#23 Asif Akbar - Producer, Director, and Writer

Asif Akbar at 32 years old, I have been blessed to be in the film and Television industry professionally for over 18 years, but I believe this upcoming 2021 is going to be the year for me to finally break out on the path I want to be on with my craft that I have been working so hard for on my journey in this career. With 2020 being such a tragedy year with so much uncertainty and loss for many with with the pandemic, I have been fortunate and blessed to have my first born child, my daughter Maisha being born on May 24th of this year. She has been an Angel in our lives and since then I have also had a great streak of completing two films during a short time period of six months. The first quarter of 2021 will bring us an all star, all action movie called “The Commando”. The Commando promises to deliver what so many other action flicks have failed lately. Action star Micahel Jai White plays James Baker a DEA agent. Baker returns home suffering PTSD after a mission goes sour. To add to that problem, unaware of him is the house he is living in with his family has millions of dollars hidden all over. The money has been secretly hidden all over by a group of bad guys. The ringleader is a Hollywood legend Mickey Rourke. Mickey plays Johnny, who has just been released from prison. Not wasting any time, he is rounding up his guys to go get his money. Nothing is going to stop them from getting there hidden stash. Nothing ... except James Baker. They have no idea, of what he is capable of and what they're getting into. James turns out to be a one man fighting machine. Who is highly trained and ready to protect his family.
 The screen will explode when these two groups clash. Mickey Rourke returns to the screen doing what he does best. Play a badass villain. I felt we bonded instantly and directing him was magical. We bonded and plan on working again soon together.
 
 My film “Astro” was an ambitious science fiction feature with its share of action. My story was a a portrayal of a billionaire. He conducts a private space exploration program on his own. But things go bad when he returns back to Earth with an unexpected guest. An alien that he has abducted. This had its share of action and was equally balanced with the sci-fi storyline. Overall, it worked well and got noticed what I was capable of. I believe this was just a warm up compared to what I have in store now. I am in talks to direct at least a half dozen movies in the coming year.
 Getting back to what’s going on now. My love of movies and joy of filmmaking is shown as “The Commando” unfolds to what promises to be nonstop action and true adrenaline rush.
 The Commando is just practice for what is coming in 2021. I am getting ready for my next chapter in my career. This will be on a bigger level and a challenge which I am excited about. I am going to direct the legendary “MR-9”. Masud Rana is a Secret Agent with code name MR-9 of the Bangladesh Counter Intelligence Agency. This superstar agent has been popular for over 55 years. He has appeared in the widely popular novels written by Qazi Anwar Husain, with over 550 and counting novels published in the series to date by his publishing company Sheba Prokashoni.
 I have adapted the novel into an action packed screenplay and I am readying to shoot. Due to the unexpected arrival of the Covid-19 and restrictions of travel there has been delays.
 But first things first. The Commando is a movie that will take me to the next level of serious filmmaking. A movie with such an all star cast and incredibly staged stunts and choreographed fights will stand out from the rest of this genre that is flooding the maker. A great story,