lit a candle 2h agoMy mum found a VHS of Jago Hua Savera at a church sale in Montreal years ago, of all places, and we watched it one rainy Sunday instead of doing the garden like we'd planned. I didn't know anything about Dhaka cinema before that, I just remember her face in that film staying with me for days after. 82 years old. I keep thinking about how a tape ends up in Canada at all, honestly, some journey that must have been. Anyway. Sorry, rambling. Just sad about it.
Their story
Nasima Khan was one of the pioneering actresses of Dhaka's early film industry, a star of Bengali and Urdu cinema in the 1960s whose career began with "Jago Hua Savera" in 1959 and lasted more than half a century. She died on 11 October 2026 at a hospital in Uttara,…
Nasima Khan was one of the pioneering actresses of Dhaka's early film industry, a star of Bengali and Urdu cinema in the 1960s whose career began with "Jago Hua Savera" in 1959 and lasted more than half a century. She died on 11 October 2026 at a hospital in Uttara, Dhaka, at the age of 82.
She was born on 6 August 1944 in Lalbagh, in old Dhaka. Her father was Mohammad Masud Khan, and her grandfather, Khan Bahadur Abdul Jalil, served as a deputy magistrate in Dhaka under British rule; the family came from Rarhikhal in Sreenagar, Bikrampur, and settled in Lalbagh in the 1940s. The actor Anis, known as Khan Ataur Rahman, lived nearby and was a friend of her father. He persuaded him to let his daughter act.
Her debut came in A. J. Kardar's "Jago Hua Savera" (The Day Shall Dawn), the second sound film made in Dhaka and a film that won international recognition. She also appeared in the Urdu film "Tanha", directed by Baby Islam, alongside Shabnam, Sumita Devi and Shamim Ara. Her first leading role came in 1961 in "Je Nodi Moru Pothe", opposite Anis.
Through the 1960s she worked steadily in both languages, in films such as "Surjosnan", "Dharapat", "Kar Bou", "Ujala", "Begana", "Apon Dulal", "Ulzan", "Main Bhi Insaan Hoon", "Dui Bhai", "Gouri", "Amar Bou" and "Dheu Er Pore Dheu", sharing the screen with Anwar Hossain, Hasan Imam, Rahman, Golam Mustafa, Azim and Harun. She won particular praise for "Ashbon Gaye Moti". In later years she worked more often in television dramas, and her last film was "Kusum Kusum Prem", an Impress Telefilm production released in 2011.
Her death was confirmed by Sony Rahman, organising secretary of the Bangladesh Film Artistes' Association. Obituaries described her passing as the end of an important chapter in the early history of Dhaka's film industry, and remembered her as one of the artists who helped open the way for the generations that followed. For audiences who grew up with the first films made in Dhaka, her face on screen was part of the beginning of a national cinema, and her long career carried that memory into the age of television.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia: Nasima Khan; BD24Live; Daily Observer; Bangladesh Pratidin, October 2026. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
1Nasima Khan
by People Forever
that's a lovely find, VHS tapes travel further than people think