Shokh and Sarika’s quest of return

If you ever took your Television remote and shuffled between local television channels during the commercial breaks in the early 2010s, your eyes were bound to come across the duo of Shokh and Sarika dancing their ways in the festive telecom advertisements.

Fast forward a decade, the once prominent actress and model duo of Anika Kabir Shokh and Sarika Subrin are now on a quest of returning to the entertainment industry. Shokh and Sarika recently spoke to The Business Standard regarding their journey to stardom, the prolonged hiatus, the challenges they face and how they plan on overcoming them to re-establish themselves in the industry through dramas and anchoring. 

Even before the proliferation of private television channels in Bangladesh, Shokh and Sarika had emerged as young stars in the entertainment industry. Their initial foray into the spotlight was through commercials on TV, which catapulted them to fame, courtesy of telecom companies' advertising campaigns. From then on, both of them ventured beyond modelling and made their mark in acting, solidifying their presence in the industry.

Shokh has been a dancer since childhood. She started acting around the same time. It was after the completion of her secondary education when she fully immersed herself in the world of entertainment. She ventured into acting in dramas, commercials, and eventually made her mark in cinema, sharing the screen with big names like Shakib Khan.

Evidently of course, the place she had once created for herself in the entertainment industry all those years ago, now belongs to the new and coming artists. She has to make her place and presence known once again and she has really been working hard to achieve that.

"I am trying to work with regularity and sticking to my schedules. I pour all my time I get after tending to my family affairs to my career. As it appears, people still love me and my work," said Shokh.

The peak of her popularity, also marked a time of downfall in her personal life as she was fighting through divorce from her first marriage. She went off the radar for quite a while afterwards. She did appear in a few projects but she immediately vanished again after her part was done. These series of events made the filmmakers turn away from her as well.

However, Shokh did make a return after marrying for the second time and being blessed with a child. She has acquired a new sense of responsibility and gotten a lot more focused than before.

"I focused on my new marriage and my new family a lot more. I looked after my in-laws and did my best to keep everything together." 

Right now Shokh doesn't see any problem going forward and is absolutely determined to make a better future. She once again started displaying the mentality to be a regular actor from last year and is regularly featuring on dance shows.

"Dance is the first thing that I engaged with first and it has a special place in my heart. I prioritise dancing show offers. Dancing gives me confidence while also guiding me down the right path,", she added.

The actress also opened up about the incidents about her disappearances from the entertainment world every now and then. She expressed, "I went through a major disaster back then and I had to take a break. My social media accounts were hacked and I had to change my contacts. So anyone trying to reach out to me found it nearly impossible to do so."

Just like Shokh, actress Sarika Subrin has also become a lot more serious about her career ever since her second marriage. Sarika too entered the entertainment industry before finishing her secondary studies.

While she began her entertainment career through acting, it was television commercials that truly made her a bright shining star. However, there came a time when her focus shifted more towards acting in dramas.

Now as a celebrity talk show host for Bangla Vision's 'Amar Ami,' Sarika is making a much awaited comeback. She is also featured in a number of dramas of late.

"I can't say that I am always getting the projects I want, but I am signing up for everything I can get my hands on. I am getting good reception from the audience as well,"  said Sarika.

Sarika too had episodes of disappearing from the media time and again, but when asked, she chose to leave her past behind and rather focus on the journey ahead.

"I want to move past the mistakes I made in the past. I just want to move forward and I am working hard so there is no room for another misunderstanding with anyone," Sarika said diligently.

There was a time when Sarika had a great potential to appear in movies. She still wants to star in the silver screens. 

"There is a good chance that I will get an opportunity to act in a movie. I really want to present myself to the audience through good movies and I hope that will happen soon enough." 

Their starts were fantastic, achieving incredible success initially, but then their lives took a tumultuous turn. Yet, these two celebrities have returned with determination, embracing discipline and striving anew with hope to find themselves once more in the spotlight.

Will they be able to reclaim that lost shining career again? That's what the audience, well-wishers, and admirers are eagerly awaiting to see.