Eminent novelist and filmmaker Zahir Raihan left for Kolkata after the Pakistani military crackdown in Dhaka on March 25, 1971. He played a crucial role in the cultural front of the Liberation War. His elder brother Shahidullah Kaiser, renowned novelist and journalist, refused to depart Dhaka during the war, saying that if everyone leaves for India, who would fight the Pakistani army from within the city? But three days before the surrender of the Pakistani army, Shahidullah Kaiser was abducted from his house by pro-Pakistani Bengalis. On his return to Dhaka after independence, Zahir Raihan was devastated when he heard about the abduction of his brother.