Pohela Boishakh is the Bengali New Year and the first day of the Bengali month of Boishakh.
In Bangladesh, Pohela Boishakh 1434 will be celebrated on 14 April 2027. The day is celebrated across the country through cultural programmes, processions, traditional dress, music, fairs, food and community gatherings.
For photographers, this is one of the most colourful days of the year in Bangladesh.
The following day, 14 April 2027, is Pohela Boishakh—the first day of the Bengali year 1434 in Bangladesh—when the country comes alive with processions, cultural performances, traditional clothing, music, fairs and celebrations.
Alongside these two major cultural experiences, the tour includes Buriganga River life, shipyards, historic Dhaka, brickfields, railway photography, colourful textile-drying areas, plastic recycling and the traditional rice-processing landscapes of Brahmanbaria.
First we start recording life in the day before the festive mood sets in. Karwan Bazar is a story of labour, trade and organised chaos. Kamalapur Railway Station is a place where people move, transient emotions teem. The day ends at Lalbagh Fort, where the Mughal architecture provides a soothing contrast to the modern city that surrounds it.
It is a day to celebrate rare community rituals born of agrarian life. Chaluk Puja is done for getting protection, blessings for good harvest, and spiritual well-being. In the eye-catching Lal Kach (Red Glass) Festival, participants carry red glass objects meant to ward off evil and welcome prosperity before the New Year.
In celebration, the streets are painted in the colours of the Bengali New Year, Pohela Boishakh. Art students made masks, animal motifs and symbolic sculptures for the iconic Mangal Shobhajatra procession – a movement of cultural resistance. Dressed in red and white, the participants sing traditional songs in a powerful visual expression of Bengali identity.
Discover the river-based urban life of Dhaka, including the boats, ferries, porters, and passengers at Sadarghat. Over the river on the other side, shipyards build, repair and dismantle ships, all by hand. An intense story of labour and skills. The day ends at Ahsan Manzil, which is a reminder of the aristocratic past of Dhaka.
Capturing the raw human stories, vibrant cultural festivals, and breathtaking heritage landscapes of Bangladesh through immersive documentary photography expeditions.