Shomi Kaiser

Shomi Kaiser is a Bangladeshi actress and political activist. She currently serves as the managing director of Dhansiri Communications Ltd, which is an advertising and event management company.

Early life and education

Kaiser was born on 15 January 1970 to Shahidullah Kaiser and Panna Kaiser. Her family is Bengali and originates from the village of Majupur in the Sonagazi area of Feni District. Her grandfather, Mawlana Mohammad Habibullah, served as a professor at both the Dacca Alia Madrasa and the Calcutta Alia Madrasa. Her father worked as a writer and novelist.

Tragedy struck the family when Kaiser was only two years old. On 14 December 1971, the Al Badr militia and the Pakistani Army took her father from their home. His body was never found. Her mother, Panna Kaiser, was a writer and a former M.P. Kaiser has a younger brother named Amitav Kaiser.

Her maternal uncle is A. Q. M. Badruddoza Chowdhury, who is the former president of Bangladesh. Maya, the wife of Chowdhury, is the sister of Panna Kaiser.

Career

Kaiser received her first professional break in 1989. Director Atiqul Haque Chowdhury sought a young actress capable of speaking the Noakhali dialect for his play titled Keba Apon Keba Por. Following this, she worked on the three episode play Joto Durey Jai, which was based on a novel by Imdadul Haque Milon. She spent 12 years working for Dhaka Theatre.

Her filmography includes appearances in Hason Raja in 2002 and Lalon in 2004. She also appeared in Ekti Nadir Naam in 2002, a film based on the biography of filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. She performed alongside Shahiduzzaman Selim in Haat Hodai.

Kaiser transitioned into production by owning Dhansiri Productions since 1997. This company produced both Mukti and Antorey Nirantor. In November 2013, her firm, Dhanshiri Communication Limited, obtained a license for a private radio channel known as Radio Active.

Her political and business leadership roles expanded significantly in recent years. In 2017, she was elected as one of the directors of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI). She was later elected president of the e-Commerce Association (e-CAB) in 2018. However, she resigned from this position on 13 August 2024 following the aftermath of the non-cooperation movement.

In November 2018, Kaiser applied for a nomination for the Feni-3 constituency representing the Bangladesh Awami League party. She was also nominated in an election as a representative of the Sammilita Ganotantrik Parishad panel. Reported accounts suggest she took a stand for the government during the 2024 quota reform movement. According to reports, she was active in a WhatsApp group called 'Alo Ashbei' alongside other artists. After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on 5 August 2024, Kaiser went into hiding. She was arrested by police on 6 November 2024 at a house in Sector-4 Uttara on murder charges.

Personal life

Kaiser has been married three times. Her first marriage was to Indian-Bengali film director Riingo Banerjee in 1999, but they divorced two years later. In 2008, she married Mohammad A. Arafat, a faculty member at a private university. That marriage ended in divorce in 2015.

She married her third husband, Reza Amin, in 2020. He serves as the chief executive officer of Euro-Vigil Private Limited.