Mahmud Mir
Today is a glorious day in the history of Bangladeshi cinema. The movie ‘Mukh O Mukhosh’ was released on this day. The film was directed by Abdul Jabbar Khan. The official journey of Dhakai cinema began with the release of the country’s first full-length Bengali Sabak film on August 3, 1956. Today is the 70th anniversary of the movie.
On this day, the pioneering film in the history of Bangladeshi cinema, ‘Mukh O Mukhosh’, was inaugurated at the Roopmahal Cinema Hall in Dhaka. It was inaugurated by the then Governor of East Pakistan, Sher-e-Bangla AK Fazlul Haque.
This film was born from a challenge. In a meeting organized in 1953 regarding the possibility of film production in East Pakistan, it was said that it was not possible to make films in the humid climate of the region. Protesting that statement, Abdul Jabbar Khan announced that he would make and show the film himself.
Although he had no previous experience in film production, he created a screenplay based on the play ‘Dakat’ he had written. Work began by bringing an old Aimo camera and an ordinary tape recorder from Kolkata. Due to the lack of female artists, an actress was found by advertising in newspapers. Purnima Sen from Kolkata played the role of the heroine Kulsum, and the director himself played the role of the hero Afzal.
The film was shot on the banks of the Turag River in Kaliganj, Lalmatia, Tejgaon, Jinjira and Tongi on the other side of the Buriganga. After the shooting was completed on October 30, 1955, the editing and printing work was done at Shahnoor Studio in Lahore.
Although the promoters of Dhaka were initially not interested in releasing the film, later the ‘Pakistan Film Trust’ and ‘Pakistan Film Service’ took over the responsibility of releasing it. In addition to the inaugural screening at Roopmahal Cinema Hall, the film was also released in Chittagong, Narayanganj and Khulna. The enthusiastic response of the audience proved that it is possible to make films in Bengal. Through that success, a new history of Bangladeshi cinema was written.
The music of the film was directed by Samar Das. Mahbuba Hasnat and Abdul Alim sang the songs, and Gauhar Jamil directed the dance.
