Another Year, Another Itdyadi

I see it has been 18 months since my last post. In that time, a lot has happened in Bangladesh, to say the least. It has kept us all quite busy and on our toes.

In the meantime, in the weeks prior to Eid ul Fitr 2024 – which was way back in April – we went all-in as opposed to my jumping in at the last minute in 2023 and both rehearsed the dance routine for another annual Ityadi clip. This year the director gave me a hefty set of lines, compared to last year and also considering the fact I still don’t speak more than TWO WORDS of Bengali/Bangla. This year I’m a milk seller complaining about how the city folk make money off of our product by jacking up the prices, among other things. And we get nothing. Anne is the tea-seller serving us as we gather in the village to gripe about the problem. Here’s the final clip – watched by like 70 million people, including those who saw it when it originally viewed on TV! Crazy, right?

If you’re interested enough to watch the lip movement and sound synch closely, you’ll notice I had trouble remembering some of the lines (I had them on my lap in the tea shop but still….and also I was definitely not the only one in this category). Anne received additional training from the actual tea stall lady so she could pour the tea in a culturally accurate way. And all of this is clear once you see the “behind the scenes” (blooper?) reel:

I think I did a pretty good job, considering. In fact, amazing. Here I am awarding myself an Oscar at the “official screening” at the Dutch Club in Dhaka where we rehearsed all those weeks. Looking forward to next year’s iteration!

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