Hero Alom, an Inspiration

A Hero Alom: A Real Bangladeshi Hero

A Hero Alom: One Man’s Dream-Fulfilling Power Can Be an Inspiration for All

While the netizens were searching for Hero Alom’s name leaving the name of Bollywood’s top hero Salman Khan behind in South Asia, the mainstream media and popular media were all shaken when Hero Alom came to the top of the Google search list. I am talking about 2017. I was able to be a part of the ladder to climb a man called Hero Alom. It is the story of an indomitable man who from zero to become a hero, the story of a daring man who wants to realize his dream by turning the hardships of life into a dream is truly awe-inspiring. People can do it if they want to or not.

‘A man is only as big as his dreams’ – said Nobel Peace Prize winner Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. Hero Alom has established that fact. Ashraful Hossain Alom was an orphan child of a remote village in Bangladesh who grew up in poverty. Ever since he became wise, he spent his days working as a maid in other people’s houses. In the social environment of Bangladesh, he was a very neglected, disrespected street child. He had nothing to say about social respect and rights. When he grew up, he started a small business. He started selling nuts, puffed rice, chanachur, and cigarettes along the way. Then one day he sat down with a shop, the business of satellite TV connection or dish installation in people’s homes. Day by day the business increased and he started renting CDs there. CDs of Hindi and Bengali movies were rented to people. He also had a latent desire in his mind to become a movie hero. He started filming music videos himself as a model. It also aired them on his cable network. People saw them as a laughing stock. One day he started uploading his videos on YouTube. It went viral in a day or two. Once his name was known throughout South Asia. However, he went on to make his dream come true. He wanted to overcome the injustices, disrespect, and neglect of society and set an example. ‘Hero Alom’ chose his new name, everyone knows him by this name.

Institutional education should not be a barrier to fulfilling the desire. Hero Alom did not go very far in formal education. Starting to work from an early age allowed him to go up to the second grade of primary school, even though he was young. But he wrote a book himself, which is now an inspiration to many. The central theme of that book is that changing your perspective changes your life. Why do people discriminate? Because people have different views. Hero Aloms, uneducated in formal education, are now heard on various platforms as they have started to become a source of inspiration for many. He says that if he can come to this stage from his disadvantaged situation, why can’t others change their lives even if they get so many facilities? People can do anything if they want, they just need willpower, proper planning, and hard work to implement it. Hero Alom has shown people that people can make their wishes come true even without stepping on the school porch.

Appearance is no barrier to becoming a movie hero. Hero Alom claims that he is not beautiful in the eyes of so-called people, but ugly. But he has acted in a few Bengali movies with this look and acted in numerous short films. Many people in Bangladesh’s cinema industry have insulted and defamed him. He has to hear countless times why he came to be a movie hero with this odd look. But the fact is, his popularity is now more than many others. His appearance in stage shows in Bangladesh, and India proves that. He has been so busy that getting his schedule has become a matter of luck for many hosts. The measure of his popularity is now bigger than how well he can act or how much he can attract people with his acting. Beyond the confines of Bengali cinema, he is now getting calls from Hindi cinema as well.

Change the perspective, we will change the society – this is the title of the book written by Hero Alom. There have been numerous trolls about him in India and Bangladesh. Numerous YouTube videos have been made demeaning him. But when he measures his struggles and successes, everyone’s disdain fades away. He says that only he knows how much his life has been in hardship and how much hard work he has become a hero. If everyone knew his behind-the-scenes stories, people would not have trolled him today but would have encouraged him more. However, there is still time, if people don’t change their attitude then our society and country will never change. He says he thanks his fans once and his critics twice. No criticism or negative publicity could stop the pace of fulfilling his dreams. Hero Alom has passion, love, and humanity. He walks like a normal person. He claims himself as a hero. He doesn’t want to give up, so people sympathize with him a bit.

Social heroes are more important than movie heroes, not everyone can be a social hero. The audience wants to see the protesting hero of the screen character as a protesting character for justice and truth in real life as well. But can it be seen? Not everyone on screen can be a social hero in reality. But Hero Alom stood for many oppressed people, helped people in danger, and spoke for people’s political and speech freedom. Because of this, he has also been victimized by communal forces and an undemocratic government. How many heroes do that in real life? The word hero is in English. It means a hero and in a larger sense, it means a person who rises above one of the qualities. This hero does not have to be on the celluloid screen or in the fantasy world, but heroes live in the real world as well. In a true sense, Ashraful Aloms are those heroes. Because he may not fit with the mundane, but whether it is protesting by standing in the election, going to see the victim of gang rape in Suvarnachar, Noakhali, and giving an ultimatum to arrest the accused directly, or many other reasons have made him a hero. Ashraful Alom is living proof that heroes are not heroes by looks alone. The pain of not getting his own life, and the lack of rights have made him strong in protecting the rights of others.

Indeed, Hero Alom’s work does not deserve so much discussion in terms of quality. He did not do significant work to be discussed. So the question may come, why talk about him? Because Hero Alom is a marginalized man of Bangladesh, he has fought for the right to work independently, he has indomitable courage to fulfill his will. That’s why many people ignore him but people have to keep him in the discussion because if Hero Alom wants to belittle him, then they have to become small to him. At the end of the day, he can become a source of inspiration for those people who get all the benefits or facilities of family, society, and state but fail in the sea of ​​despair.