Chanda is an Urdu-language film that was released on 3 August 1962 in Pakistan. It stars Rehman and Sultana Zaman in lead roles. It is the first Urdu-language film to be produced in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).[1]
Chanda was released on 3 August 1962, six years of the release of Mukh O Mukhosh, the first feature film of East Pakistan. J.C. Anand distributed the film in Punjab and North-West Frontier Province through his distribution company Eveready Pictures. Anis Dosani arranged to distribute the film in other provinces and territories of Pakistan on a commission basis. Chanda was shown in movie theatres for 25 weeks.[4]
Reception
Chanda was a commercial success in Pakistan and became a hit. According to Anupam Hayat, the film ushered in a new era in Pakistan.[5] It changed the fate of Dhallywood positively.[6] Film director Azizur Rahman criticized the poster of the film. He said the film's main theme is not presented in the poster.[7]
Bengali filmmaker Alamgir Kabir said about Chanda in 1969:
The industry was fast heading for a disaster when a director dared to go a little bit further and made an Urdu language film. The film was Chanda (1962) directed by Etesham. It proved a money-spinner in both East and West Pakistan. Chanda's performance naturally encouraged a trend of Urdu filmmaking in East Pakistan.[8]
^Noorani, Asif; Arshad, Sultaan (11 December 2016). "The Way We Were". Dawn newspaper. Archived from the original on 4 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
Hoek, Lotte (5 January 2015). "Cross-wing Filmmaking: East Pakistani Urdu Films and Their Traces in the Bangladesh Film Archive". BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies. 5 (2). SAGE Publishing: 99–118. doi:10.1177/0974927614547989. S2CID154148790.
