Alamgir Kabir (December 26, 1938 – January 20, 1989) was a renowned Bangladeshi film director and cultural activist. He has made some of the most seminal films in Bangladesh[1] film history. Three of his feature films are featured in the "Top 10 Bangladeshi Films" list by British Film Institute [2].
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He was born on 26 December 1938 at Rangamati. He completed the matriculation in 1952 from Dhaka Collegiate School and the intermediate in 1954 from Dhaka College. After completion of bachelors from the Dhaka University in Physics, he went to England to study Electrical Engineering at Oxford University. It is during this period that he came across the Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman. He watched it several times and became attracted to filmmaking. He went on to complete a number of courses on the history of the film industry, film direction and aesthetics.
He also got involved with the Communist Party of England and became a reporter of the Communist Party newspaper, the Daily Worker. As a reporter of the communist daily, he took interview of Cuban President Fidel Castro[3]. He also took part in the wars of liberation of Palestine and Algeria. Alamgir was the founder of organisations such as East Pakistan House and East Bengal Liberation Front at London and was active in the campaign against racial discrimination.
In 1966, Alamgir came back home. The Ayub government imprisoned him for his involvement with the leftist movement. Later, he started his professional life as a journalist and very soon became popular as a serious film critic. With the start of the war of independence in 1971, he joined the Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra as the chief of its English section. He also worked as the chief reporter of the Bangladesh government in exile. This period also marks the start of his directorial life with the making of documentaries.
After the war of independence, he started making feature films. His films were critically acclaimed and were very popular.
In 1968, he married Manjura Begum. After separation from her, he got married to actress Jayasree Kabir in 1975. He was the father of three daughters. He was killed in an unfortunate road accident on 20 January 1989.