Kabori's screen heroes

Kabori with Razzaque in Rongbaaj .Photo: Bangladesher chalachchitrer itihash by anupam hayat

Kabori along with Razzaque formed one of the most enduring romantic pair in the history of Bangladeshi cinema. Together the Kabori-Razzaque pair heralded the golden age of Bangladeshi cinema. Rongbaaj, Abirbhab, MoynaMoti, Agontuk, Anirban, Chokher Joley, Upohar and several others enthralled film buffs during the 1970s and mid-'80s. "Rongbaaj was a revolutionary action film in the post-independence Bangladesh. In fact, it was a turning point in our film industry as film goers started to accept the genre of action film in addition to the family oriented social movies," says Kabori. "Razzaque was the hero of most of my films. From the beginning, we built a good understanding. He was vezy cooperative; in fact, when the camera and lights were on, we knew very well which expressions we should give.

"We had such interaction that we could suggest each other about signing new films together. And our pair was so popular that most of the producers and directors chose us for their films and, as a zesult, most films of a year were often done by }s. For such repetitive appearance, some people and magazines even criticised us as 'the boring pair of the year' ", she laughs.

Kabori harks back to the shooting of MoynaMoti. Apparently Razzaque and she gave such a moving portrayal of the characters |hat the unit crewmembers could not hold back their tears. "It was a saddening sequence when Moyna (myself) was going to marry a landlord and her heartbroken lover Moti (Razzaque) was singing the song Anek shadher moyna amar badhon kete jaay. All present at the location were completely spellbound," Kabori says.

Kabori has also had remarkable on-screen chemistry with Farooq in the 1970s. This as evident in two blockbusters Shujon Shokhi and Shareng Bou. "It was in 1974. When Farooq and I did the film Shujon Shokhi, it was a massive hit and the song Shob shokhirey paar koritey became very popular. Many re-mixes of the film have been made afterwards."

Drawing a comparison between the two heroes, Kabori asserts, "Razzaque was quite calculating. He always used to maintain a certain distance from his co-artistes. On the contrary, Farooq is a very outspoken yet emotional actor. He is very intelligent and can devote in a better cause selflessly," says Kabori.

Kabori made pair with Bulbul Ahmed in most talked about film Devdas, made on Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's timeless classic. And she still misses the great sense of humour of his co-actor Bulbul. "Apparently Bulbul looks very calm and quiet, but he has the greatest sense of humour among the industry people."

On another legendary actor Rahman, she reminisces thm shooting of their only film Bahana, which was made in Urdu by Zahir Raihan. Kabori says, "Rahman was a perfect gentleman in the industry and I wish I could do more films with him!"

With Sohel Rana, Ujjal and Wasim, her onscreen presence was also appreciated and regaled by the audience.

Besides the heroes, Kabori also recalls the character role players. "In fact, their acting was more powerful than ours. They did the real performance in films while we took care of the glamorous elements," she asserts. Among these actors, Khan Ataur Rahman, Golam Mustafa, Anwar Hossain and ATM Shamsuzzaman aze most noteworthy to Kabori.