The New Nation - Internet Edition

Md Abdul Mannan

A young girl entered Dhallywood in the sixties. The said girl is no other than Shabana, who earned tremendous popularity within a very short period.

Shabana first appeared in 1967 in the film 'Chakori' directed by Ehtesham as main co-actress with another renowned actress Reshma. In the film, Nadim played the role of main actor.

Till then, Shabana was known as Ratna, her family name. The talent and commercial director Ehtesham gave her the name 'Shabana', thinking that it would establish her commercially. Shabana proved the director's idea true and soon occupied a special place in the Dhaka film Industry by her superb acting. She reached the hearts of millions of cine-goers and remained their idol till she bade good-bye to the film world. It is true that no second actress could proudly stride like Shabana for such a long time in Dhallywood. She proved that she was second to none. She acted in as many as 400 films and almost all of them hit the box-offices. She acted with Razzak, Subash Dutta, Rahman, Syed Hasan Imam, Uzzal, Alamgir, ATM Shamsuzzaman, Khasru, Sohel Rana and Jashim.

Shabana-Alamgir pair was cast in over 100 films, every film earning a good profit. This pair was considered as the most successful one after Razzak-Kabari. In truth very few among the cine-goers missed the film acted by Shabana. They used to call her 'beauty queen.' The Shabana-Alamgir pair created a special image in the rural areas. Her mentionable films are 'Abuj Mon,’ 'Dui Paisar Alta,’ 'Madhu Milon,’ 'Madhumita,’ 'Nupur,’ 'Anubhob,’ 'Satya Mithya,’ 'Chanpa Danger Bou,’ 'Putra Badhu,’ 'Shohag,’ 'Laxmir Sangsar,’ 'Chhutir Ghanta,’ 'Monihar,’ 'Anurager Chhowa,’ 'Badhu Biday,’ 'Nasib,’ 'Usila, Moroner Pore,’ 'Judge Barrister,’ 'Shashon,’ 'Banglar Badhu,’ 'Bhabhir Sangshar,’ 'Shamir Adesh,’ 'Don,’ and 'Nanad Bhabi.’ She successfully ornamented different characters viz. lover, wife, bhabi, servant, mother, bandit etc. Every role she reflected successfully. During her long career, Shabana never fell back, rather, remained ahead of all by dint of acting capacity, sincerity, punctuality and professional faithfulness. She received a number of awards including National Film Award and Special Award. Now she has been living in the USA with her family members. Shabana is no more in the film world but still alive in the hearts of the millions. Now our film industry has been suffering from actress like her though many new faces are found nowadays.