Veteran film actor Ilias Javed dies

Popular Bangladeshi film actor Ilias Javed has passed away after a long battle with illness.

He breathed his last at his residence in Dhaka’s Uttara between 11:00am and 11:30am on Wednesday (21 January), according to the Bangladesh Film Artistes’ Association.

The association’s organising secretary, Joy Chowdhury, confirmed his death to the media this afternoon, saying Javed had been suffering from cancer along with several age-related complications for a long time. He had been undergoing treatment in hospital and was recently brought back home.

Javed, whose real name was Raja Mohammad Ilias, made his debut as a leading actor in the 1964 Urdu film “Nai Zindagi”. Over his long and distinguished career, he acted in nearly 200 films and enjoyed a golden period in cinema until the 1990s.

In addition to acting, he was also a renowned dance director. Although he initially entered the film industry through choreography, he later went on to play lead roles in more than a hundred films. Among his many works, he was particularly well known for the film “Nishan”.

Other notable films he acted in are “Maleka Banu”, “Papi Shatru”, “Rokto Shopoth”, “Saheb Bibi Golam”, “Kajol Rekha”, “Onek Din Agey”, “Ajio Bhulini”, “Kothor”, “Ma Baba Shontan”, “Rakhal Raja”, “Rosher Baidani”, “Jibon Shongi” and “Abdullah”.

Born in 1944 in Peshawar, then part of British India, Javed later moved with his family to Punjab. In his personal life, he married film actress Dolly Chowdhury in 1984.

His death marks the end of an era in Bangladeshi cinema, with colleagues and fans mourning the loss of a versatile and influential artiste.