Rakin Absar: Weaving Creativity in the Digital Sphere of Bangladesh

A name stands out in the bustling environment of Bangladesh’s digital content development scene: Mr. Absar aka Rakin Absar, who has carved out a distinct niche in the world of online entertainment, capturing audiences with his originality, genuineness, and constant devotion to connecting people via his work. Rakin’s path as a content creator has been nothing short of spectacular, from comedic sketches to use of dark humor in several of his contents. Rakin rapidly found his vocation as a keen observer of life’s nuances. During a session with TINDS, he shared with us his story of coming this far and making it a successful content creator in Bangladesh.

TINDS: Tell us a little about your childhood.

Rakin: I had a pretty basic childhood but I had to shift from one school to another because of my family moving from one place to another. Because of which I wasn’t able to maintain a longer period of relationship with any of my friends from any of the schools I was admitted in.

TINDS: 3 words that describe you the best.

Rakin: Restlessness, Hyper & Sarcastic.

TINDS: What do you think is your worst quality?

Rakin: I think my worst quality is that I forgive people too easily and I let go of issues and my anger rather easily as well. Because of which people often patronize me and it’s kind of like being a pushover. Also, I think I am over friendly at times which people tend to take advantage of.

TINDS: Enlighten us a little about the start of your career. How’d you end up in front of the camera?

Rakin: During the very start, I remember I used to catch up with the Youtube Trending videos and I’d recreate them with my friends and upload them on Youtube. Then I started off creating content on Vines, that’s basically how I started content creation in a way. It was a 6 sec video and I used to upload on a regular basis. If I’m not wrong I think I was the only Bengali popular creator on the platform. Vines wasn’t as popular because it was integrated with Twitter and people in our country aren’t as active users there as they are compared to other social media platforms. Later I moved on to opening up a Youtube channel with my ex-partner and we made and posted videos there. Our first video had around twenty thousand views which even now is kind of a big deal, and gradually that’s how people got to know me. Later in 2016, I took a break from content creation and got admitted into university to get done with my degree. I got back to content creation later in 2020 during Covid. 

TINDS: You’re active on more than one social media platform. If you had to choose, which would you choose over the other?

Rakin: I post videos on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and also on Tiktok because I try to utilize all of the four platforms. If I had to choose one, I’d choose Facebook because you can penetrate your target audience directly and you can select and cater to the specific audience only, which I think is rather difficult on other platforms like Youtube and Tiktok. I don’t want my videos to reach the mass audience because it’s not for the majority. It is more likely then that people wouldn’t understand my videos and I’d be flooded with hate comments. I like Facebook, however the platform’s community standard guidelines and algorithm is often unreliable and unfair. For example, very recently one of my videos which got around four hundred thousand views in like two hours was taken down by Facebook because they thought it was offensive. So, basically there are pros and cons to it, but if I had to choose I’d keep Facebook on top of the list.

TINDS: What would you be if not a content creator?

Rakin: I’d probably be a scientist. I have always wanted to be an astronaut because there’s always a certain tone of escapism that goes on in my head, like leaving the planet and stuff.

TINDS: There’s a lot of planning that goes behind the making of every video. How big of a team do you have to help you?

Rakin: We’re a team of five people who work together which includes my social media & PR manager and editor.

TINDS: What do you think is a must have quality for a content creator? 

Rakin: Ethics, honesty & loyalty. It is important to be stubborn and also not compromise on quality or standard of the content for monetary values, brands or anything else. It is necessary one sticks to their roots and be consistent about the kind of content they make

TINDS: Who according to you has a promising career in our industry?

Rakin: I think Amin Hannan is doing very well career wise.

TINDS: What are your thoughts on stand-up comedy?

Rakin: I get asked about this a lot. To be very honest, I have been contemplating stand up comedy for quite some time. Naveed bhai has also been trying very hard to convince me to show up on his stage, Naveed’s Comedy Club, including Amin & Ashik as well. But I have stage fright and I keep thinking to myself that being a comedy content creator for so many years now, what if my first stand up comedy appearance is not up to the mark. When I do it, I have to make sure I am confident and that it turns out to be a good performance.

TINDS: Coming this far, what have you had to struggle with?

Rakin: I think in our media industry or the marketing industry in general, comedians or comedy content creators aren’t taken as seriously. People often don’t pay attention to whatever we have to say, which is not the case in many countries other than ours. People try to put us in a box thinking we’ll only do comedy as we are comedians. I encounter this a lot in Bangladesh and I think the perspective needs to change.

TINDS: What would your advice be to young content creators?

Rakin: Do not follow anyone. One can definitely be inspired, whatever resources or content you have access to online, collect them and make sure to come up with something of your own. Your path is not going to be similar to that of any other, so it is wiser to choose your own path and walk on it.

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