Theatre hosts special event for Munier Choudhury’s birth centenary

A century after his birth, Bangladeshi educationist, playwright, literary critic and political dissident Professor Munier Choudhury's voice still cuts through Bangladesh's cultural and political history — sharp, principled and defiantly humane. Today, that legacy takes centre stage as Theatre hosts a special centenary commemoration at the Nilima Ibrahim Auditorium of the Bangladesh Mohila Samity, beginning at 6:30pm.

The evening gathers two towering figures who knew Choudhury not as an icon, but as a colleague and a mentor. Emeritus Professor Dr Serajul Islam Choudhury, one of the country's foremost literary critics, and Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, founder of the Bishwa Sahitya Kendra, will revisit the man behind the myth: his teaching, his theatre practice, and the progressive ideals that shaped his life.

Both speakers arrive with decades of lived memory — classrooms where Choudhury challenged students to think freely, rehearsals where he approached drama as a civic duty, and long conversations shaped by the turbulence of the times. Their reflections promise an unvarnished portrait of the playwright whose work and moral stance made him a defining figure of Bangladesh's cultural consciousness.

The discussion will be moderated by theatre personality Ramendu Majumdar, who is expected to steer the conversation toward the tensions and triumphs that animated Choudhury's work — from his sharp critiques of authoritarianism to the humanist ethos that ran through his essays, plays and public interventions.

Organisers say the event offers something rare: the chance to encounter Munier Choudhury not through textbooks or tributes but through the memories of those who stood in his orbit. For younger audiences especially, it is an opportunity to understand how a teacher became a symbol of resistance, and how a playwright became a force for intellectual and moral clarity.

The programme is open to all.