Anarchy: A buzz creating 100-second wonder

How life-altering can a night be?

Right now, Tanvir Islam Riyad is probably the perfect person to answer it. 

Tanvir Islam Riyad. Photo: Courtesy

A night before posting his new video "Anarchy Part-1" on his Facebook profile, Tanvir was just an aspiring 3D animator dreaming of becoming a filmmaker in the future. However, he had been dealing with anxieties and tremendous pressure before his 3D animation video Anarchy broke the internet within a day.

But anarchy is not merely a success story of a prodigal animator; it is also the triumph of a university dropout seizing the day.

Before Tanvir talked to The Business Standard, I watched Anarchy a few times. I was hoping that he might describe how symbolic his depictions are but the first thing that Tanvir said was, "Well, I didn't think deeply enough. I just wanted to make a cool animation. And everything else in the video is my surroundings." 

Tanvir has dreamt of becoming a filmmaker since he was a student of Class 6. His passion for animation, graphics, VFX and 3D motion pictures led him to study CSE in university. But things didn't go well and Tanvir dropped out of university amid a running semester in 2020. 

Since then, he has been working as a freelance 3D animator. Meanwhile, his aspiration to deliver a stunning 3D masterpiece had been brewing inside his mind till the very day of uploading Anarchy.

Additionally, Tanvir is the founder and creative director of marketing agency Obscura BD where he handles the 3D animation side.

"I started working on Anarchy a year ago - right after I released my sci-fi short film 'Bangabandhu 3000'," Tanvir said. But that film did not receive the anticipated response and losing hope, Tanvir stopped working on Anarchy. 

"It took me around five to six weeks to make this one minute 45 seconds long clip. I had to relentlessly work all day to make it happen," he continued.

The unique thing about Anarchy Part-1 is probably the few popular brand logos. The creator of the short claims that he just wanted to showcase some of the brands which are or were a part of his daily life since childhood. 

"I made no script for Anarchy. The ambiance of this video is of a future slum. I live near Ashulia and I was brought up here. This place, as well as Uttara, have had a great impact on my creative self," Tanvir detailed.

Reflecting on the many aspects such as those popular brands and a few unfortunate incidents, Tanvir has drawn a futuristic scenario where an antihero riding a spacecraft lands in the sophisticated town of Ashulia. 

According to Tanvir, this mysterious antihero's ambitions will be revealed in the shorts that follow.

Anarchy has received a massive response from the viewers. Within the first two days, the short garnered 35,000 reactions on Facebook and was viewed by 13,000 people on YouTube. Even the creator himself did not imagine his idea of a future slum would turn into such a hit short film.

So, what now?

Hearing the question, Tanvir chuckled and quoted the very famous Spiderman dialogue - "With great power comes great responsibilities."

He added, "From now on, whatever I do should define me. It should reflect my style."

Like his antihero in the video, Tanvir has been the sole person behind the making of Anarchy. With his 32GB RAM, 2nd generation Ryzen 7 processor and NVIDIA RTX 3080 graphics card, Tanvir, on his own, has set the benchmark for 3D animation in Bangladesh. 

"I am not quite good at sound design. So I took different soundtracks from YouTube and made an experimental track. The cold voice speaking in the background is the voice of the Google translator on your phone." 

3D art is an unexplored industry in Bangladesh. Tanvir believes that there is no limitation in 3D art except your imagination and skills. 

Unfortunately, talented 3D artists in Bangladesh fall through due to a lack of opportunities. Tanvir wants to be a pioneer in creating a 3D industry in Bangladesh.

He said, "I want to create a revolution so that 3D animators, as well as digital artists, get a platform to work in."