Hero Alom
Ashraful Alom, better known by the stage name Hero Alom, is a Bangladeshi media personality, actor, producer, singer, model and politician. He has been working in Bengali short film and music video. He made his debut in 2017 action film Mar Chokka. His YouTube channel has over 1.7 million subscribers.
Alom is best known for his absurdist music videos and meme culture. These videos have made him a target of online trolling and the subject of memes in Bangladesh and other South Asian countries.
Early life and career
Earlier in his life, Alom used to sell Chanachur in a station. Later, Alom had been employed selling CDs and later started a satellite TV connection business. He began making music videos as a hobby. Some of his music videos went viral in 2015, and Alom became a popular target of online trolling and a popular subject of memes in Bangladesh. As of December 2018, Alom has acted in one feature film.In 2019, a Hindi play based on Alom, directed by NSD-graduate Mahesh Ruprao Ghodeswar, was staged in Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
Personal life
Alom currently lives in Erulia, near Bogra, with his wife, Sadia Akter Sumi, and their children, Alom and Kabir. Alom is involved in charity works and he founded "Hero Alom Foundation" which supports free education for orphans and provides free ambulance, shelter and expenses for homeless people.Filmography
| Year | Films | Role | Notes | |
| 2017 | Mar Chokka | Hero Alom | Debut Film | |
| 2020 | Shahoshi Hero Alom | Hero Alom | ||
| 2023 | Tokai | Tokai / Hero Alom | Also producer and singer | |
| 2024 | Badsha: The King | Hero Alom | Also producer | |
| TBA | Hero Alom | Filming | ||
| Debut Hindi Film | ||||
| Unreleased; Indian Bengali film |
Short films
Political activities
2018
In 2018 Alom decided to contest in 2018 Bangladeshi general election and he bought his candidature form for Bogra-4 constituency buying a Jatiya Party nomination paper ahead of the 11th national elections, but Jatiya Party denied him nomination. Later, he sought his candidacy as an independent candidate. On 10 December High Court instructed Bangladesh Election Commission to accept his candidature form as the latter authority denied his candidature earlier and Alom contested in the election as an independent candidate. His candidacy drew so much media attention that, in 2018, he became the 2nd Bangladeshi only behind Khaleda Zia to be in the top 10 in the category of people in 2018 google search trend in Bangladesh. Eventually he lost in the election getting only 638 votes in his name and BNP candidate Mosharraf Hossain won the seat of that constituency.2023
He contested in the bypolls to both Bogra-6 and Bogra-4 as an independent, and lost Bogra-4 by only 834 votes.On July 17, 2023, Alom was assaulted by political opponents near a polling center at the Banani Bidyaniketan School and College. Alom stood as an independent candidate in the ongoing Dhaka-17 elections. The incident occurred at around 3:20 p.m. while Alom was visiting the polling center. According to reports, Alom was taking photos with his fans on the playground of the school when he was approached by a group of people who told him that it was not a place to shoot TikTok videos. The group then began to physically assault Alom, dragging him out of the building after he had entered the corridor. Alom was able to escape in a car. An officer at the scene said that Alom had been accompanied by around 50-60 people, and that law enforcement personnel had ejected them from the polling center to maintain order. The officer also said that the assault on the independent candidate took place outside the polling center premises.
The officer added that the police would collect video footage of the incident and investigate. He said that those responsible for the assault would be brought to justice.
The United Nations high commission of Bangladesh showed their concerns over the actions and requested for his protection.