Remembering Zahir Raihan, the poet behind the lens

Zahir Raihan is often referred to as a poet behind the lens. "Jibon Theke Neya", one of his many classic creations, is etched in the history of Bangladeshi filmmaking as one of its finest works, as is his documentary film 'Stop Genocide' in 1971, which left the whole world in awe.  

Today marks the birth anniversary of the legend who paved the way for filmmakers in our country.

Zahir Raihan began his directorial ventures in 1961. In addition to his literary pursuits, he was also a unique filmmaker.

Zahir Raihan's first directed movie starring Sumita Devi, Shabnam, Khan Ataur Rahman was never released.

He became the talk of the town with the release of "Jibon Theke Neya".  Anwar Hossain, Rawshan Jamil, Razzak, Shuchanda, among others, starred in this film.

He co-directed his second film, "Sonar Kajol", with Kalim Sharafi. The cast included Sumita Devi, Sultana Zaman, Khalil and Subhash Dutta.

His third movie, "Glass Walls" starred Sumita Devi, Anwa Hossain, Khan Ataur, Rani Sarkar and others.

Zahir Raihan had a knack for capturing people, his motherland and nature with the camera.

"Anwara" is another movie directed by Raihan, starring Razzak and Shuchanda who played the role of Anwara.

Raihan's folk movie "Behula" was critically acclaimed. It was also the first movie as Nayak Raj Razzak in the leading role.

Besides directing Bangla movies, he also earned success by directing Urdu films.

"Sangam" is the first color motion picture film in Pakistan. It was directed by Raihan in 1961 with Sumita Devi, Khalil and Rosy Afsari as the star of the film.

Raihan directed another Urdu film, "Bahana" which was released on April 16, 1965. This brought him tremendous success in Pakistan. Rahman and Kabori were the lead actors in the film.

Babita's first film, "Shonghsar" was directed by Zahir Raihan.

"Shesh Porjonto" starred Babita and Razzak. This pair also starred in another film directed by Raihan – "Jaltey Suraj Ke Nichey".

Raihan took the world by storm with his documentary, 'Stop Genocide'. He highlighted the atrocities and violence by the Pakistani military and images of Bangladeshi refugees in India.

Babita was one of the stars in his unfinished film "Let There Be Light". She said, "I am the creation of Zahir Raihan. I was the child actor in his movie Shongshar. Then, I worked with him again in Jaltey Suraj Ke Nichey. Zahir Raihan made me the lead on the silver screen in his last film too."

Eminent actor Shuchanda, who was also the wife of Zahir Raihan, starred in most of his movies. "He really was a poet behind the lens. Only a few people understand the language of camera like he did. There are many talented filmmakers in this country, but ZaheerRaihan was one in a million," she said.