The Bangla Academy is the official regulatory body of the Bengali language in Bangladesh. It is an autonomous institution funded by the Government of Bangladesh that fosters the Bengali language, literature and culture, works to develop and implement national language policy and conducts original research in Bengali. Established in 1955, it is located in the Burdwan House in Shahbagh, Dhaka, within the grounds of the University of Dhaka and Suhrawardy Udyan. The Bangla Academy hosts the annual Ekushey Book Fair.
Munier Choudhury was a Bangladeshi educationist, playwright, literary critic and political dissident. He was a victim of the mass killing of Bangladeshi intellectuals in 1971. He was awarded Independence Day Award in 1980, by the then president Ziaur Rahman's government, posthumously.
Jharna Basak, known by her stage name Shabnam, is a Bangladeshi–Pakistani stage and film actress. Actor Waheed Murad introduced her to the Pakistani film industry by offering her a lead role in his film Samundar in 1968. Shabnam remained active in Lollywood in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. She has been nominated for Nigar awards several times, winning it 13 times. She has appeared in over 150 films films. She was a leading actress in the Pakistani film industry for 28 years.
The Bengali-language film industry based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, has been significant since the early 1970s. It is better known by the popular term Dhallywood, which is a portmanteau of "Dhaka" and "Hollywood". The dominant style of Bangladeshi cinema is melodramatic cinema, which developed from 1947 to 1990 and characterizes most films to this day. Cinema was introduced in Bangladesh in 1898 by the Bradford Bioscope Company, credited to have arranged the first film release in Bangladesh. Between 1913 and 1914, the first production company, Picture House, was opened. A 1928 short silent film titled Sukumari was the first Bengali-produced film in the region. The first full-length film, The Last Kiss, was released in 1931.
Alamgir Kabir was a Bangladeshi film director and cultural activist. Three of his feature films are featured in the "Top 10 Bangladeshi Films" list by British Film Institute.
Jibon Theke Neya is a critically acclaimed Bengali-language East-Pakistani film directed by Zahir Raihan. Released in 1970, described as an example of "national cinema", using discrete local traditions to build a representation of the Bangladeshi national identity
Matir Pahar is a 1959 Bengali film. The film was directed by Mohiuddin Ahmad. This was the third film made in East Pakistan.
Akash Ar Mati is a 1959 black and white film directed by Fateh Lohani and produced by Film Development Corporation (FDC). It was the first sound feature produced in East Pakistan including post-production, though like Mukh O Mukhosh, the first Bengali-language film made in East Pakistan, it used some cast and crew from the West Bengal film industry.
Ehtesham ur Rahman, known as Captain Ehtesham, was a Bangladeshi and Pakistani film director. On his death in 2002 he was described as a pioneer of the film industry in Dhaka, and one of Bangladesh's leading directors.
Inam Ahmed was a Bangladeshi film actor. He also acted in plays. He first appeared on onscreen in the West Bengali film Somadhan in 1943.
Abdur Rahman was a Pakistani-Bangladeshi actor and film Director. He acted in Bengali, Urdu, and Pashto films in Dhaka, Karachi, and Lahore from 1958 until the 1980s.
Musammat Hosne Ara Sharifa Begum was known by the stage name Sultana Zaman. She was a Bangladeshi film actress and producer. In 2009, she was given Bangladesh National Film Award for Lifetime Achievement — the first since the award's inception in 1975.
Harano Din is a 1961 East Pakistani Bengali-language film directed by Mustafiz and starring Shabnam and Ghulam Mustafa in the lead roles. Mustafiz's brother Ehtesham produced the movie. Ferdousi Rahman crooned the evergreen hit song "Ami Rupnagarer Rajkanya", composed by Robin Ghosh.
Bir is a 2020 Bangladeshi political action-drama film written and directed by Kazi Hayat. It features Shakib Khan and Shabnom Bubly in the lead roles. It is co-produced by Shakib Khan and Mohammad Iqbal under the banner of SK Films.
Sangram is a Bangladeshi war drama film that was released in 1974. The film was directed by Chashi Nazrul Islam and produced by Kazi Sobuz. Its story is based on true events Khaled Mosharraf wrote in a diary; it depicts the East Bengal Regiment's battles against the Pakistan army and the contribution of Bengali armies to Bangladesh's war of liberation.
