Artists spreading dengue awareness

While Dengue spreads its mayhem across the country, artists have come up to raise public awareness of the issue. Their social media posts and videos regarding the disease are running over the newsfeed.

Last week, senior actor Alamgir was diagnosed with Dengue fever. His daughter Akhi Alamgir talked to The Business Standard team and informed us of her father’s moderate recovery- “He is still a little weak but out of danger as the doctor says.”

Collective Awareness: Photos go viral

Last week, Bangladesh Film Artists Association brought up a rally and symbolical program to encourage the public about keeping their surroundings clean. Strings of criticisms, since then, are overflowing the social media. Jayed Khan, the general secretary of the association gave a statement about this- “The cleaning program was a figurative approach to create social awareness. One needs not take it literally and make an issue out of it.”

Bangladesh TV Artists Association, too, organized an awareness program and rallied in front of the Uttara House Building. A host of television artists including the president of the association Shahiduzzaman Selim participated in the initiative. He said, “Our little efforts can keep the environment clean and thus we can refute Dengue.”

Live, Posts and Shares

Film and Television artists’ endeavors of creating awareness among the commoners are not limited to rallies and programs. Actors are posting status and going live on social media to share their opinions with their fans about this crisis. Actor Mosharraf Karim came live on facebook some days ago and asked his followers to comment their blood group and address so that others can seek help in times of need. Fans of Mosharraf Karim responded spontaneously. Zakia Bari Momo, Moushumi Hamid and other actors too joined this awareness scheme on social media.

Are the shooting houses safe?

Despite all these efforts, artists are tensed about their own safety as the Eid is knocking on the door and pressure of putting the finishing touches to the pending Eid projects is high. They believe that the owners can take care of the cleanliness of the shooting houses. Khalilur Rahaman, the president of the Shooting House Association is optimistic about dealing with the situation- “During the Eid season, there is a huge workload in the shooting houses. Every year, we appoint additional workers to keep the places clean and comfortable. This year, it will not be any different.”