Sadika Parveen Popy is a celebrated actress of Dhaliwood cinema. She entered films in the late 1990s and had an intensely busy career through the 2000s. She has been out of acting for a long time and has said she won’t return to it. All of that was uncontroversial. But a comment of hers has sparked discussion: “I want to wash away whatever sins I’ve earned and die peacefully.”
Popy’s remark left little doubt that she was describing acting in films as a “sin.” Actor Shahriar Nazim Joy needled her over the comment. In a Facebook post Monday, Joy wrote: “What actress Moushumi once said, actress Popy has now said too. If Shabnur and Purnima say the same thing now, a whole generation would be complete. They’ve realized that acting is a sinful act. But my question is — you all fully understood what you were doing before realizing your mistake. But what about those of us who, without understanding anything, became your fans and made the same mistake and committed the same sin? What happens to us?”
Actor Bappa Raj weighed in with his own view in the comments on the post. He wrote: “When you’re earning from it, it doesn’t feel like a sin. It’s only once you’re out of work that it starts to feel like you sinned before. Worship is for all times — not just for the unemployed.”