates a series for his subject. Seen together, it is a tapestry of a dream styled like a traditional Bangladeshi movie.  

While most media focuses on people's troubles - lack of drinking water, disease, fights - Helal sticks to the hopes and desires of the working class. 

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He takes time to understand his subjects, probing them with questions. Over the years, he has met a number of people and it has helped him form deeper connections with those he photographs. 

All the way up

Alam Market in Jurain is a well-known place. Three cinemas - Diana, Meghna and Jamuna - are nearby. One of its frequent hanger-ons is Kader, a charming individual whose words carry a hypnotic power. He can easily bring a crowd of people under his spell, relieving them of the contents of their wallet, but not by force or illegal deception.

Kader heard of Helal's studio and went to him.  He wanted a photograph of him with a flying snake wrapped around his neck. A break from reality; a moment to remember. 

The studio Helal was working in belonged to a friend. 

As the analogue era of photography ended, it seriously hurt Helal's business as well, with the studio on the verge of closing down. 

The old-timey backdrops were all but a relic of the past.

Undeterred, Helal bought some time from his friend and began to search for an artist to create his backdrops.  

That is when he met Boni Gopal. Helal painted a number of scenes with him and his partner. 

Soon, the sunrise, a flight to Dubai, a luxurious house, a forest, a river of ducks and boats, all came alive. 

Helal ran his Love Studio for six months. When the photo series was completed, it was exhibited at the 7th Film Festival in 2013 and received critical acclaim. 

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In an interview at the time, Helal said, "I enjoy representing reality in an alternate space. What we see isn't necessarily the whole story, and when I take pictures, I try to delve into the fictional aspects of the story. A boy working at a roadside tong might be a movie buff, and if I photograph his story, I will try to explore his love for movies rather than his daily life."

Since then, Helal's Love Studio has travelled to Singapore, Switzerland, Portugal, France, England, America, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Australia. 

The latest feather in his cap is the Love Studio being exhibited in Sharjah.

The Sharjah Art Foundation of the United Arab Emirates and Kiran Nader Museum of Art in Delhi have organised a huge exhibition called Pop South Asia. It starts on 2 September and will continue till 11 December. 

Artists from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka are participating in it. Samsul Alam Helal along with Shishir Bhattacharya, Dhali Al Mamun and Lalarukh Salim from Bangladesh have also been invited. 

This event will also be held in Delhi in 2023. Helal is preparing to go to Sharjah at the end of November.