A BIOGRAPHY OF ZAHIR RAIHAN

Besides his literary work, Zahir was also a journalist. In 1950 he joined the light of the age. Later he also worked in newspapers called Khapchhara, Janatrik, and Cinema. Then in 1956, he worked as the editor of Prabha. In 1955, his first short story, Suryagrahan, was published. In 1956, he worked as an assistant director in his first Urdu film, Jago Hua Savera. It was through this that his direct involvement with the film began. He assisted Salahuddin in the film “J River Marupathe”. He wrote the title song when filmmaker Ehtesham hired him for the film “A Desh Tomar Amar”. He made Sangam, the first color film made in Pakistan in 1964. The following year his first Cinemascope film excuse was completed. Zahir Raihan was an active supporter of the 1952 Bengali language movement. He was arrested on 21 February 1952 while attending a historic meeting in Amtala. In 1969 he took part in the mass uprising in East Pakistan. When the war of independence broke out in March 1971, Raihan made a documentary called Stop Genocide. Critic Ziaul Haque Swapan called the documentary history of Bangladeshi documentary, describing it as “a strong protest against the Pakistani army’s genocide in Bangladesh.” During the war, Zahir made a documentary called State Is Born. When he went to Calcutta during the conflict, a film from his life was shown there. Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and Tapan Sinha were very appreciative of his films. At that time he was going through many financial crises. But even then he gave all his money from Calcutta to the Muktijoddha Trust.