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     Volume 7 Issue 5 | February 1, 2008 |


   Inside

  Letters
  Voicebox
  Chintito
  Newsnotes
  Cover Story
  Tribute
  View from the   Bottom
  Writing the Wrong
  Interview
  Photo Feature
  Musings
  A Roman Column
  Event
  Sport
  Perspective
  History
  Health
  Dhaka Diary
  Book Review
  Comics

   SWM Home



In this issue

Cover Story

An Uncompromising Master

There are few individuals whose exit from the world is as devastating. A pioneer in bringing traditional Bangla theatre to an urban audience as a writer of incredible depth and versatility, the compiler of the country's only Bangla anthology on theatre, an ardent researcher of indigenous performing art forms, an unconventional teacher, a philosopher, nature lover -- the list of titles for this remarkable man is endless. Thus his untimely death at the peak of his literary career is all the more shattering. Yet he has left behind him the richest and most unique legacy of epic drama that will be cherished and celebrated for eternity.
The journey towards his dream to establish a distinct Bangla narrative stream has been a long one and intricately parallels Selim Al Deen's sojourn of life, which has been anything but ordinary. It is a journey of a precocious young boy whose extraordinary intimacy with his roots and his relentless search for knowledge eventually collides in adulthood, to create this literary genius whose multi-dimensional intellectual prowess has been compared to that of Rabindranath.
SWM speaks to some of those closest to him to conjure the image of Selim Al Deen, the man and the uncompromising master of Bangla theatre.


Cover Photo: Nasir Ali Mamun
Cover Design: Manan Murshed

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