To mark the 91st birth anniversary of martyred intellectual, educationist and playwright Munier Chowdhury, Munier Chowdhury Memorial Award and Zakaria Smrity Padak will be conferred today at the experimental Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital’s Segun Bagicha area.
Presided over by Ferdousi Majumder, noted educationist and writer Dr Golam Murshid is scheduled to attend the award giving ceremony as chief guest and hand over the Padak to the recipients today, while Shah Alam Sarwar, Managing Director and CEO of IFIC Bank Limited will be present as special guest.
On the second part of the event, Abdullah Al Mamun Theatre School will stage Munier Chowdhury’s satire ‘Bangshadhar’. The story portrays the prevalent anomalies in society and politics through a metaphorical story of monkeys.
Born on November 27 in 1925 in the town of Manikganj, Munier Chowdhury was a staunch nationalist and stood up against all forms of cultural repression. In 1967 he protested against the Pakistan government’s directive to ban Tagore songs on radio and TV. He translated a number of foreign plays into Bangla. He also acted and directed plays for the stage, radio, television and cinema. His notable plays are ‘Kabar’ and ‘Raktanto Prantor’. He was awarded the Bangla Academy Prize (1962) and the Daud Prize (1965) for his plays. In 1989, Theatre introduced the Munier Chowdhury Award in his honour. His notable literary works includes ‘Mir-Manas’, ‘Munier Optima’, ‘Ektala-Dotala’, ‘Dandakaranya’ and ‘Chithi’.