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
Bengali actress Shabana’s career was inextricably linked with Pakistani film
actor Nadeem. In fact when the erstwhile star made his screen debut in the Urdu
hit film Chakori in 1967, he was paired with the actress who began her career
in the late 50’s in a slew of Bengali films. Chakori was Shabana’s first Urdu
film and Nadeem’s virgin thespian effort. Henceforth, all of Shabana’s films
co-starred Nadeem. Shabana was known for her typically rural Bengali look
.Sprightly on her toes she was often seen dancing coastal dances in ‘Machera’
(fisherman) milieus. Her uniform usually comprised a lungi, an arm full of
jangly bangles, or tightly wraparound saris with a pallo dangling in front.
Here, in a dance sequence from director Noor-ul-Ashraf’s Bengali film Bhagya
Chakra, Shabana looks maiden-like in a black blouse, checked sari, tiny
jhoomkay and a long, thick, single-parted choti. Even when she acted in big
city type roles, she eschewed modern Twist-like dances. Her cosmopolitan roles
included Anari, Chotey Sahab, Chand aur Chandni and Chand Suraj. Chand Suraj
was an interesting exercise. An experimental film by Pakistani director
Mustafiz, similar in technique to Robert Altman’s latter-day, “Shortcuts”, the
first half was devoted to the relationship between Waheed Murad and Rozina,
while later unconnected interludes were focused on Shabana and evergreen
co-star Nadeem.
Shabana’s last Pakistani movie was Jaltey Suraj ke Neeche in which Nadeem played a triple role. After the fall of East Pakistan in 1971, Shabana remained absent from the Pakistani film world. She resurfaced in the 80’s, when co-productions among South Asian countries became a popular style of film making including roles in Basera (1983) Zameen Aasman, and Aandhi again all with Nadeem. Many films insiders believed that upon her return to Pakistan, Shabana would topple the effervescent Shabnam who earlier in her own career had developed a complex rivalry with Shabna. But filmwallahs were mistaken. (Later of course Shabnam went on to co-star with Nadeem in countless films). Crestfallen, Shabana packed her bags and returned to Bangladesh in the late 80’s where she still continues to make Bengali films without Nadeem.