Zahir Raihan

Zahir Raihan was born on August 19, 1935, in Feni. A prominent activist in the 1952 Bengali Language Movement, Raihan published acclaimed modernist novels including Hajar Bachhor Dhore (Through Thousand Years) and Another Polash.

In cinema, Raihan directed Jibon Theke Neya (1970), a brilliant political satire using Tagore's Amar Sonar Bangla to allegorize resistance against the Pakistani military dictatorship. During the 1971 Liberation War, Raihan created the harrowing documentary Stop Genocide, filming refugee camps and massacres. On January 30, 1972, shortly after national liberation, he was lured into Mirpur to rescue his brother, writer Shahidullah Kaiser, and was murdered by armed Bihari-collaborator militias.