Today is the second death anniversary of noted filmmaker Chashi Nazrul Islam, the maker of first ever Bangladesh’s Liberation War-based film. Chashi Nazrul Islam died of cancer at the age of 73 on January 11, 2015. To remember the film legend, a commemorative meeting will be held at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) in the capital tomorrow. The event, which will be take place at the presence of the family members of Chashi Nazrul Islam, has been organised by Bangladesh Film Directors’ Association.
Chashi Nazrul, who was a glittering star in the sky of 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 Tragedy King. Nazrul’s immense passion for acting drove him escaping from the home and met one of the most prominent Indian film actresses, Meena Kumari in 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. 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 programmes at radio in 1965. He directed and voiced popular radio dramas Ramer Sumoti (1965), Socrates (1966), Sokhina Birongona (1974) etc. Chashi Nazrul 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 organisations for his significant contribution to the country’s films. He won the National Film Award for the films ‘Shuva’ in 1986 and ‘Hangor Nadi Granade’ in 1997. He also received Ekushey Padak in 2004.