Dr. Selim Al Deen, the famous playwright, and Founder of the Drama and Dramatics Dept of Jahangir Nagar University passed away January 14 from cardiac arrest. He was 58. For 20 years, his stage plays have thrilled audiences and redefined Bangladeshi Theatre in terms of form and content. His death is a great loss for Bangladeshi cultural circle.Selim Sir, as he is known popularly, was a bohemian spirit, a generous soul and a truely passionate creator. He founded Dhaka Theatre, the most influential theatre group in Bangladesh, and helped launched the career of 75% of the performers of the bangladesh scene. His drama, Chaka, (the wheel) was staged in NY, and his plays have been published in places as far as Brazil. The film, Kittonkhola, based on his play about the Jatra performers, is one of the most memorable Bangla films I've ever seen. He had also helped define village level theatre campaigns
I've met him first in 2001 at the ETV office. He was among the panel of writers for the high profile drama we were working on then, Nakshi Parer Manushera. He suggested taking the scripts to the community to do a test reading before production. My colleague Ahir Alam died in a car accident on that fateful trip, after doing a test reading for the drama in Rajshahi on Sep 11.
Even though Nakshi parer Manushera was cut short because of ETV shut down, he later made Ronger Manush based on the same concept for NTV, which was a massive hit.
I met him again in 2003 when he was commissioned to write the community theatre for our newborn health campaign, Shwarnabati. He came to our dinky Dhanmondi office to pitch for the drama, and pretty much charmed everyone with his wit. he was generous enough to host the first staging of Shwarnabati near his place in Savar. So, on June 15, 2003, we all went to see the first drama together. We staged 544 shows in our project areas after that.
I met him again at our HIV/AIDS launching program in 2004/5. He recognized me, came up to me, and said that, "I enjoyed working with you, and I'm glad that we are working together again".
Even though that didn't happen, from a legend I admired for 20 years, that was the ultimate gift.
We'll miss you, sir. Hope you continue to charm everyone in afterlife.
P.S. Check out New Age magazine's 2006 tribute to Selim Sir.
P.P.S. Another nice article from Bangladeshnews.com
