Chanchal Chowdhury

Chanchal Chowdhury
চঞ্চল চৌধুরী
Chowdhury in 2011
Born	Suchinta Chowdhury Chanchal (1974-06-01) 1 June 1974 Pabna, Bangladesh
Nationality	Bangladeshi
Alma mater	University of Dhaka
Occupation(s)	Drama and film actor, model
Notable work	Monpura (2011) Aynabaji (2017)
Spouse	Shanta Chowdhury

Suchinta Chowdhury Chanchal known as Chanchal Chowdhury by his screen name (born 1 June 1971) is a Bangladeshi actor and model who has performed in film, television and theatre. He 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.

He also started to work on films and dramaserials of Bangladesh. As the lead actor of the Bengali film Monpura, it succeeded very well in the box office of Bangladesh, and is one of the first Bangladeshi commercial movies to come out. He also has filmed many dramaserials mostly in the genre of comedy. Chanchal worked in the dramaserial directed by Salauddin Lavlu, Vober Hat which was a very popular serial that aired on Channel I in 2007.

Early life

Chanchal Chowdhury was born and brought up in the village of Kamarhaat in Pabna. He was born in Hindu Family .His fathers name is Radha Gobindo Chowdhury and mothers name is Nomita Chowdhury. He passed his SSC from Udaypur High School in 1990 and HSC from Rajbari Government College 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 want something else.

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 the theatre group Aronnok. He then worked on stage for 10 years at a row. 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.

Career

It was in 2004 that Fazlur Rahman Babu (actor) introduced Chowdhury to Gias Uddin Selim and Mostofa Sarwar Farooki. Chowdhury 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 Chowdhury’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 Hemanto 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." Chowdhury 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, Tisha, Chandni and Richi Solaiman have done some impressive works. Chowdhury 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.

Chowdhury 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) and Shonai (Monpura) among others. "I spent my childhood in a village, so I am more comfortable portraying the rural types," he says.

Chowdhury 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 Chowdhury.

Though initially Chowdhury'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 Two Blockbuster Film

Theatre and dramas

Theatre

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

Television

Year	Series	Director	Role	Co-stars	Notes
2006	Talpatar Shepai				Bengali Drama telefilm
	Bangsher Bati				Bengali Drama telefilm
	Goruchor	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama telefilm
	Nurunnahar				Bengali Drama telefilm
2007	Swapner Bilat	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama telefilm
	Etimkhana	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama telefilm
	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 telefilm
	College - Student			A.K.M. Hasan	Bengali Drama telefilm
	Potro Mitali	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama telefilm
2009	Pattri Chai			A.K.M. Hasan, Siddique, Khushi	Bengali Drama telefilm
	Warren	Salauddin Lavlu		Challenger	Bengali Drama telefilm
	Alta Sundori	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama serial
	Cinderella				Bengali Drama telefilm
	Gadha Nogor	Salauddin Lavlu			Bengali Drama telefilm
	Sakin Sarisuri	Salauddin Lavlu	Japan Doctor		Bengali Drama serial

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Role	Co-stars	Notes
2006	Rupkothar Golpo	Tauquir Ahmed
2009	Monpura	Gias Uddin Selim	Shonai	Fazlur Rahman Babu	won Meril Prothom Alo Awards for Best Actor (Film)
2010	Moner Manush	Goutam Ghose	Kaluah	Prasenjit	Indo-Bangladeshi Bengali Film
2012	Television	Mostofa Sarwar Farooki	Sulemon	Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Mosharraf Karim
2016	Aynabaji	Amitabh Reza Chowdhury	Ayna	Masuma Rahman Nabila, Partha Barua
2018	Debi	Anam Biswas	Misir Ali	Joya Ahsan, Animesh Aich, Iresh Zaker, Shabnam Faria

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

External links

• Chanchal Chowdhury Profile
• Chanchal Chowdhury Interview