Khaled Khan remembered

The first half of the programme began with renditions of Tagore songs performed by Surteertha, at the lobby of National Theatre Hall of BSA. Mita Haque, widow of the late actor, led the chorus performing various Tagore numbers, including “Kobey aami bahir holem tomari gaan geye,” “Aamare bandhbi tora sei bandhon ki toder achey,” “Tumi je surer aagun laagiye dile mor prane,” and others. The second half of the programme was shifted to the stage of National Theatre Hall, BSA. Nrityanandan, a dance troupe, performed a dance piece in the backdrop of Tagore’s “Aamar mukti aloy aloy.” Later, actor and theatre personality Lucky Inam, Kazi Anis Ahmed, vice president, board of trustees of University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), and Mita Haque joined in a discussion recalling their memories with Khaled Khan, popularly known as Juboraj. Lucky Inam recalled a memory of meeting Khaled Khan for the first time in a rehearsal room, where Khaled Khan was called to play Panchak in Acholayatan. “Khaled Khan was a versatile man, a covetable stage actor. His presence on stage itself was a spectacular thing,” she expressed. Kazi Anis Ahmed reminisced about the memory of working with Khaled Khan, and how “serendipitously” they started working in ULAB. Ahmed mentioned that after working with Khaled Khan, two kinds of positive changes happened at the university. He said, “The stage productions Khan brought out at ULAB were nonpareil in a way, as he had to come up with those productions with students. Secondly, we are still benefiting from the work cultures Khaled Khan adopted during his work at the university through his honesty and resolute determination.” Khaled Khan served as the registrar of ULAB, after he was appointed in March, 2009. Mita Haque talked about an unfulfilled dream project of the late actor. She said that Khaled Khan dreamt of building a pre-school where children would be able to learn about different things, from food habit to minutiae of life-style that would not be detrimental to human kind and nature in any way. Mita Haq revealed that she has already started Khan’s dream project on a small scale. In-between the discussions, a recitation by Khaled Khan was played. Tropa Majumdar conducted the discussion. Following the discussion, there were shortened shows of theatre productions like Putul Khela, which Khaled Khan directed, a reading from Syed Shamsul Haque’s play Irsha where Khaled Khan acted as the lead role. Khaled Khan, a theatre stalwart who debuted on stage in the 80s, performed in more than 30 plays with the troupe Nagorik Natya Sampradaya. He will be remembered for his roles in popular plays, including Dewan Gazir Kissa, Nurul Din er Sara Jibon, and Darpan, and TV productions, including Humayun Ahmed’s Eisob Dinratri and Imdadul Haq Milon’s Rupnagar. He directed more than 10 theatrical productions. The actor an untimely death, at the age of 55 in December 2013.