"Dukhey Jader Jibon Gora" (1946, Renuka Roy, Fateh Lohani). First full-length feature by Obaidul Huq, the first Bengali Muslim director.

Before Independence (with Independence came the division of Bengal with the film centre Calcutta going to India) only one feature film directed by a Muslim was completed and rele­ased. Of course, the director was obliged to assume a Hindu name in the credit titles. He was Obaidul Huq, a native of Noakhali in Bangladesh.

Obaidul Huq’s weakness for the cinema developed through relentless movie-going in his youth. By 1945, the weakness became an obsession and Obaidul Huq was off to Calcutta with Rs. 14,000 in cash hoping to make a film based on a script that he had written himself depicting the macabre Bengal Famine of 1943. In Calcutta, he was confronted with two major obstacles— his own ignorance about the complexities of film-making and the communal hostility of a section of Hindus. But slowly, using his connections in the Government and by accumulating family resources, he succeeded in overcoming all impediments and the first film ever by a Muslim was made. It was titled “Dukhey Jader Jibon Gora” ( Misery Is Their Lot) and had for the first time a Muslim actor portraying a major role ( the villain) opposite the then stalwarts of the Bengali cinema – late Jahar Ganguly and Renuka Roy – and the first Muslim music director of Bengal. They were Fateh Lohani (presented under the Hindu pseudonym of “Kiron Kumar” ) and Abdul Ahad. At first the distributors were willing to have the name Obaidul Huq as the director of film in its publicity campaign. But some anonymous letters threatened to burn down the Calcutta cinema house where the film was to premiered if a Muslim was displayed as the director. There was no time for sentiments. Obaidul Huq turned Into “Himadri Chowdhury”.

The communal riots that broke out throughout the then India disturbed the schedule and “Dukhey Jader Jibon Gora” could not be released until 1946.

With the creation of Pakistan on 14 August 1947 Obaidul Huq left for Dacca. In 1948, he returned to Calcutta to make another film when suddenly the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by a Hindu extremist for his alleged “pro-Muslim” leanings disturbed the communal amity that prevailed since Independence. He was forced to abandon all his plans and return to Dacca.

The story of the commercial exploitation of his completed film, however, is a rather sad one. Whatever share he received from the first run was used to meet heavy studio bills and other services (the total cost of producton came to about Rs. 200,000). In 1948, after re­turning from Calcutta, he tried to have the titles re-shot with original credits for its commercial exploitation in East Pakistan. But his Calcutta based distributor took fullest advantage of the unsettled political atmosphere in the country and successfully managed to exploit the film in East Pakistan without paying a penny to the director whose personal invest­ment in the project amounted to over Rs. 50,000. This was a terrible blow and Obaidul Huq could not get round to making another film for years.

On reflection I feel that “Dukhey Jader Jibon Gora” was not only a bold attempt but also a tremendously risky one. Had it not been for the family affluence of the director, the “adventure” could have proved ruinous. But taking dangerous risks has always been the way with the pioneers – Alamgir Kabir

Ghoonghat, a family musical drama with delightful melodies by Amjad Bobby made big profits for the producer and the distributors. Shaan appeared in the film as an obsessive psychopath and gave a fantastic performance.

The nineties saw complete downfall of the film industry with the demise of Nazrul Islam. There were no good directors to make good films, the situation nose-dived further as satellite TV, cable and CD invaded the market. Directors like Iqbal Kashmiri, Sangeeta and Pervaiz Rana churned out mediocrity in dozens. Syed Noor who has scripted around two hundred films in the 70s and 80s, turned to direction and came out with Qasam, Sargam, Sangam, Ghoonghat, Deewaney Terey Pyar Key, and Daku Rani. He showed some spark, but it turned out to be as temporary as a spark is. The director chose to go the quantity way and dipped himself into a pool of films. The decade also saw rise, fall and rise of Shaan who made an entry with Javed Fazil’s Bulandi (1990), but lost his way in the industry with time. The actor bounced back with Sangeeta’s Khilona (1996), and then ruled the box office throughout the decade – Aijaz Gul

Movies of the eighties increasingly focused on violence; films featuring gangsters and the mob started taking centre stage.

Pakistani Cinema became loud and localized, wanting in artistic or aesthetic merits. The large number of films produced in various vernaculars speaks for itself about the decline of the film world during this decade. The cancellation of all censor certificates of all films issued prior to the imposition of martial law, the new code of censorship, Indian television and finally the influx of uncensored pirated movies from Hollywood and Bollywood resulted in the overall decline of film quality and good number of cinema houses were closed down – Mushtaq Gazdar