Sadi Mohammad Shahnewaz

It has been 24 years since Fuad Almuqtadir’s first album, “Maya”, released. Since then, the musician, composer and sound engineer has been synonymous with hit music. After 7 years, Fuad has announced that he is ready to return to making new music full-time, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Star.

An eccentric genius by the name of Hashim Mahmud has been in the limelight for the last few days, for all the right reasons. “Hawa” – the film which has already blended a mysterious, alluring narrative with one of the most tasteful, engaging promotional campaigns in recent memory, has struck gold with “Shada Shada Kala Kala”, a masterclass in rustic songmaking.

The craze for upcoming film “Hawa” does not seem to go away, as the film’s team performed for a jam-packed audience at Jahangirnagar University yesterday.

Made at a cost of BDT 100 crore, Ananta Jalil starrer “Din: The Day” is a long-awaited return for the actor to the industry. This kind of budget is unforeseen in Bangladesh’s film industry.

This Eid-Ul-Adha, Raihan Rafi directorial “Poran” is up against the BDT 100 crore mammoth production, Ananta Jalil’s “Din: The Day”. While both films have gathered considerable hype ahead of release, the difference in budget and halls released in means that “Poran” will only have to do a fraction of the business to be deemed “successful”.

“All these years, the love that I have received from fans and fellow artistes is unparalleled. I feel proud and emotional when my co-actors call me Maa,” Sharmili Ahmed had said in her last interview with The Daily Star in May.

No one in showbiz can hold their place forever – especially if you’re a leading lady. The showbiz industry can be ruthless to both veterans and newcomers, with the latter coming up from time to time, vying for their own space in the world of glam and glitz.

Let us address the elephant in the room first: Coke Studio Bangla is obviously an elaborate advert for Coca Cola. It does not take a genius to come to that conclusion, the enormous Coca Cola logo on top of the stage at Army Stadium yesterday should be enough of a ‘hint’. That being said, what the platform has done to re-ignite interest in our local scene is admirable, only exemplified by thousands of people showing up in droves in Bangladesh Army Stadium yesterday, despite an entire day of incessant rain.

Both of the songs were conceptualized and executed by Team Pritom – a robust group of talented artistes that now act as the think-tank for Pritom Hasan’s unorthodox ideas. “A lot of questions will be answered in the last chapter,” says the singer.

When KK was singing these lines at Kolkata’s Nazrul Mancha on Tuesday, no one could foresee the irony of these words.

India’s history of remaking Hollywood films is shabby at best –the first offenders that come to mind are Jim Carrey’s fantastic performance in “Bruce Almighty” being turned into Salman Khan’s rancid “God Tussi Great Ho”, and the sheer audacity of using the premise of “The Italian Job” to make “Players”.

The image of legendary artistes Runa Laila and Sabina Yasmin being given Lifetime Achievement Awards by an emotional Ferdausi Rahman -- will be immortalised as one of the most meaningful, significant and iconic moments in the history of the Meril-Prothom Alo Awards.

In a line-up full of hard-hitters like Artcell, Black, Cryptic Fate, Arbovirus, Nemesis, AvoidRafa, Mechanix, and Dreek, the most memorable moment was Shakib Al Hasan gingerly singing “Amra Korbo Joy”, much to the elation of the crowd.

As “Chiltey Roud” headed towards its majestic outro, pairing Boga Taleb’s resounding, celestial vocals with Shayan Chowdhury Arnob’s calming delivery – the shehnai playing in the background almost brought me to tears.

Rabindra Sangeet exponent Sadi Mohammad was one of my father’s favourite singers -- so much so that when I was born, I became his namesake. Today is Rabindra Jayanti, the birth anniversary of the Kabi Guru, and also the day that my father reminds me of my ‘origin story’.

‘Shaandar’ Shaan, ‘Golui’ not far behind

From being Vibe’s exciting musical prodigy to a staple of legendary Warfaze, Oni Hasan has accomplished a lot in his musical career.

There are few bands in Bangladesh who are as internationally appealing and well rounded as Chirkutt. The folk rock pioneers will break new ground by performing with Scorpions at Madison Square Garden (MSG), New York at the Golden Jubilee Bangladesh concert, celebrating 50 years of our country’s Independence. We talked to Chirkutt about their preparations, excitement, and thoughts about the concert.

It is difficult to maintain even a semblance of neutrality when a song bewitches you from the second it starts playing – that is what Coke Studio Bangla’s newest release, “Bulbuli”, did to my ‘trained’ musical ear. On the first day of the Bengali New Year, the musical production paid a perfect homage to our National Poet, Kazi Nazrul Islam.

It was 1989 when T W Sainik first came from Nilphamari to Dhaka, as a culturally active young man. Even after two decades of successful work as a cinematographer – more than 500 tele-fictions, 40 TVCs and 4 films, we know the artiste as the voice behind “Tumi Amar Ghum”, a song that captured the hearts of music listeners regardless of taste.