Bangladesh directors to boycott actor Shakib Khan

The Bangladesh Film Directors Association has announced a temporary ban on actor Shakib Khan in all film-related projects over his ‘outrageous and defamatory’ media statements in the controversy over his marriage to actress Apu Biswas.

Glitz Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 25 April 2017, 05:59 AM
Updated : 25 April 2017, 05:59 AM

The boycott was announced on Monday evening in a statement signed by the association’s general secretary, Badiul Alam Khokon.

A legal notice has been issued by the association’s executive council over Khan’s libellous statements to the national media in order to protect the image and honour of its members, it said.

It also called on Bangladeshi directors to bar the actor from their projects until the association receives a ‘respectful’ response.

“Shakib has continued to talk nonsense about us in the media,” Badiul Alam Khokon told bdnews24.com. “We are responsible for where Shakib is today and now he lashes out at us. We have been defamed. For now we refuse to make films with him.”

The association will take action against any director who works with Khan in violation of the boycott, he said.

“I will answer their legal notice,” Shakib Khan told bdnews24.com. “They are just trying to complicate matters.”

He was unwilling to make any further comment on the matter.

Shakib’s comments followed discussions about the actor’s secret marriage with and having a child from film actress Apu Biswas, which were revealed during an interview in April.

The actor had said many directors of the Film Development Corporation spend time chatting instead of doing work.

“I gave an opinion in a daily newspaper,” Shakib had said in response to backlash against his statement. “I didn’t say anything bad and besides, others have said similar things before. The director’s association cannot serve a legal notice to artistes.”

Khan, who is also the president of the Film Artistes Association, has reportedly been using ‘force’ to win re-election.

Khan vehemently denied these reports and said the election would take place on May 5 after his dispute with the directors’ association was resolved.