Babita (Farida Akhter, also known as Bobita) (Bangla: ববিতা) is a renowned Bangladeshi film actress. She has also participated in several NGOs focusing on the welfare of women and children and founded a community seed bank.
Early days
Her family full name is Farida Akhter. She was born to an educated family in Jessore, Bangladesh. Her family nickname was Poppy, and like her mother, she had early ambitions of becoming a doctor. Instead, she was to become the most accomplished actress among three sisters, all of whom became movie stars. She also has three brothers whom are not in the movie business.
In the mid-1960s, her elder sister Kohinoor Akhter entered the movie industry in the capital Dhaka, and adopted the screen name Shuchonda. In 1968, Shuchonda married Zahir Raihan, a talented film director and martyred intellectual who was later to lose his life in an ambush by West Pakistan forces during the Bangladeshi war of independence. Raihan was casting around for a heroine for his movie Jaltey Suraj Ka Nichey, when his producer Afzal Chowdhury mentioned that his sister-in-law might fit the bill. Poppy was photogenic and had already acted in television. Zahir Raihan agreed to cast her, and although the film was not completed in the end, she found an entry into the Dhaka film industry. Her first released feature was Shesh Porjonto. To add, the recent famous Bangladeshi actor Riaz is her first cousin.
International stardom
She acted in number of joint venture movie projects in her career, namely: a Bollywood-Bangladesh joint production Movie Door Desh in 1983 (Gehri Chot in Hindi) and also Pakistan-Bangladesh joint venture film Miss Lanka (Nadaani in Urdu) in 1985.
Working with Ray
Babita was notable also for being an actress, and her performances in films such as Taka Anna Pai, Shorolipi, and Anarkoli. Her acting gained the attention of the Indian director Satyajit Ray. In 1973, Ray cast Babita in Ashani Sanket ("Distant Thunder"), his film about the Bengali famine of 1943. Babita appeared in the lead role of Ananga, the demure wife of the village doctor Gangacharan, who was played by long-time Ray favourite Soumitra Chatterjee.
Ashani Sanket won the Golden Bear prize at the 1973 Berlin Film Festival. Babita's performance was central to the film.
Arthouse and commercial movies
Arunodoyer Agnishakkhi (1972) by Subhash Dutta
Dhirey Bohey Meghna (1973)—a war drama by Alamgir Kabir
Golapi Ekhon Trainey (1978) by Amjad Hossain; Babita's portrayal of the migrant girl Golapi is regarded as one of her finest performances.
Dahan (1986) by Sheikh Niamat Ali
In addition, Babita was also prolific in commercial cinema. The Bangladeshi film industry centres around the Film Development Corporation in Dhaka, popularly known by its acronym "FDC". The typical FDC feature is aimed at the poorly educated working classes, and it consists mostly of over-the-top melodrama and multiple song-and-dance numbers. Classic examples are her films of the early 1980s, Miss Lanka and Love in Singapore.
She formed screen partnerships with male stars Faruk, Zafar Iqbal, Bulbul Ahmed, and Sohel Rana. Babita won the Best Actress award at the National Film Awards for several of her movies, some of which are:
Bandee Thekey Begum (1975)
Noyon Moni (1976)
Boshundhora (1977)
Ramer Shumoti (1985)
As a producer
After the commercial success of Teen Kannya Bobita became interested to produce movies and hence launched a movie production house named "Bobita Movies." Some of Bobita's produced movies are:
Ful Shojja
Agomon
Lady Smuggler (A Bangladesh-Pakistan-Nepal joint venture movie)
Lottery
Poka Makorer Ghor Bosoti (A Bangladesh Govt. sponsored movie)
Recent career
Her acting career continues, though less vigorously than before. In 2002, Babita won a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Hason Raja, Chashi Nazrul Islam's biopic of the famed Bengali folk-poet. She has also formed her own film-production company and has expressed an interest in directing in the future.
Babita has campaigned actively on behalf of various social causes in Bangladesh. Notable among the causes she has supported are the campaign against throwing acid on women; the national immunization drive for children; and a support group for children who suffer from leukemia.