Nawshaba on latest music video, women's empowerment and anti-rape protests

For the better part of this year, actor Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed was busy with her organization Together We Can, which had launched a campaign titled Art for Togetherness 2020, in co-operaton with Mukto Ashor.

With the motto Dure thekeo jure thaki, shilper shoktite, the campaign provided an opportunity to people from all across the country to demonstrate their creative talents on a national platform.

After a one year hiatus, she is returning to music videos on the auspicious occasion of Durga Puja. 

Directed by Soumitra Ghosh Iman, the latest video titled, Esheche Durga Ma, containing a very important message, would feature Nawshaba along with fifteen street children. 

The shooting took place at Ramna Kali temple in the capital. 

Nawshaba said she wanted her comeback to mean something, which is why she chose this particular project, because the core message of the song rang true to her. 

Also Read - Celebrities stand in solidarity with anti-rape protests across the country

“The song talks about the strength of women, how our power and grace can be felt everywhere. Given the state of our world right now, I thought this was a very important message to share.” 

The street children, featured in the video, are all from the High Court Mazar area, and they were familiar with Nawshaba even before this project. At the end of the shoot, they were given new clothes as presents.

“Celebrations are for everyone in this country regardless of religion, caste and socio-economic status. Keeping this in mind, we have cast street children in this video. They had an excellent day - dancing, posing for the camera and opening up presents. My heart felt so full after seeing them enjoy themselves,” Nawshaba said.

Nawshaba with her little co-stars Collected

The actor, who has been vocal about all social movements since the Shahbagh protests, has remained uncharacteristically silent on the ongoing anti-rape protests across the country. 

She explained, “I was offered seven acting gigs last year. Surprisingly, in all those scripts, I was supposed to be cast as a rape survivor. They wanted me to film really graphic rape scenes, which I took a stance against. I wanted to understand, if they were all anti-rape shows, why did I have to appear in gratuitous and violent rape scenes? I don’t want to use rape as a tool to further my career.”

‘I was always very active in social movements starting with the Shahbagh movement. But I am not taking to the streets anymore. I gathered more than enough unpleasant experiences. I realized, I can only try to change people’s mind through my craft. That is also one of the reasons why I chose to appear in this music video,” the actor added.