11-04-2004, 02:42 AM
[attachment=78] Today\'s flashback will be on a Master Photographer and a Brilliant Cinematographer ----- Mr. Anwar Hossain, whose photographic signature can be seen in at least 15 of 20 best Bangla movies produced in Bangladesh till today.
\"The mental success and the earthly failure,\" is Anwar Hossain\'s phraseology that sums up his life in retrospect. But how did a man who was born in a slum of Aganwab Deury in Old Dhaka in 1948 become what he is today? The cue to the answer lies in the fact that Anwar never regretted his reality. The reality he was born in was his first springboard. Being the oldest in a family of twelve, he had to scavenge with other kids in the area to help out whichever way a child could. \"It was from the Haat (Bazaar) of Gani Mian that we used to collect saw-dust to sell a sack full for 8 ana (half of one taka),\" recalls Anwar, who would wake up very early to finish his home work for school and then go scavenging in the morning. After the scavenging stint he would then go to the bazaar and then straight to school.
Anwar remembers how his name was often dropped from the list of the registers though he was the first boy of his class at the Armanitola Govt. High School. \"Very often the fees remained unpaid and though I used to get scholarship for my position in class my name was never mentioned during roll calling,\" reflects Anwar.
But, every predicament had its other side. Struggling for survival at such an early age, studying in the light of one hariken (kerosene lamp) at night out in the open porch, the aspiration to live a better life, and most of all the joy of living, only served to widen his perspective and bring in intensity to his photography.
His early passions used to be expressed in poetry. But as he grew up Anwar developed a kinship for paint and brush and seemed all set to become an artist. But life has fixed something else for him. In his family, he was the first person to have completed the entrance exam, which is equivalent to SSC, and surprisingly stood 5th. After that, the road to paint and brush came to a close. The memories of Shishu Kala Bhaban, where Anwar used to paint in his childhood, however, haunted him even after he took admission in Notre Dame College. Later, the painter Anwar Hossain had to give up painting to study architecture, a subject that he never took to his heart. He saw it as \"a compromise solution.\"
So, what set this aspirant painter on the course of a sinuous photographic journey? \"One of my friends at college approached me and said he wanted to sell his camera for 30 Taka as he was giving up photography.\" Anwar bought the camera on an installment basis. The eighth exposure of the first film that Anwar filled in his newly bought camera was spent on a scene taken from the opposite of Kamrangir Char. Anwar remembers how he got down into knee-deep water to take the scene of ‘dhopas’ of Dhaka city. \"This was the last exposure of that eight exposure film, and this picture got me an award in Bangladesh,” – His Early Start. Golam Kashem Daddy used to run the \'Camera Recreation Club\' and it was at the exhibition of that Club that he got the award and also met legendary figures of photography like M.A. Beg, Golam Mostafa, and Bijon Sarkar, who inspired him.
The photographic odyssey of this Maestro would be concluded in the next part of this thread. Till then, stay tuned and enjoy these pictures of Anwar Hossain.
* PIC 1: Anwar Hossain, his French wife Myriam and their sons - Akash and Meghdoot.
\"The mental success and the earthly failure,\" is Anwar Hossain\'s phraseology that sums up his life in retrospect. But how did a man who was born in a slum of Aganwab Deury in Old Dhaka in 1948 become what he is today? The cue to the answer lies in the fact that Anwar never regretted his reality. The reality he was born in was his first springboard. Being the oldest in a family of twelve, he had to scavenge with other kids in the area to help out whichever way a child could. \"It was from the Haat (Bazaar) of Gani Mian that we used to collect saw-dust to sell a sack full for 8 ana (half of one taka),\" recalls Anwar, who would wake up very early to finish his home work for school and then go scavenging in the morning. After the scavenging stint he would then go to the bazaar and then straight to school.
Anwar remembers how his name was often dropped from the list of the registers though he was the first boy of his class at the Armanitola Govt. High School. \"Very often the fees remained unpaid and though I used to get scholarship for my position in class my name was never mentioned during roll calling,\" reflects Anwar.
But, every predicament had its other side. Struggling for survival at such an early age, studying in the light of one hariken (kerosene lamp) at night out in the open porch, the aspiration to live a better life, and most of all the joy of living, only served to widen his perspective and bring in intensity to his photography.
His early passions used to be expressed in poetry. But as he grew up Anwar developed a kinship for paint and brush and seemed all set to become an artist. But life has fixed something else for him. In his family, he was the first person to have completed the entrance exam, which is equivalent to SSC, and surprisingly stood 5th. After that, the road to paint and brush came to a close. The memories of Shishu Kala Bhaban, where Anwar used to paint in his childhood, however, haunted him even after he took admission in Notre Dame College. Later, the painter Anwar Hossain had to give up painting to study architecture, a subject that he never took to his heart. He saw it as \"a compromise solution.\"
So, what set this aspirant painter on the course of a sinuous photographic journey? \"One of my friends at college approached me and said he wanted to sell his camera for 30 Taka as he was giving up photography.\" Anwar bought the camera on an installment basis. The eighth exposure of the first film that Anwar filled in his newly bought camera was spent on a scene taken from the opposite of Kamrangir Char. Anwar remembers how he got down into knee-deep water to take the scene of ‘dhopas’ of Dhaka city. \"This was the last exposure of that eight exposure film, and this picture got me an award in Bangladesh,” – His Early Start. Golam Kashem Daddy used to run the \'Camera Recreation Club\' and it was at the exhibition of that Club that he got the award and also met legendary figures of photography like M.A. Beg, Golam Mostafa, and Bijon Sarkar, who inspired him.
The photographic odyssey of this Maestro would be concluded in the next part of this thread. Till then, stay tuned and enjoy these pictures of Anwar Hossain.
* PIC 1: Anwar Hossain, his French wife Myriam and their sons - Akash and Meghdoot.