Veteran film actor and dancer Ilias Javed died at a hospital in Uttara, Dhaka, on Wednesday, January 21, at around 11:30 am. He was 82 and had been suffering from cancer.
His body will be taken to the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation, where he worked for many years, to allow colleagues and admirers to pay their respects. His funeral prayers will be held there after Asr on Wednesday. He will later be buried near a mosque beside the main mosque in Sector 12, Uttara, according to Soni Rahman, an executive member of the Bangladesh Film Artists Association.
Javed’s wife, film actress Dolly Chowdhury, confirmed his death earlier on Wednesday. She said his condition worsened in the morning and nurses noticed that his body had become cold. He was rushed to hospital by ambulance, where doctors pronounced him dead. He had been receiving treatment for a long time.
Born Raja Mohammad Ilyas, Javed made his debut as a leading actor with the Urdu film Nayi Zindagi in 1964. Over his career, he appeared in more than 200 films and remained a prominent figure in Bengali cinema until the 1990s. He was also widely respected as a dance director.
Among his many performances, Javed is best remembered for his role in Nishan. He was born in 1944 in Peshawar, then part of British India, and later moved with his family to Punjab.
Javed married film actress Dolly Chowdhury in 1984.
