Bobita

Farida Akhtar Poppy, known by her stage name Babita, (born 30 July 1953) is a Bangladeshi film actress. She is best known for her performance in Satyajit Ray's Distant Thunder, a novel adaptation about the Bengal famine of 1943, which won the Golden Bear prize at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival in 1973. She was active in the 1970s through 1990s as an actress in Bangladeshi films. She acted in 275 films. After winning the National Film Award in 1975, she won three consecutive best actress prizes. She won Best Actor in 1986, Best Producer in 1997 and Best Supporting Actress Award twice in 2002 and 2012. In addition, she was awarded the lifetime achievement award of the National Film Award in the year 2016. In 2023, Bob Dubey, the mayor of Richardson, a city in North Texas, officially declared August 5 as "Babita Day" in honor of her. Early life Babita, nicknamed Poppy, was born to a family that had its origins in the west-Bangladeshi district of Jessore, Bangladesh. Her father Nizamuddin Ataub was a government officer and mother Jahan Ara Begum was a doctor. They were in Bagerhat due to their father's job. She has three sisters and three brothers. Babita's mother studied in Lady Brabourne College in Calcutta. In an interview with the Independent newspaper in 2004, Babita says that it was Afzal Chowdhury who suggested the screen name Babita for her. In another interview with the Daily Star in 2005, she mentions that Zahir Raihan originally casts her for the film Shongshaar. A different version of the story is that she adopted the name after appearing in Ehtesham's film Pitch Dhala Path. Babita's brother-in-law Zahir Raihan first cast her for his film Jaltey Suraj Ka Nichey. The film was not completed in the end but she found a break-through into the Dhaka film industry. Her first released feature was Shesh Porjonto. Among the three sisters and three brothers are elder sister Shuchanda who is a film actress, elder brother Shaheedul Islam is an Electrical Engineer, currently living in Australia, another brother Iqbal Islam is a Pilot officer, younger sister Champa is a film actress and younger brother Ferdous Islam is currently living in the United States.