With that level of commitment and dedication it was difficult for me to say no the project!

A film by: Minhaj Kibriyah – Lead Actor: Ifte Amed – Fight Action Director: Abjol Miah

    Abjol Miah – AM Fight Action, Fight Action Director

Without giving too much away, this may be the first intro to Filipino Fight Action Combat for the Bangladeshi film industry.  If you love Hollywood Fight Action like: Game of Death (1978) Bourne Identity Trilogy (2002), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Frankenstein (2014), The Hunted (2003), Taken 2 (2012), Fast and Furious 7 (2015), and Rambo 3 (1988) of many, then Bengali film lovers brace yourselves for “Before I Die!”

A non-stop British Bangladeshi fight Action thriller with a lot of …!

I am grateful to the Lead British Bangladeshi Actor Ifte Amed and the film director Minhaj Kibriayah, for approaching me.  They both knew me and done their homework well. They knew I was a British Bangladeshi Community Leader on many fronts. They also knew I had something special in the British Bangladeshi Community: a passion to promote Martial Arts, especially movie fight arts that are more popular in Hollywood, known as Kali/Escrima/Arnis.

It’s an international film with both British and Bangladeshi cast, partially filmed in the heart of the Bangladeshi Community, Tower Hamlets, and the rest in Bangladesh and my birth place Sylhet. What a great way for a joint partnership between UK and Bangladesh!

The lead actor Ifte Amed was so keen that he secretly joined my training session at my Mix FMA Academy in Shadwell, while my students had no idea who he was or his motive for training. He did not just train for two weeks or a month, but undertook a serious training journey of over a year and a half.  First private one-to-one, then with the main class and followed that with training with my senior students.  He managed to train with some of the top British, European and

World Stick Fighting Champions, seniors and juniors, at the Academy and yet the club students had no idea!

With that level of commitment and dedication it was difficult for me to say no the project!

I thought to myself: I have given a lot to the British Bangladeshi Community in the UK; supporting International Aid work around the world; and supporting some great charity work in Bangladesh but I felt a need for a new challenge, and do something different with my talent, skill-set and passion. What was better than to help support the Bangladeshi Film Industry and introduce Filipino Martial Arts.

I knew this will be appreciated by the people of Philippines and the all the Kali/Arnis/ Escrema Master around the world!

Just like the movie, it was grilling, exciting, hard work on and off the set. An action-packed fun journey; and what a great experience it was completing the movie. Trained all the villains who were fascinated with the new style of fighting. They were very hard working, committed stunt fighters from BFDC.

Trained the Lead Actress Affri Selina in hand-to-hand combat with knives, daggers and sticks against multiple attackers. Unlike Lead actor Ifte Amed, she had to undertake a fast speed crash course training, which she put her heart and soul into. She learnt very fast, as she had to learn many of the drills to prepare for her fight scenes. They both had the right fight chemistry to make the fight scene work.

The film is currently being edited in Bollywood for a release by the end of this year 2021!

I am happy to have the chance to be part of this film and most importantly, my MixFMA students from Community Martial Arts Trust who had the opportunity to feature in the film to become little hero’s.  This has brought great pride to all the students and parents from the Community Martial Arts Trust.

Bangladesh is always beautiful, exciting, and thriving with culture and history. Stick fighting knows as Lahti Khela has been a traditional part of Bangladesh culture which is dying with the passing of the elder Stick Fighting generation in the rural areas.  I hope this movie will re- connect the young to the ART and generated the interest in a revival for Lahti Khela!

It was also a great pleasure to train up some of the top Bangladesh MMA fighters, who of set, took the opportunity to train with me in my Mix Filipino Style of fighting, once they found out I was in Dhaka.

In my short space of time in Bangladesh, I gained many new friends and contacts in the film industry and I’m grateful to them all for their love and respect on this project “Before I Die.”

My next mission is to learn Bangla!!!!