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Great playwright Nurul Momen

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Dr.Faisal Mahmud :

(From previous issue)

In 1948, he went to England for higher studies (on being granted a long leave from DU), graduating in Law from London University. While in London, he, along with his friend Nazir Ahmed, started the weekly Bangla programme from BBC. Nazir took charge of News, while Momen was looking after literary programmes. He used to conduct a popular children's programme called 'Kakoli'. The famous opening lines he uttered were, "London theke dadavai bolchi (its Dadavai speaking from London)". He also worked as Education Officer at the Pakistan High Commission in London for a year. His translation of 'Rupantor' (The Transformation) and other English plays by him made him famous in the mainstream theatre scene of London. He took part in 'Death of a Salesman' and other plays on London stage. He once bought a villa and decided to settle there to make Bangla theatre more exposed to international drama-scene, If he had settled there, he definitely would have become internationally famous.
On his return, he rejoined the University of Dhaka. On 21st February 1952, just a few months after his return, he and his student, language-activist Toaha was standing on University playground when the heinous shootout took place. Nurul Momen and Toaha were both stunned and shocked. Nurul Momen later vehemently protested the incident. For the rest of his life, he began a new writing on 21st February, to pay respect to the martyrs.
He introduced actresses on stage for the first time staging his 'Rupantor' at Curzon Hall where 'Rijia' was played by a female student, Sabera Mustafa. Razia Khan and Dilara Zaman were also introduced by him. Besides teaching, he served DU in various capacities. He was House Tutor and Provost at Dhaka Hall and Fazlul Huq Hall (Provost, 1957), Dean of Law Faculty (1963), Proctor of Dhaka University and Treasurer.
In January 1954, a conference of Vice-Chancellors of Commonwealth Universities was held at Dhaka. An original English verse-play written and directed by Nurul Momen "We are Brothers All" was staged at Curzon Hall in their honour. The plot revolved around 'Dr. Bashir', an absent-minded nuclearphysicist busy with his laboratory. It shows the scientific foresightedness of Nurul Momen, when even in the West Nuclear-Physics was only in its inception. After watching this play, the VC of Quebec University went on the stage on behalf of all the attending VCs and said, "We knew that Rabindranath Tagore was a genius from this part of the world, but we did not know that Nurul Momen was another such."
In 1955, Malcolm Muggeridge, the world famous critic and the erstwhile editor of famous British satire-magazine 'Punch', commented on Nurul Momen after watching his comedy 'Underneath the Law', which was written only in English, "1 Malc Muggeridge, who so often finds that a play which purports to be amusing, isn't; found this play immensely amusing. This, from the editor of Punch, is high praise. Nurul Momen has pioneered the theatre of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) into a modernism which could very well be compared to European theatre." Peter Archer, a famous British theatre personality, has commented, "What Nurul Momen did for modern drama in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) has bestowed him with the honour to be the Father of Theatre of East Bengal."
When Dhaka TV began in 1964, he wrote its second play 'Ondhokartay Alo'. He was the compere and presenter of first quiz and magazine show on TV, 'National Bank Quiz.' In 1965, he acted in 'Nemesis' on Dhaka TV. He wrote and directed about 100 plays for Radio, TV and stage, especially Curzon Hall of Dhaka University.
He protested against the Pakistan government's directive to ban Tagore Songs on Radio and TV in 1967. He also protested against the move to reform the Bangla Alphabet, replacing it with Arabic or Roman script. [According to the Vol. 2 of Bangladesher Shadhinotajuddher Dolilpotro (The Documents of the Liberation War of Bangladesh), Edited by Hasan Hafizur Rahman, and the Daily Azad of Wednesday February 22, 1961.] On 21st February, 1961, the then Proctor of Dacca University Nurul Momen along with other speakers at a largely attended symposium in Curzon Hall, strongly protested against the then Pakistani government's negligence towards Bangla. He drafted, wrote and read out a Six-point resolution which was unanimously passed by the huge audience comprising mostly students by raising their hands. The Six-point demands were: (1) Early completion of the construction of Shaheed Minar.
(2) Declaration of 21st February as government holiday.
(3) Introduction of Bengali in all spheres of national life and administration.
(4) Activisation of Bangali Academy in promoting the language.
(5) Introduction of Roman script in Bengali or any new language not to be tolerated.
(6) Pucca construction over the graves of the victims of police firing at Government cost.  The symposium (organised by the Dacca University Central Students' Union) was rounded off by a cultural programme (directed by Nurul Momen) featuring some Bengali songs eulogizing the Bengali Language and the Day. (According to the Daily Azad) the final item of the evening was a Jeebontika (drama sketch) written and directed by Nurul Momen. The play depicted the oppression of the Pakistani regime over the Bengalis from 1948 to 1961.
 (To be continued)