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She was born Farida Akhtar, to an educated family that had its origins in the west-Bangladeshi district of Jessore. Her family nickname was Poppy, and like her mother, she had early ambitions of becoming a doctor. Instead, she was to become the most accomplished actress among three sisters, all of whom became movie stars.

In the mid-1960s, her elder sister Kohinoor entered the movie industry in the capital Dhaka, and adopted the screen name Shuchonda. In 1968, Shuchonda married Zahir Raihan, a talented film director who was later to lose his life in an ambush by West Pakistan forces[1] during the Bangladeshi war of independence. Raihan was casting around for a heroine for his movie Jaltey Suraj Ka Nichey, when his producer Afzal Chowdhury mentioned that his sister-in-law might fit the bill [1]. Poppy was photogenic and had already acted on television. Raihan agreed to cast her, and although the film was not completed in the end, she had found an entry into the industry. Her first released feature was Shesh Porjonto.

In an interview with the Independent newspaper in 2004, Bobita says that it was Afzal Chowdhury who suggested the screen name Bobita for her. In another interview with the Daily Star in 2005, she mentions that Raihan originally cast her for the movie Shongshaar [2]. A different version of the story is that she adopted the name after appearing in Ehtesham's movie Pitch Dhala Path [3]. Whatever the truth, what is beyond dispute is that 35 years later, Bobita remains one of the most beloved and enduring names in Bangladeshi popular culture.

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