Karim, AKM Bazlul

Karim, AKM Bazlul (1932-1977) actor, director, theatre activist and translator, was born in comilla on 23 March 1932. Bazlul Karim passed his Masters from Dhaka University. He became interested in drama while at the university. He acted in Nildurpun (1955), Parihas Bijlipitam (1956) and Keu Kichhu Balte Pare Na (1956), staged in the Curzon Hall under the initiative of the Central Students' Union and sangskriti sangsad of Dhaka University.

Bazlul Karim took an active role in establishing theatre organisations, in directing and producing plays and in translating foreign plays. He was one of the founder members of drama circle (1956), the first group theatre in Bangladesh. In 1963 he went abroad. He returned to the country in 1973 and revitalized Drama Circle. Among the plays that he translated and directed are Sabai Amar Chhele (1959), King Oedipas (1962), Kalbela (1962), Arms and the Man (1963 and 1973), Sapta Surer Thibi Akraman (1963) and Dantonr Mrtyu (1977). [Anupam Hayat]