The 76th anniversary of the birth of eminent playwright Selim Al Deen was observed on Monday.
The drama and dramatics department of Jahangirnagar University, theatre troupes including Dhaka Theatre, Gram Theatre and Swapnadal organised different events like seminars, award ceremony and theatre shows to mark the day.
The drama and dramatics department of Jahangirnagar University brought out a procession titled 鈥楽mran Shobhajatra鈥� on the campus, which ended at Selim Al-Deen鈥檚 grave.
It also organised an art exhibition titled 鈥楥hobir Frame-e Amar Jibannatya鈥� by Barin Ghosh and a seminar titled 鈥楪lobal Stages, Local Narratives: Theatrical Encounters through Selim Al Deen鈥檚 Swarnoboal鈥� presented by Dhaka University theatre and performance studies department associate professors Sudip Chakroborthy at the campus.
Dhaka Theatre and Gram Theatre handed over the Selim Al Deen Padak on the closing day of a four-day theatre festival at Bangladesh Mahila Samity in the capital Dhaka.
Eminent artist Rafiqun Nabi was present as chief guest while Shimul Yusuff was present at the ceremony which was moderated by Dhaka Theatre director Nasiruddin Yousuff.
Playwright Asadullah Farazi received the Selim Al Deen Padak 1432 while the veteran actress Lucky Enam received the Mir Maksud-us-Salehin-Bajlul Karim Padak, which was introduced in 2002 to honour two founding members of Drama Circle.
The event also handed over the Fowzia Yesmin Shibli Padak, an award to commemorate the short-lived theatre activist Fowzia Yesmin Shibli, to theatre activist Jyoti Sinha.
Rafiqun Nabi said at the ceremony that artists of all mediums needed to coordinate to build a nation鈥檚 culture.聽
Theatre troupe Swapnadal organised a two-day commemorative programme at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
On the opening day on Monday, they staged a Selim Al Deen-written play titled 鈥楬argaj鈥� directed by Zahid Repon at the experimental theatre hall of the BSA.
They will stage Rabindranath Tagore-written Chitrangada directed by Zahid Repon at the closing day of 鈥楴atyacharya Selim Al Deen Birth Anniversary Festival 2025鈥� at the venue.
Widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Bangladeshi theatre, Selim Al Deen enriched the stage with his works such as 鈥楽hakuntala鈥�, 鈥楰ittankhola鈥�, 鈥楰eramat Mangal鈥�, 鈥楬athadai鈥�, 鈥楥haka鈥�, 鈥楯aibati Kainyar Mon鈥�, 鈥楬argaj鈥�, 鈥楤onpangshul鈥�, 鈥楴imajjan鈥� and 鈥楧habman鈥�.
He was honoured with many awards, including the Bangla Academy Literary Award in 1984, the National Film Award in 1994 and the Ekushey Padak in 2007.
Born at Senerkhil in Feni on August 18, 1949, Selim Al Deen joined Jahangirnagar University as a lecturer in the Bangla department in 1974 and later established the university鈥檚 drama and dramatics department.
He died on January 14, 2008.