Glamorous Jaya ● Fantastic, Fashionable, Fun-loving

She doesn’t think much about herself and is rather in favour of developing certain desire to transcend herself time and again. Jaya Ahsan is the artist who has created a sense of accountability for her to do better and better. But, she neither forgets her roots nor sees any shortcut way of shining in life and career.

It’s Jaya Ahsan who is, undoubtedly, the diva of Bangladesh’s showbiz industry, with her spectacular performances recognised by multiple prestigious awards and critical acclaims. This beguiling beauty, as we see, is the embodiment of glamour and elegance. In an unorthodox interview — utilising an opportunity to accompany her from her one work assignment to another — Nazifa Tasnim discovered an individual whose passion for her craft surpasses all boundaries.

As someone who seeks challenges and pushes for exceeding the limits, Jaya Ahsan relishes roles that require her to portray characters that are unlike herself in real life.

When asked about her phenomenal acting ability and how she would define herself, she said, “I only consider myself as an entertainer who is pursuing her passion, I don’t really think about myself.” She shares with Colors that some of her favourite actresses are Meryl Streep and Smita Patil.

On a curious query on how she prepares for her roles, she stated, “I would say the script helps, and the director matters a lot but the rest comes with experience. The great part of being an actor is that you get to play and live different characters, it’s like living someone else’s life for the time being. The experience is no less than taking a trip but sometimes it can be very exhausting — physically and mentally.”

With a career span of two decades, Joya Ahsan has been continuously delivering sensational performances. What does keep her going? She replied, “It’s solely my passion for my work that has taken me this far and once you start doing good work it creates a sense of accountability, and you develop a desire to transcend yourself.”

She has presented us with many brilliant performances and achieved much appreciation along the way but the milestone she holds dearest to her heart is her role in the short film titled Bhalobashar Shohor. It is based on the story of a struggling woman in Syria war which Jaya Ahsan believes immensely challenged her as an actress.

The release of her film Debi marked her entry into the production arena. She was asked if she struggled as a producer and if the struggles were harder for her being a female producer. Her reply was: “The job of a producer in Bangladeshi is quite challenging, irrespective of gender. I have spent days trying to get paperwork done, moving from one place to another not even having time to eat. In Bangladesh, things are subjected to systems loss.”

When asked about what can be done to have a more inclusive industry, she made a number of observations.

 “We haven’t been able to fully grow as an industry yet. There should be institutes for various departments from where we can get specialized people, films will then have a professional output.The wheel of good cinema needs to keep moving, having a couple of successful films won’t do, and more jobs need to be created around the industry so that people are able to fully embrace this career and make a living out of it.”

On the values she holds dearest to her heart, Jaya Ahsan mentioned, “I haven’t forgotten my roots, coming from a middle-class Muslim family with an academic background — I am still tied to my roots. For any individual remembering where they came from is essential as it keeps you grounded and adds to your purity.”

She reminisces collecting Eidi (gift from the elders on the Eid days) with her sister and buying ice-creams with that money as some of her fondest Eid memories.

Before parting ways, she was asked for her word of advice to the youngsters who aspire to be like her.

She was point-blank in saying, “Don’t ever look for shortcuts, as you grow up, you gain experience and develop an understanding of life which helps form a third point perspective about the world that an artist possesses. It is what aids you to evolve as a finer performer and that should be the goal. If you love your work and stay committed, it will eventually pay off.”

“Embrace all the heartaches and hardships along the way. Don’t lose hope, get up to push through the pain and keep going and it will take you to the pedestal you want to reach” added Jaya Ahsan, truly a SUPERSTAR by all means.