Nasir Uddin Khan aka Allen Swapan: A villain we fell in love with
First Chanchal Chowdhury as David Adam in 'Karagar', then Mosharraf Karim as OC Harun in 'Mohanagar' and now Nasir Uddin Khan as Allen Swapan in his very own spinoff 'Myself Allen Swapan'. The first two are inarguably the biggest faces in acting in Bangladesh at present. With his own show, Myself Allen Swapan, Nasir is also rising through the ranks to join the former.
Although they are individuals with distinct qualities and identities, one thing that knits them together is their close and past affiliation with theatre. Not even Satyajit Ray could churn out a sliver of good acting out of you, if you don't know your ABCs of acting. And the theatre is where you hone your acting skills.
"I started working in theatre in 1995, while I had been working full time since 2001. By 2015, I had switched about seven jobs. They weren't settling well with me. Then I gave up trying to hold onto jobs and took to acting full time," Nasir said.
As a practised stage actor, he had already acted in a few short films, a feature-length film and a few TV dramas, while still holding onto a day job. When he grew tired of jobs, he wanted to put his theatre experience to test. He migrated to Dhaka from Chittagong in 2016 to act on screen.
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'Myself Allen Swapan' is Nasir's latest venture. His career arc has developed in the exact same way his character arc does: slowly but surely. He has already appeared in well over 20 movies and web series, yet, owing to the subtlety of his performances, he is stepping into the limelight only now.
We had collectively failed to recognise this 'diamond in the rough' before he played the villainous Allen Swapan's role.
By the way, you have in fact seen Nasir next to Mosharraf and Chanchal before, in Mohanagar and Hawa. The gritty character in all his previous roles kept him on the sidelines. But it was also this gritty character that served as the glue that held the plot of 'Myself Allen Swapan' together.
It was not until the 'reveal' sequence (no spoiler ahead) at the end of 'Syndicate' that we picked up on how great an actor Nasir really is. That was his big break. In fact, he outshone the protagonist Afran Nisho in it. However, that was the last Eid-ul-Adha.
This Eid-ul-Fitr, his very own eponymous web series Myself Allen Swapan has hit the screens. Directed by Shihab Shaheen, the web series came out on OTT platform Chorki and is already making a splash.
Nasir believes that when you really love something, you do it passionately. This passion inevitably reflects on the work and the job is well done. Everyone notices. Passion was not something he felt for his jobs, so they did not pan out. But the audience love him because, in his own words, he is passionate about acting.
"Before any role, I take some time to prepare. Say I need 25 to 30 days to prepare, I ask the director for the time. I don't jump at roles. This results in something good, mostly. And since I am a Chatgaiya, the Chatgaiya community loved me a great deal," Nasir said, retaining a tinge of the Chatgaiya dialect in his tone.
After people watched Syndicate, they begged Chorki and Syndicate director Shihab Shaheen to flesh out the Allen Swapan character some more. The fact that an entire web series now revolves around him has boosted his morale ten-fold, and his overall work volume.
Now, if you are a film buff, it is likely you have heard the term 'method acting' sometime along the way. In layman terms, it simply means when an actor practically lives – on and off screen – the character he or she is playing in a production. Nasir is the kind of actor who would strike one as a method actor.
"But I don't care much for method acting. If my role, for example, requires a seven-inch beard, I'll grow it. I won't wear a wig. Growing a beard that long takes time and I'm willing to give it that. Acting is all about preparation. If I prepare perfectly, giving it the time it requires, there's no way I can miss the mark," Nasir added at the end of the enlightening conversation.
