Pioneer of film society movement in Bangladesh, Muhammad Khasru passed away at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital in Dhaka on Tuesday. He was 73.
Khasru, who was the editor of country’s most revered film magazines Dhrupadi and Chalachitrapatra, breathed his last at 1:00pm while undergoing treatment at the hospital.
‘He was suffering from various diseases including diabetes, pneumonia and asthma, along with other old-age complications,’ Zahidur Rahim Anjan, president of Bangladesh Short Film Forum, told New Age.
‘His body will be taken on Aparajeo Bangla premises at Dhaka University at 11:00am on Wednesday where people from all walks of life will pay tribute to him. His first namaz-e-janaza will be held at central mosque of Dhaka University. Then, his body will be taken to his home in Keraniganj and there, after a second namaz-e-janaza, he will be laid to eternal rest,’ added Anjan.
While talking to New Age, renowned filmmakers, film activists said that Khasru’s death is an irreparable loss to the country’s film movement and also evaluated his contributions to film activism in the country.
‘He was the pioneer of Bangladesh film society movement. His contributions cannot be forgotten. Many of our noted filmmakers including Tareque Masud, Moshiuddin Shaker, Badal Rahman, Syed Salauddin Jaki and many others were inspired by him into filmmaking,’ said National Film Award winning filmmaker Morshedul Islam.
‘Muhammad Khasru never wanted to be in the limelight. But he was a major inspiration in our film society movement, since the 1960s,’ added Islam.
Noted film activist and maker Manjarehasin Murad also said that Muhammad Khasru was in the centre of film society movement in the country.
‘Muhammad Khasru was not a filmmaker but an activist. His wide knowledge on the world of films and his writings on films and film movement inspired us a lot. I am personally indebted to him as he inspired me into film activism,’ said Manjarehasin Murad.
Muhammad Khasru was born in Hooghly in 1946 in West Bengal, India. His family migrated to Dhaka in early 1950s.
A confirmed bachelor, Khasru lived at his parental home at Mohanpur of Ruhitpur in Keraniganj on the outskirts of Dhaka.
Khasru wrote a number of books on film and film movement. He was also assistant director in the movie Palank, a Bangladesh- India joint-venture film directed by Rajen Tarafdar.
Khasru was one of the founders of Pakistan Chalachchitra Sangsad in 1963 and remained involved with the film society movement till his death. He inspired the formation of Bangladesh Federation of Film Societies and National Film Archive.
He took an interview of noted Bengali filmmaker and script writer Ritwik Ghatak which had been published in a number of newspapers several times.