Today is the birthday of eminent film actress Shabnam. After the death of her husband, eminent music composer-director Robin Ghosh last year, Shabnam has been living a life of solitude since then. Her only son Roni Ghosh stays outside the country most of the time due to his professional purpose. But Roni has come to the home on the occasion of his mother’s birthday. Shabnam will spend her birthday with her son today.
Shabnam said about her birthday, “There was a time when I had huge fascination for my birthday. But there is no more fascination nowadays. Rather, I feel that one more year has passed from my life. It feels like coming one step closer to death. When I think about these facts of life, I feel upset. So therefore, birthday means a day of sadness. Even then, I want everyone’s blessing to live a healthy and happy life as long as I am alive.”
However, actor Waheed Murad introduced Shabnam to the Pakistani film industry by offering her a lead role in his film ‘Samundar’ in 1968. Shabnam remained active in Lollywood in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. She has been nominated for Nigar Awards several times, winning it 13 times (the most for an actress). She has appeared in over 180 films.
Around 1988, she switched on to character acting and was again doing films in her native Dhaka and Lahore.
Shabnam lastly performed in movie ‘Ammajan’ in Dhaka film industry, which was directed by Kazi Hayat. She performed in that movie in the central role and it was released in 1999. In 2012 she visited Pakistan along with her husband after 13 years where they were awarded lifetime achievement award by Pakistani government.
Shabnam worked in total 160 films, including 152 Urdu films, 14 Bengali and 4 Punjabi films. Her debut film was a Bengali film. Her first Urdu film, ‘Chanda’ was filmed in Bangladesh.
Shabnam-starrer notable films are ‘Ayna’, ‘Nacher Putul’, ‘Sondhi’, ‘Sondeho’, ‘Karon’, ‘Sohodhormini’, ‘Shorto’, ‘Jogajog’, ‘Juli’, ‘Bashira’, ‘Dil’, ‘Edesh Tomar Amar’, ‘Rajdhanir Buke’ and ‘Harano Din’, among others
Photo courtesy l Mohsin Ahmed