Anwar, Gazi Mazharul
Anwar, Gazi Mazharul (1943-2022) activist of War of Liberation, singer, lyrist, film script writer, director and producer, a person of many qualities. He was born on 22 February 1943 at Taleshwar village of upazila Daudkandi in Comilla district. His parents’ names were Mozammel Hossain and Khodeja Begum. His father was a lawyer by profession, while his mother was a housewife.
Gazi Mazharul Anwar passed his Matriculation from Comilla Zila School and Intermediate from Comilla Victoria College in Science group. Thereafter he got himself admitted in to Dhaka Medical College. But, as he had indomitable inclination towards cultural activities from his student life, he got admitted in Jagannath College instead of pursuing his medical education. He graduated from that college in Commerce group.
Gazi Mazharul began his long professional career centred round the cultural world. His first song was in air in 1964 from the Dhaka branch of Radio Pakistan. It was sung by singer Farida Yasmin. His first Cinema song was in the year 1967 and the first film was ‘Nantughosh’ in 1982. The noted artist Mazharul had written more than 20 thousand songs for cine film, radio and television during his long 60 years of illustrious life. He was the lyrist of many of his songs. He was the writer of the famous song ‘Joy Bangla Banglar Joy’ [victory to Bengal], which was adopted as the inaugural song before the start of day’s program from the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra [clandestine Radio of Independent Bangladesh]. This song greatly inspired the Freedom Fighters in the war against the Pakistani invading army. His 3 songs were included in the list of 20 best Bengali songs selected by BBC on the basis of opinion poll conducted among the listeners. He has written many film scripts. He had directed more than 40 films of which ‘Nantughosh’, ‘Shanti ‘[peace], ‘Swadhinata’ [freedom], Tit For Tat, ‘Khudha’ [hunger], ‘Artonath’ [the cry], ‘Churiwala’ [bracelet seller], ‘Lal doriya’ [the red ocean], ‘Ai Jey Duniya’ [the world] were most famous.
Noted artist Gazi Mazharul was credited with several awards including 'Ekushey Padak' (2002), 'Swadhinata Padak' (2021) and best national film prizes for many times.
In 1972, he was married to Zohora Gazi. They had been blessed with one son and one daughter. On 4 September 2022, Gazi Mazharul Anwar Passed away at the age of 79. He was buried in Banani graveyard in Dhaka. [Harun-or-Rashid]
