Zahir Raihan

Mohammad Zahirullah (19 August 1935 – disappeared 30 January 1972), known as Zahir Raihan, was a Bangladeshi novelist, writer and filmmaker. He is most notable for his documentary

In the immediate aftermath of the March 1971 start of the Bangladesh Liberation War, Raihan made the documentary Stop Genocide.^[9] Before that he was making his first English film, “Let There Be Light." He abandoned the project and made his most notable work, the documentary “Stop Genocide," depicting the horrendous atrocities of the Pakistani forces. Critic Ziaul Haq Swapan calls it the start of the history of Bangladeshi documentaries and describes it as "a vehement protest against the Pakistan army’s pogrom in Bangladesh". Raihan also made the documentary A State is Born during the war.^[10] Raihan went to Calcutta during the conflict, where his film Jibon Theke Neya was shown. His film was highly acclaimed by Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and Tapan Sinha. Though he was in financial difficulties at the time, he gave all his money from the Calcutta showing to the Freedom Fighters trust.^[11]

Personal life

His father's name was Mohammad Habibullah. His mother's name was Syeda Sufia Khatun. He had an elder brother named Shahidullah Kaiser. Raihan had been married twice, to Sumita Devi in 1961 and Shuchonda in 1968, both of whom were film actresses. With Sumita he had two sons, Bipul Raihan and Anol Raihan. Again with Shuchonda, had also two sons named Opu Raihan and Topu Raihan.

Disappearance

Raihan went missing on 30 January 1972, when he was trying to locate his brother, a notable writer

Films

• Kokhono Asheni, 1961^[13]
• Sonar Kajol, 1962 (jointly with Kalim Sharafi)^[12][14]
• Kancher Deyal, 1963^[15]
• Sangam, 1964, Urdu^[16]
• Bahana, 1965, Urdu^[17]
• Behula, 1966^[18]
• Anwara, 1967^[19]
• Jibon Theke Neya, 1970^[20]
• Jaltey Suraj Ke Neeche, 1971, Urdu^[21]
• Let There Be Light, unfinished^[22]

Documentary films

• Stop Genocide, 1971^[12]
• A State is Born, 1971

Producer

• Kancher Deyal, 1963^[15]
• Sangam, 1964, Urdu^[16]
• Bahana, 1965, Urdu^[17]
• Behula, 1966^[18]
• Roi Bhai, 1967^[19]
• Dui Bhai, 1968^[23]
• Shuorani Duorani, 1968^{[citation needed]}
• Moner Moto Bou, 1969^[24]
• Shesh Parjyanta, 1969^[25]
• Jibon Theke Neya, 1970, with A. Rahman^[20]

Awards

• Adamjee Literary Award
• Bangla Academy Literary Award (1972)
• Ekushey Padak (1977)
• Independence Day Award
  (1992)
• Bangladesh National Film Awards
  (2005)

See also

• List of people who disappeared

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

• Zahir Raihan at
  IMDb
• জহির রায়হান – গুনীজন.কম. Gunijan (in Bengali).