Father of Bangladeshi theatre:: New Age Xtra

This article was originally published in New Age Xtra on December 3, 2010

Father of Bangladeshi theatre

On the occasion of the 102^nd birth anniversary of Natyaguru Nurul Momen, Syed Tashfin Chowdhury looks back at the life of the maverick personality and his contribution to theatre, literature, music, politics and academia

                                       Ei din ey jonmechhiley

                                      Jantey ki taa

                                      Ek bochhorey anbey jiney

                                      Shadhinota?   

The limerick, which was actually a wish by Natyaguru Nurul Momen to his granddaughter, on her first birthday on March 1, 1972, portrays Momen’s literary genius, pride and love for his grandchild and the joy he felt following the liberation of Bangladesh a few months prior to this.

The 102^nd birth anniversary of the playwright and director, also known as the ‘father of theatre in Bangladesh’, was celebrated through a week-long festival at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy premises, jointly organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Aurony Mohona International Foundation (AMIF). However, the contributions made by this pioneer of satire and drama to the theatre arena of Bangladesh cannot be fathomed without taking a look back at his life and works.

***

Born in the family of Nurul Arefin, a landlord and physician in Alfadanga of Jessore on November 25, 1906, Nurul Momen received his primary education in Calcutta and later gained admission to the Khulna Zila School. His first poem, titled Shondhya (evening) was published in Dhrubotara, a reputed journal at the time, when he was just 13.

Momen completed his matriculation from Dhaka Muslim High School in 1924, passed intermediate from Dhaka Intermediate College and began his Bachelors in Arts at the Dhaka University from 1926.

A year later, Momen’s theatrical prowess began to sprout. He was crowned the champion at the first drama festival, that combined the Dhaka, Jagannath and Muslim halls of Dhaka University (DU), for his superb performance in the role of 'Botu' in Rabindranath Tagore’s Muktodhara.

After passing his BA from DU in 1929, Momen began to study law at the Calcutta University College. After completing his BL examinations in 1936, he began to practice law at the Calcutta High Court.

Despite a busy schedule, Momen did not let go off his passion for theatre. Besides writing and broadcasting radio commentaries on All India Radio ever since its initiation in 1939, Momen was also the first Muslim playwright of the Dhaka Radio.

In 1941, he wrote and directed the first modern play of Bangladesh Rupantor (Transformation) for the radio. The comedy, with a progressive and contemporary plot, had Rijia, a female character as the protagonist, who takes up a job at her husband’s office while being disguised as a man. The play subtly presented the idea of women’s liberation and later, when Momen showed it to Mohitlal Majumder, the poet and literary critic, Majumder forwarded the play to Anandabazaar daily. The play was published in the daily’s Puja special of the year.

Momen wrote his second play titled ‘Nemesis’ in 1944. The two-and-a-half hour long play had only one character and Bangladeshi theatre finally had the third such play of this sort, after Eugene O'Neal's 'Before Breakfast' and Jean Cocteau's 'La Voix Humain' (The Human Voice), which were no more than 30 minutes in duration.

The play was a tragedy, based on the backdrop of the 1943 famine of Bengal that affects the life of the protagonist, Surajit Nandee, who dies eventually due to the wealth he amassed at the cost of the lives of millions of starving people. The play was praised as ‘world-class’ by critics like Malcolm Muggeridge, Peter Archer, Marjorie Jones, Shajanikanto Das, Ashutosh Bhattacharya, Mohitlal Mojumder, Neelima Ibrahim, Kabir Chowdhury and others.

‘He was way ahead of his time,’ says eminent cultural personality Syed Hasan Imam while talking about Momen. ‘Despite having ample experience in Western drama, his plays were not understood properly by the masses at the time although critics always praised his work,’ he adds.

Momen joined DU as a faculty of Law in 1945. He was instrumental in encouraging most of his students towards theatre. It was Monem who had asked Munier Chowdhury to read George Bernard Shaw. Afterwards, Chowdhury translated Shaw’s ‘You never can tell’ in Bengali which was directed by Momen. Some of his other followers include Syed Waliullah, Ashker Ibne Shaikh, Sikander Abu Zafar, Sayeed Ahmed, Selim Al Deen, Professor Mamtazuddin Ahmed, Abdullah Al Mamun and others.

Some of Momen’s other works include Jodi Emon Hoto, Naya Khandan, Alochhaya, Shatkara Ashi, Jemon Ichchha Temon, Ruplekha, Bhai bhai shobai, Eituku ei Jibontate, ‘Underneath the Law’, ‘Is Law An Ass’, ‘At the Alter of the Law’, Ainer antarale and others.

Besides being a director and playwright, Momen also wrote several books, the first of which was Baharupa, containing satirical essays and published in 1948 from Calcutta.  He also wrote Adikkheta, London Probashe, Ha-jo-bo-ro-la, Forbidden Pleasures, Aloker Jhornadhara, Lest we Forget, Drishti Anyatoro and others.

While studying Law at the University of London from 1948 till 1951, Momen was at the helm of conducting weekly Bengali programmes on BBC. 

He returned to Bangladesh and rejoined DU in 1951. While staging dramas, he introduced female actresses like Sabera Mustafa, Razia Khan and Dilara Zaman on the stage for the first time in the theatre history of Bangladesh.  Around this time, Momen was also involved in the direction and programming in Dhaka Radio and Bangladesh Television.

Through his works, Momen has inspired countless students to join the field of theatre and can be credited for its development ever since the seventies. While reminiscing about Nurul Momen, cultural personality Professor Mamtazuddin had said to New Age, ‘as I got the chance to perform in many plays directed by Nurul Momen, an excellent platform in the field of theatre was created for me through his consideration. I pray that his name shines in the history of Bengali literature,’ he added.

The accolades received by Momen over the years signify his status as a shining star in Bengali literature. He received 'Best New Playwright Award' in Calcutta in 1954, Bangla Academy Award in 1961, honoured at India-Pakistan cultural conference in New Delhi in 1963, Chicago University's International Players' honour in 1964, honoured by British theatre personalities in 1966, Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 1967, Medjid Al Makky award in 1968, Ekushey Padak in 1978, Nasiruddin gold medal in 1979, Chader Haat Award in 1988 and TENASINAS award in 1989 for his contribution to literature.

***

Despite having some of the prolific politicians of our country in his classes at DU like Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Zillur Rahman, the current president of Bangladesh and others, Momen was not very ambitious in politics. However, he protested against the oppression of the Pakistani regime through his literature and plays.

He protested against Pakistan government's directive to ban Tagore songs on Radio and television in 1967. He also protested against the then-government’s move to replace the Bangla alphabet with Arabic or Roman script.

While being the proctor of Dhaka University, Momen along with other speakers at a largely attended symposium in Curzon Hall on February 21, 1961, protested the Pakistani government’s negligence towards Bengali. According to volume 2 of Bangladesher Shadhinotajuddher Dolilpatra (The Documents of the Liberation War of Bangladesh), Momen read out a Six-point resolution, that was unanimously passed by the huge audience.

The symposium, organised by the Dhaka University Central Students' Union, was rounded off by a cultural programme, directed by Nurul Momen, and featuring some Bengali songs eulogising the Bengali Language and the day. The final item of the evening was a jeebontika (drama sketch), written and directed by Nurul Momen, which depicted the oppression of the Pakistani regime over the Bengalis from 1948 to 1961.

After an argument with Ayub Khan, Momen challenged the dictator that while Urdu litterateurs cannot learn and write in Bengali within a short time, Bengali litterateurs have the brilliance to do so. Having said this, Momen learned Urdu in three months.

Extending the challenge further, Momen wrote the Urdu satirical essay, ‘Maine ye Khab kiun Dekha (Why did I dream it)', in the Jung, Pakistan’s largest Urdu language daily of Pakistan.

In 1966, Momen wrote Thik Cholar Poth (The right way to go), a symbolic costume-play for children which ridiculed the autocracy of Ayub Khan. Although the play was not broadcasted from Dhaka radio, it was later transmitted by Rajshahi radio.

‘Unknown to most people, my father had also directed documentaries,’ says Dr F Mahmud Nurul Momen, President and CEO of AMIF and the youngest of four of Nurul Momen’s children. ‘He completed the work on Sudiner Hoyechhe Uday, a documentary on the election of 1970 when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won by a landslide, in January 1971. The concluding song in the documentary was written by him while the music direction was done by Altaf Mahmud, who was murdered eight months later,’ he informs Xtra.

During the liberation war, Momen moved to the villages with his family. ‘Although he was summoned time and again by the then-government to join DU, he ignored the summons,’ remembers Mahmud.

Mahmud points out that Momen’s patriotism and triumph following the liberation of the country can be felt through the short poem on his grand-daughter’s first birthday cake celebrated on March 1, 1972.

‘Although we always respected our father and knew he had a temper, he was very friendly with us and never struck us. He encouraged all his children to read more, especially the works of Bertrand Russell and Bernard Shaw,’ says Mahmud. He feels that it was due to his father’s literary influence, that all his brothers and only sister had a passion for literature.

Despite passing away at his Gulshan residence on February 16, 1990, Momen still lives amongst his children, students and fans. ‘He was Bangla’s Bernard Shaw. The youth today has much to learn from Momen and his generation,’ says Imam.

‘Although five of his plays were in English, I am planning to translate and publish the rest of his Bengali plays in English for the readers of the world,’ says Mahmud.