An outspoken actress who once dared to take a stand

Kabori Sarwar

Kabori continues that her family decided to go to Chittagong and on 25th March 1970 the family had gone to the Cantonment when they got stuck there. There was firing all around but they couldn't make out what exactly were the terrible canon and bullet firing noises were about. In the morning, Kabori and her family decided to go to the village, as she found herself to stand out as a prominent personality with a well-known face. The massacre and pillage had begun in full swing then. The professors of nearby Sir Ashutosh College, where she had studied herself, came to give her courage. They were then told that the villages too would be attacked, burnt and the Hindus or those supporting Hindus would be killed. They were taking refuge in Kalurghat. By then, the Razakars had begun agitation in full swing and were forced to take a decision to cross the border into India. There were some intellectuals too who persuaded Kabori's party to join a caravan to this end at midnight. "The local Muslims sheltered us in their homes at night to prevent us being attacked by 'dacoits' and other miscreants, and among these Samaritans was Suniti Hazari, a lawyer," recounts Kabori about her harrowing experience.

"After travelling for two days and nights," Kabori narrates, "we came to Narayanhat, about 20 kilometers from the border, which was full of refugees. Here young Captain Quader, put us in their only available jeep to go to Subroom, a place on the Indian border." The next day she learnt that the man who had helped them, Captain Quader, had been killed by the Pak army for aiding them. Getting into a bus, next, we hurtled on to Agartala. There we stayed in a tiny hotel type shack where Anil Bhattacharya, a correspondent from the West Bengal daily newspaper Jugontor, picked us up and sheltered us in his house. Taking refuge at his home were politicians and intellectuals who had fled from the then East Pakistan. There Dr Day saw to our food and shelter. We were told to go to our Bangladesh Mission at Kolkota, to meet with Hussain Ali, who was in charge of the mission in 1971."

Later on, in Kolkata, Kabori and her family stayed with the actor Dipankar Dey, who was then a medical representative. They remained in India for nine months and returned only after the Liberation. During this time, she gave a moving speech in front of the Bangladeshi Mission. At that time, being interviewed by Akash Bani, Kabori, appealed to the world in general to help stop the genocide in which innocent women and children were being mercilessly killed, raped and left to die. Saying all this, emotion took the better of her, and crying with despair, she fainted with emotion and weariness. When she gave her well-known political speech, a commemoration of Tagore was being held at that place.

At that time, Kabori adds, her parents were in Bangladesh and she naturally feared for them as for all whose lives were in jeopardy. This was broadcast to the entire world and as a consequence her parents in Bangladesh were driven out of the village where they had taken shelter in May 1971. While in Kolkata, on Theatre Road, pressed by the Mukti Joddhas, artistes and politicians from the then East Pakistan and sheltering in Kolkata, Kabori had requested the Indian government and the local people there to let the refugees from the erstwhile East Pakistan to stay on in India for some time. During her nine month's sojourn in India, Kabori took part in the famous film actor I.S. Johar's film "Joy Bangladesh"; she contributed a percentage of her earnings to the Mukti Joddha Fund. Famous Indian cinema personalities, like Nargis, Sunil Dutt And Sham Banegal, Rishikesh Mukherjee, along with Ali Yar Jang, who was the then governor of Maharashtra, helped them by collecting funds and donating blood.

Dwelling on whether it was difficult for her to carve out a career for herself in the 60s and 70s, Kabori says, "Culturally, in my time, it was not so difficult for a teenager, who could sing and dance, to enter this profession; my mother was against it but my father was all for it. Subash Datt and Dr Kamal, a cultural activist, were in search for a young woman for 'Shutorang' and my father was excited that one of his nine children should be in the cine world. I've made about over 100, working between 1964 and 1982, 'Devdas', directed by Chashi Nazrul, being my last film. My directors, Subash Datt, Khan Ataur Rahman, Abdullah Al Mamun, Kazi Zahir and Ritwik Ghattak were most understanding and inspiring. I got the 1st Journalists' Award in 1972 ('Lalon Fakir') and the National Award and 23 other prizes."

Kabori wants to put her 30 years experience in acting into film directing, given the financial backing. She is strongly against the lewd films that flood the cinema hall. At present Kabori is doing a series in ATN; earlier she had made a short film at the Shishu Academy, "Ekatturer Michhil" based on the Liberation War; she also made a TV film on Tagore, "Rashmoni" which appeared on BTV. She runs an NGO for handicapped children and adults, called "Green Valley Shelter". Incidentally, she is the mother of five sons, two of them now working in USA.