Selim Al-Deen was the founder chairperson of the Department of Drama and Dramatics at Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh.
In his illustrious career, he immensely contributed to uphold the rich heritage of rural culture of Bangladesh through theatre. He is also considered as one of the pioneers of street theatre in Bangladesh.
He was attracted to reading literary works at a very young age. As he turned on to admit into Dhaka University in 1966, he decided to become a writer. It was his teacher playwright Munier Chowdhury who encouraged him to focus attention on drama.
He wrote his first radio drama “Biporit Tomosay” in 1968 while he was a university student. His first play for the theatre was “Shorpo Bishoyok Golpo” which was staged in 1972.
His close study of European culture is reflected in his initial plays. But soon he realized that the tales of rural farmers is no less heroic than the Herculean feats of Achilles or Prometheus.
Selim Al-Deen carried out extensive research for his doctoral dissertation in which he proved that the history of Bengali drama is older than that of European drama.
During 1977 to 1979, Selim Al-Deen studied Bengali Jatra which prompted him to write his first unique drama Kittonkhola.
Success of Kittonkhola led to create his subsequent works, namely, “Bashon,” “Atotai,” “Saifulmulk Badiuzzaman,” “Keramat Mangal,” “Hat Hodai,” “Chaka” and more.
He died on January 14, 2008 in Dhaka after a cardiac failure. In the post-Tagore era, his contribution to Bengali drama is considered to be unique.
