Third death anniv of Chashi Nazrul Islam today
DL reporter
Today is the third death anniversary of noted filmmaker Chashi Nazrul Islam, the maker of first ever Bangladeshs Liberation War-based film. Chashi Nazrul Islam died of cancer at the age of 73 on January 11, 2015.
Chashi Nazrul, who was a shining star in the Bangladesh film industry, led the industry with his brilliant works in his lifetime and set examples for others to follow his path. Though Chashi Nazrul was involved mainly in filmmaking as a director and producer, but at the same time he also walked into the world of acting who always wanted to be Dilip Kumar, a noted Indian film actor known as the Tragedy King. Nazruls immense passion for acting drove him escaping from the home and met one of the most prominent Indian film actresses, Meena Kumari at Mumbai (then Bombay) at the age of 14.
Chashi, born at Shomoshpur village in Sreenagar upazila of Bikrampur district (aka Munshiganj) to Mosleh Uddin Khan and Shayesta Khanom, was the eldest among four brothers and three sisters. His father was a service holder at Jamshedpur, India. Chashi always wanted to be a hero like Dilip Kumar. He often sold his own books, so he could manage money to watch movies. At the age of 16, his father died. He got a job at the office of his uncle, the auditor general of Pakistan. He was irregular in office. Instead, he was working on cultural programmes. He was a member of theatre organisation Krishti Sangha.
After he got sacked from that job he started to perform in programs at radio in 1965. He directed and voiced popular radio dramas Ramer Sumoti (1965), Socrates (1966), Sokhina Birongona (1974) etc. Chashi started his career in visual media in 1964 when he got the chance to work on the television programme through audition. He worked as assistant director of film Dui Digonto, directed by Obaidur Rahman. Later he assisted Fateh Lohani.
He participated in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. After Bangladesh got independence, he made the first film on liberation war Ora Egaro Jon.
He directed a few other popular films based on the Liberation War of Bangladesh, such as Shongram, Hangor Nadi Granade and Megher Pore Megh.
The maker of renowned Bangla film Debdas, who had also made 22 full-length Bangla films, including Dhrubo Tara, Shahid Captain Salauddin, Shuvoda, Padma Meghna Jamuna, Hason Raja, Shasti and Suva as a mainstream film director.
The eminent film director and producer received numerous awards from different socio-cultural organizations for his significant contribution to the countrys films. He won the National Film Awards for the films Shuva in 1986 and Hangor Nadi Granade in 1997. He also received Ekushy Padak in 2004.
Besides directing and producing films, he also acted in a number of films in his lifetime. He acted in the films Kartuz directed by Bappa Raz and Matir Pori directed by Saimon Tarik for the last time. He also performed as a president of Bangladesh Film Director Association for four terms.
