A claim that veteran actress Dilara Zaman’s house has been seized by a tenant has sparked concern online. But the actress herself has dismissed the reports, saying the incident being circulated dates back more than two decades and has no connection with her present life.
A photocard carrying her name began circulating on social media on Friday morning. It quoted her as saying she had built a house on land given by her father after taking on debt. She had rented it out to repay the debt but allegedly received no rent. The tenant eventually took over the property, the report claimed. It also quoted her as saying that she now lives in a rented home “like a little bird”.
The reports left her fans and well-wishers worried. But Dilara Zaman said she was surprised and annoyed by the claims.
Speaking to Times of Bangladesh on Friday afternoon, she laughed and said, “Have people lost their minds? It would be better if they thought a little, spoke to people and then wrote. If you do not use your brain for good work, what is the point? What can I say?”
The house seizure did happen, but not recently, according to Dilara Zaman. She said the incident took place around 2003 or 2004, when she lived in Dhaka’s Shyamoli area.
The property was her ancestral home, which she had received from her father. She lived there with her family. At one point, a situation arose over the possible occupation of the house. A report in Prothom Alo brought the matter to wider attention, after which those involved backed away and the situation did not escalate.
That house, however, is no longer hers.
“That incident in Shyamoli was 22–23 years ago. I later sold the house. In 2008, I moved to Uttara with my family. I bought a 1,600-square-foot flat here. I have been living here ever since,” Dilara Zaman said.
The actress said she occasionally visits her two daughters, who live abroad, and stays with them for some time. However, she said she no longer travels abroad very often.
“Now I do not go abroad that much. I am busy with acting, and I live in my own flat in Uttara,” she said.
Dilara Zaman also expressed surprise that the old incident had resurfaced after so many years.
“I am surprised myself. How did this kind of bizarre information suddenly come out?” she said.
The actress’s account makes clear that the property dispute mentioned in the circulating reports is an old incident from the early 2000s, not a recent case involving her present home.
