Chanchal Chowdhury

Chanchal Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi actor. Critically acclaimed for his performances in Rupkothar Golpo (2006), Monpura (2009), Television (2012), Aynabaji (2016), and Debi (2018), he has received two Bangladesh National Film Awards for Best Actor and three Meril Prothom Alo Awards for Best Actor.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Chanchal Chowdhury
চঞ্চল চৌধুরী
Chanchal Chowdhury in 2018
Born	Suchinta Chowdhury Chanchal 1 June 1974 Pabna, Bangladesh
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Education	Udaypur High School Rajbari Govt. High School Fine Arts in University of Dhaka
Alma mater	University of Dhaka
Occupation	Theatre, Television and Film Actor, Former Lecturer of Fine Arts in Soda-Coda-Uoda
Years active	1998-Present
Known for	Acting and well developed mentality about Art and Culture
Notable work	Monpura (2009) Moner Manush (2011) Television (2013) Aynabaji (2016) Debi-Misir Ali Prothombar (2018)
Height	5.7 ft (170 cm)
Spouse(s)	Shantwana Saha (m. 2008)
Children	Shoishob Roddur Shuddho
Parent(s)	Radha Gobinda Chowdhury, Nomita Chowdhury
Awards	Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Actor(2 times), Meril-Prothom Alo Award for Best Actor in Public Choice, Meril-Prothom Alo Award Award for Best Actor in Critics Choice(2 times), Meril-Prothom Alo Award as the Best Model (2006) RTV Award(Many times) and many other Awards

A household name in Bangladesh,[7] Chowdhury started his career in 1996 in the theaters of Bangladesh. He joined famous theaters such as Aranyak Natyadal and performed in stage plays like Prakritojoner Kotha, Joyjoyonti, Ora Kodom Ali, Mayur Singhason, Songkranti, Rarang and Che-er Cycle.

Albeit a prolific actor in TV series and films, he appeared in six movies as of 2018.

Early life

Chanchal Chowdhury was born and brought up in the village of Kamarhaat in Pabna. He was born in a Hindu Family.[8] His father's name is Radha Gobinda Chowdhury and mother's name is Nomita Chowdhury. He passed his SSC examination from Udaypur High School in 1990 and HSC examination from Rajbari Govt. College, Rajbari in 1992. He came to Dhaka in 1993 to apply for admission in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka. His parents wanted him to be an engineer but an innate urge for art and culture drove him to become an actor. Chanchal Chowdhury settled in Dhaka in 1993 and dived headfirst into as much culture as possible. As a third year student of DU, he joined 'Aronyak', a theater group of Legendary actor, director and scriptwriter Mamunur Rashid.Then he worked on stage for 10 years continuously. During this period, he played minor roles in different television dramas as well. His first role as a hero was in the drama Grash directed by Faridur Rahman. Meanwhile, Chowdhury pursued his profession in UODA as a lecturer of Fine Arts from 2001 to 2006.[7][9][10]

Career

It was in 2004 that Fazlur Rahman Babu (actor) introduced Chowdhury to Gias Uddin Selim and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. Chanchal then started working more and more in television dramas. His initial works are Shurjer Hashi with Gias Uddin Selim, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shogbaad and a TV commercial, Maa with Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. At this point Chanchal's life took an upward surge towards success as the commercial gained him immense popularity.

One day Mostafa Sarwar Farooki asked me to meet him. He explained the script for the advertisement to me and I soon agreed as I felt that I could realise the emotion in the script

— Chanchal Chowdhury

Even the advertisement's jingle was sung by Chowdhury. Though he never had any formal singing lessons, he is gifted with the talent to sing. "I always listened to Hemanta Mukhopadhdhay and Bhupen Hajarika and sang those songs to myself; I told Mostofa Sarwar Farooki bhai to give me a chance to sing the jingle because I really thought that my voice would suit the song. Ayub Bachchu and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki then listened to my singing and later let me know that my song had been selected." Chanchal later won the Meril-Prothom Alo award as the best model 2006 for this commercial. Chowdhury came into the spotlight for the first time as a model in the commercial of Grameenphone which became immensely popular at that time. Pother Klanti Bhule - a very popular song of Hemanta Mukherjee attracted some more attention onto the advertisement. Eventually, that advertise brought him the prestigious Meril-Prothom Alo award in "The Best Model - Men" category in 2005. The commercial was directed by Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, with whom, Chowdhury worked with on the serial 'Talpatar Shepai'.

After the commercial, Chowdhury's acting career started moving forward at a very good pace. He then worked with Salauddin Lavlu, Saidul Anam Tutul, Golam Sarwar Tutul and so on. Some of the dramas that Chowdhury specially likes are Vober Hat, Bongsho Rokkhe, Talpatar Shepai, Nikhoj Shongbaad, Ami Tumi Shottojit, Boral Parer Shitlai Gaon, Akjon Durbol Manush and also many more. The busy actor is also seen frequently in Eid-special TV plays.

Chowdhury plays a key role, called ‘Laley’, in Aronyak's popular production Shangkranti. In Che'er Cycle (a Bengali Theatre production), he plays six different characters including those of Fidel Castro and a peace-loving young boy, Shubhro — demonstrating his versatility. Chowdhury considers his performance in Che'er Cycle as one of his best works on stage so far. On his contemporaries, the actor says, several artistes are doing well. Among them, A.K.M Hasan, Mosharraf Karim, Shamim Zaman, Anisur Rahman Milon, Nusrat Imroz Tisha, Chandni and Richi Solaiman have done some impressive works. Chanchal says that performing in front of the camera is relatively easy for him, thanks to his experience on stage. He adds, acting in films is more challenging than TV plays because of its duration and format.

Chanchal loves playing characters that are little rustic as he can relate his roots to such characters. In his list of favourite roles are the characters of Fiza Master (Vober Hat), Japan Doctor (Sakin Sarisuri), Shonai (Monpura), Ayna (Aynabaji) Taqdeer (Taqdeer) among others. "I spent my childhood in a village, so I am more comfortable portraying the rural types," he says.

Canchal spent a quality childhood in his village Kamarhaat. He was hydrophilic and so restless that made his name, "Chanchal" very apt. "Right after my school was over I used to hurry back home to keep my schoolbag and then rush out to bathe in the pond. I used to stay in the pond for two or three hours making my eyes all red and my father used come to collect me from the pond with a stick in his hand. I got beaten up several times in my childhood for that," reminisces Chanchal.

Though initially Chanchal's family was not happy with his decision to study fine arts, they are now happy to see him so successful. ‘My parents live in Pabna. After the release of Monpura I was talking to my father over the phone and he told me that people in our village are talking about me and my film "non-stop". My father was so proud that he almost cried as he spoke. "I can’t tell you how soothing it is to see your success," he said to me. In His Short Film Career He Already Got Three Blockbuster Films.

Theatre and dramas

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	Shangkranti	Laley	Arannyak Natyodol Production
1999	Prakritojoner Kotha		Arannyak Natyodol Production
2000	Ora Kodom Ali		Arannyak Natyodol Production
2003	Mayur Singhason		Arannyak Natyodol Production
	Songkranti		Arannyak Natyodol Production
	Che-er Cycle	Shubra	Bengali Theatre Production
2004	Joyjoyonti		Arannyak Natyodol Production
	Rarang		Arannyak Natyodol Production

Notable television and Web Series

Year	Series	Director	Role	Co-stars	Notes
2006	Talpatar Shepai	Mostofa Sarwar Farooki	Nusrat Imroz Tisha		Bengali Drama
	Bangsher Bati				Bengali Drama
	Goruchor	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama
	Nurunnahar				Bengali Drama
2007	Swapner Bilat	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama
	Etimkhana	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama
	Vober Hat	Salauddin Lavlu	Fiza Sir		Bengali Drama serial
2008	Tuntunni Villa				Bengali Drama serial
	Mama Vagnea				Bengali Drama serial
	Ghor Kutum	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama serial
	Dholer Baddo	Salauddin Lavlu		Fazlur Rahman Babu	Bengali Drama
	College - Student			A.K.M. Hasan	Bengali Drama
	Potro Mitali	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama
2009	Pattri Chai			A.K.M. Hasan, Siddique, Khushi	Bengali Drama
	Warren	Salauddin Lavlu		Challenger	Bengali Drama
	Alta Sundori	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama serial
	Cinderella				Bengali Drama
	Gadha Nogor	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama
	Sakin Sarisuri	Salauddin Lavlu	Japan Doctor	Masum Aziz, Nazmul Huda Bachchu,Mamunur Rashid, Mosharraf Karim, Azizul Hakim	Bengali Drama serial
2010	Khela	Mahfuz Ahmed,Humayun Ahmed		Abul Hayat,Challenger	Bengali Drama
	Harkipte	Salauddin Lavlu		A.T.M. Shamsuzzaman	Bengali Drama
2017	Vangon	Abu Hayat Mahmud		Zakia Bari Momo	Bengali Drama
2018	Mental Family	Dipu Hazra		A.K.M Hasan, Shahanaz Khushi, Farhana Mili	Bengali Drama
	Ayesha	Mostofa Sarwar Farooki		Nusrat Imroz Tisha	Bengali Drama
2020	Rupa Bhabi	Mejbah Uddin Shumon		Tareen Jahan	Bengali Drama
	Kingkortobbobimur			Nusrat Imroz Tisha	Bengali Drama
	taqdeer	Shawki Syed			web series

Web series

Year	Web Series	Role	Co-stars	Director	Notes
2019	Neel Dorja	Mirza	Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, ABM Sumon	Golam Sohrab Dodul
2020	Taqdeer	Taqdeer	Sanjida Preeti, Manoj Kumar Pramanik, Shohel Mondol	Syed Ahmed Shawki	a hoichoi original Bengali web series
2021	Contract		Arifin Shuvoo, Rafiath Rashid Mithila, Zakia Bari Momo, Iresh Zaker	Tanim Noor and Krishnendu Chattopadhay	a ZEE5 web series

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Role	Co-stars	Notes
2006	Rupkothar Golpo	Tauquir Ahmed		Humayun Faridi, Tauquir Ahmed	won Meril Prothom Alo Awards for Critics Choice Best Actor(Film)
2009	Monpura	Giasuddin Selim	Shonai	Fazlur Rahman Babu, Mamunur Rashid	Won Bangladesh National Film Award for Best actor & Meril Prothom Alo Awards for Best Actor (Film)
2010	Moner Manush	Goutam Ghose	Kaluah	Prosenjit Chatterjee	Indo-Bangladeshi Bengali Film
2012	Television	Mostofa Sarwar Farooki	Sulemon	Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Mosharraf Karim
2016	Aynabaji	Amitabh Reza Chowdhury	Ayna	Lutfor Rahman George, Masuma Rahman Nabila, Partha Barua	Won Bangladesh National Film Awards for Best actor & Meril Prothom Alo Awards for Best actor
2018	Debi	Anam Biswas	Misir Ali	Joya Ahsan, Animesh Aich, Iresh Zaker, Sabnam Faria	Nominated Meril Prothom Alo Awards for Best actor
2021	Paap Punya	Giasuddin Selim	Khorshed	Fazlur Rahman Babu, Afsana Mimi, Siam Ahmed	Post Production[11]
2021	Hawa	Mezbaur Rahman Sumon		Nazifa Tushi, Sariful Razz, Sumon Anowar	Post Production

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Film/Drama	Results
2009	National Film Awards	Best Actor	Monpura	Won jointly with Ferdous
	Meril Prothom Alo Awards	Public Choice Best Actor (Film)	Monpura	Won
2010	Meril Prothom Alo Awards	Critics Choice Best Actor (TV)		Won
2016	Meril Prothom Alo Awards	Critics Choice Best Actor (Film)	Aynabaji	Won
2016	National Film Awards	Best Actor	Aynabaji	Won
2018	Meril Prothom Alo Awards	Critics Choice Best Actor (Film)	Debi (2018 film)	Won

References

1. "Meril Prothom Alo Awards". The Daily Star. 11 April 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
2. সেরা চলচ্চিত্র অভিনেতা চঞ্চল চৌধুরী. Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Retrieved 19 October 2018.
3. "Archived copy" ফেরদৌস ও চঞ্চল চৌধুরী শ্রেষ্ঠ অভিনেতা, পপি শ্রেষ্ঠ অভিনেত্রী. The Daily Janakantha (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. জাতীয় চলচ্চিত্র পুরস্কার ২০১৬ (PDF) (in Bengali). 5 April 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
5. "Chanchal Chowdhury in a BTV serial for the first time". The Daily Star. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
6. "'Rupa Bhabi' tells the story of conjugal life". The Independent. Dhaka.
7. "Chanchal Chowdhury". The Daily Star. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
8. Sazu, Shah Alam (23 October 2012). "Durga Puja festivities: Chanchal Chowdhury returns to his roots". The Daily Star. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
9. "'Birthdays are bittersweet for me' – Chanchal Chowdhury". The Daily Star. 2 June 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
10. "Kumar Bishwajit and Chanchal share birthday today". The Independent. Dhaka. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
11. "Selim's Paap Punno begins promotion". Dhaka Tribune. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.

External links

• Chanchal Chowdhury Profile
• Chanchal Chowdhury Interview