Bishaash
| Bishaash | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Genre | Supernatural drama, adventure, fantasy, detective, mystery |
| Written by |
Ilora Choudhury (3 episodes) Selim Gias Uddin (23 episodes) Jo Ho (6 episodes) Farhana Islam (2 episodes) Waris Islam (7 episodes) Aditya Kabir (1 episode) Rayhan Rahman (4 episodes) Ben Teasdale (4 episodes) |
| Directed by |
Waris Islam (9 episodes) Sameer Ahmed (6 episodes) Indra Bhose (5 episodes) Selim Gias Uddin (4 episodes) |
| Starring |
Shama Rahman Babu Md. Shaidul Islam Molla Arabi Rahman Rahmat Ali |
| Narrated by | Asaduzzaman Noor |
| Theme music composer | Stephen Murphy |
| Country of origin | Bangladesh |
| Original language(s) |
Bengali English |
| No. of episodes | 24 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
Mary Hare Rishi Sankar |
| Location(s) |
Dhaka, Bangladesh London, United Kingdom |
| Cinematography |
Roger Bonnici (8 episodes) Rashed Zaman (1 episode) |
| Editor(s) |
Iqbal Kabir Joel (10 episodes) Donny Boocock (5 episodes) Georgis Bashar (3 episodes) |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BBC World Service Trust |
| Release | |
| First shown in |
16 October 2010 – 18 March 2011 (Bangladesh) |
| Original release |
6 March – 14 July 2011 (United Kingdom) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha |
| External links | |
| Production website | |
Bishaash (Bengali: বিশ্বাস; English: Belief) is a 24-part Bangladeshi supernatural drama adventure fantasy detective mystery television series produced by BBC World Service Trust which was first broadcast on Bangladesh Television from 16 October 2010 until 18 March 2011.
The series stars Shama Rahman, Babu Md. Shaidul Islam Molla, Arabi Rahman and Rahmat Ali. It is about British Bangladeshi woman Zara who relocates to Bangladesh after discovering she has inherited a family stake in a mysterious detective agency based in Dhaka where she meets supernatural investigator Abir and discovers a world of adventure.
Plot summary
Zara Rahman (Shama Rahman), a young, head-strong, inquisitive British woman of Bangladeshi origin discovers she has inherited co-ownership of an antique shop in Dhaka after the death of her grandfather. Determined to find out more, she packs up her life in London and travels to Bangladesh. She finds out the shop is also home to a team of detectives with supernatural powers and meets young supernatural investigator Abir Zaman (Babu Md. Shaidul Islam Molla) and is thrown into his world of supernatural mystery, magic and adventure.
Overview
Bishaash is south Asia's first ever supernatural detective series.[1][2][3][4] and the first ever serial drama shot between Bangladesh and London, England.[5] There are 24 paired episodes, each lasting 25 minutes.[6]
The series features dialogue in Bengali and English,[1] with most of the speech in Bangla to attract a mainstream audience, it also includes functional English lines.[7] Initially all of the dialogue in the series is in Bangla, but with English subtitles. However, episode by episode, more and more English dialogue is introduced.[8]
The series was part of Mott MacDonald's £50 million nine-year programme since 2007 aimed at teaching many of the poorest people in Bangladesh what project director John Shotton describes as "vocational English". One of their project partners is broadcaster BBC World Service.[8] The series was made by the BBC World Service Trust for audiences in Bangladesh.[1] The drama had a partner programme BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha (BBC Window Learning with Fun), an educational game show which builds on the English used in the drama in order to help teach the language.
Both programmes were part of English in Action, an initiative launched and funded by UKaid from the Department for International Development (DfID) to support the economic development of Bangladesh by raising the English-language skills of 25 million people across the country.[1] by 2017.[9] Bishaash helps viewers learn English by weaving basic lines of the language into the Bangla-scripted stories.[10] BBC Janala provides daily three-minute audio lessons to the people who want to improve their English language skills in order to get a better job and access to the global economy. Calls to BBC Janala increased significantly from 8,700 per day to 58,300 after Bishaash and BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha began transmitting on national network television.[9]
The storylines have a supernatural twist[8] which includes themes of family tradition, love, evil[2][3] and danger.[8] It uses special effects and the supernatural theme has no religious or political associations.[10]
Production
Writers, directors and producers were recruited from the UK.[8] Production staff from the UK as well as local crew were used.[10] Location manager Charlie Thompson recruited a local team from the domestic industry with basic industry experience or basic skill sets in the right areas and trained them to meet the required standards, broaden their skill bases and enable them to use them in the international arena. Half a dozen locals went through a formal training programme organised by Thompson that included seminars and on-the-job learning.[11]
Bishaash is set in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Brick Lane, London.[8] It was filmed in a variety of locations in and around Dhaka and a village was built in the forest region of Gazipur.[11] It was shot on XDCAM and was edited in Bangladesh using Final Cut Pro.[12]
Cast and characters
Main
- Shama Rahman as Zara Rahman: Head-strong, inquisitive British woman of Bangladeshi origin who relocates to Bangladesh after discovering she has inherited a family stake in a detective agency.
- Babu Md. Shaidul Islam Molla as Abir Zaman: Supernatural investigator and Zara's love interest.
- Arabi Rahman as Laboni Zaman: Technology and research expert, and Abir's cousin.
- Rahmat Ali as Ferdous Zaman: Antique shop co-owner, and Abir and Laboni's uncle.
Recurring
- Rubel Ahmed as Abdul Ali: Abir's brother who is after the Keystone Journal and intent on getting revenge on the Zamans.
- Shatabdi Wadud as Sherzad / Alien / Announcer / Drug Dealer
- Humayan Faridee as Kabir Zaman: Antique shop co-owner, Abir's father, Ferdous' elder brother and the patriarch of the Zaman family.
- Mirana Zaman as Dadi (Grandmother): The matriarch of the Zaman family.
Guest
- Raisul Islam Asad as Nuruddin
- Shimul Yousuf as Rokeya
- A.T.M. Shamsuzzaman as Rustom
- Utsha Zaman as Baroon
- Reetu Abdus Sattar as Srabonti
Episodes
Series overview
| Series | Episodes | Original broadcast (Bangladesh Television) | Rebroadcast (Zee Café) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series premiere | Series finale | Series premiere | Series finale | |||
| 1 | 24 | 16 October 2010 | 18 March 2011 | 6 March 2011 | 14 July 2011 | |
Broadcast
Bishaash was broadcast weekly on Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Television World[7] from 16 October 2010,[13][14] and regularly attracted audiences of around 14 million viewers each episode[1] It was followed back-to-back with an episode of BBC Janala Mojay Mojay Shekha.[15] and reached audiences of 20.3 million.[16]
The series was given for free to Zee TV[1][17] and was aired weekly from 6 March 2011[10] on Zee Network's Zee Café.[2][3][11][18] The popularity of the series led to a rebroadcast.[19]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dowell, Ben (28 February 2011). "BBC World Service Trust drama to air on Zee TV". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- 1 2 3 "Zee Network Europe joins hands with BBC to showcase Asia's first Supernatural Drama". Esselgroup. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- 1 2 3 "Zee Network Europe joins hands with BBC to showcase Asia's first Supernatural Drama". Zee Television. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ Rahman, Emdad (21 April 2011). "Emdad Rahman discusses paranormal adventures with Shama Rahman". London: East London News. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
- ↑ "The Nine Lives of Shama Rahman". WOW Talks. 15 September 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
- ↑ Goundry, Nick (28 August 2010). "York councillor Christian Vassie composes music for Bangladeshi TV series". York: The Press. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- 1 2 Suraiya, Sameeha (3 April 2011). "A Movement for the Millions". Bangladesh: The Daily Star. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "English in Action". International Development Services. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- 1 2 "The manthan Award South Asia and Asia Pacific". The Manthan award. Archived from the original on 31 March 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 "UK airing for Bangladesh drama". Ariel. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- 1 2 3 Goundry, Nick (4 March 2011). "BBC supernatural drama Bishaash trains crew on location in Bangladesh". The Location Guide. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ "Bishaash". OutPost Facilities. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ "'Bishaash' and 'BBC Janala - Mojay Mojay Shekha' launched". English in Action. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ "English lessons on every television". English in Action. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ "ZEE Cafe to air BBC produced show 'Bishaash'". BizAsia UK. 28 February 2011. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ "TV". BBC Janala. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ Laughlin, Andrew (28 February 2011). "BBC World Service drama to air on Zee TV". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ Hawkes, Rebecca (1 March 2011). "Zee takes BBC's Bangladesh drama to UK". Rapid TV News. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- ↑ Islam, Maz. "BBC Media Action". infoasaid.org. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 1 April 2014.