Modernotaku: Beyond the 'hot and talented'

Photo: Courtesy

"Ami hot, ami talented," - these two lines during a flash interview following Nuhash Humayun's 'Premer Natok' premiere at Star Cineplex earlier last month, caused a frenzy in Bangladesh social media platforms. 

Call it clickbait, call it cringe, Mumtahina Mehzabin Afrin [stage name Modernotaku] knew what she was doing in front of the camera. And maybe that's one of the reasons why an accomplished filmmaker like Nuhash deemed her "perfect" for the character of 'Zara' in his latest web-film.

Although viral for the 'wrong reasons', Modernotaku was making enough noise online recently to convince The Business Standard to travel to Uttara to speak to her. 

Her name might strike some with wonder. It is quite unusual, and was inspired by things she holds dear. "Otaku is a Japanese term for people who are obsessed with anime and mangas," Modernotaku said.

"I was a huge anime fan when I was 14, still am to be honest. I was watching 'Modern Family' one day and I thought 'Modernotaku'? Sounds cool," she added.

Being a person with many talents, Modernotaku's first big 'break,' was when one night she casually uploaded a cover of the popular song 'Jontrona' on YouTube. She woke up next morning to a ton of notifications on her phone. 

She found out that the cover blew up and a huge chunk of pop culture enthusiasts were liking and sharing it. 

Modernotaku, just eighteen at the time, felt pleasantly validated when the original artist Mohon Sharif himself shared the track on his social profiles.

"Music has always been something that is very important to me, but I never actually had any intention of going anywhere with it," she said.

Photo: Courtesy

As her uploaded covers were going big on YouTube, she started receiving offers for gigs and cover shows. The 'performer' inside Afrin started gaining experience and exposure, and she ended up meeting the band False Cassette on one such show.

False Cassette were looking for a 'skater girl' to feature in an upcoming music video and the rather enthusiastic Afrin decided to volunteer.

"I learnt how to skate in a week and thereafter was featured in the music video. That was my first formal affiliation with the band."

"False Cassette were in need of a keyboardist and their drummer asked me to come over to their sessions with my keyboard. I hardly ever played the keyboard with them; I mostly just observed and tried singing a bit here and there," she continued.

Collaborating with False Cassette marked Afrin's musical beginnings. Their bassist, Maheyan, introduced her to bass lines, live performance, and songwriting. Prior to that, she had received training in Indian classical music at age seven, but False Cassette taught her the intricacies of succeeding as a modern artist in Dhaka.

"They always encouraged me to share my ideas and just like that, I shared with them a song I had written about my high school boyfriend, way back in the day," Modernotaku said. 

"They liked it and decided to churn a proper song out of it. 'Low' was the first time I properly took part in creating a song with actual musicians," she added.

When it comes to her musical influences, no one touches Afrin's soul more than Lalon. To the extent that even her first ever tattoo was of Lalon's song 'Manobdhormo!'

Photo: Courtesy

"I felt most connected with Lalon's music and that really stayed with me. I feel like a lot of where my music and my inspirations come from is Lalon's music. Growing up, I could never fit into any place and that aspect resonated with Lalon's history, music and his teachings as well," she said.

Afrin sensed an untapped potential within her, beyond her band's music. She aspired to forge her unique identity, crafting her songs and exploring modelling and acting on the side.

"I believed I had something in me. I knew I could be more with what I have. I felt something inside me that was far greater than my being, and I had to share that with the world," she said.

Modernotaku composed a track on her own called 'Bhul Shomoy,' which ended up drawing the attention of Nuhash Humayun and he selected the song as the theme track for 'Premer Natok' web-film. Interestingly, 'Premer Natok' also saw Modernotaku debuting as an actress.

She enthusiastically said, "Nuhash had always been keeping up with my stuff online and he said that he had a role which was 'perfect' for me. He asked me to audition and I just knew I was the perfect cast from reading one line of the script."

Afrin plays the character of Zara in Nuhash's film. Zara is a flaky, extroverted and a full of life character. No wonder she was a perfect cast. Afrin basically pulled off a Ryan Reynolds and chose to play herself on camera.

Shooting for the single drama was hard work. But to Afrin and her fellow cast, it never felt as such because they were having so much fun during the process.

"It was intense hard work as we shot the entire thing in three days and I was functioning on two hours of sleep. Nuhash was great at communicating and explaining my role to me and it never felt unnatural," said Afrin.

It was a proud moment for me at the premiere because I took my parents along with me and my father has always been a huge Humayun Ahmed fan," she said. It was at that very premiere where Afrin treated social media with the infamous flash interview.