Haque, Syed Shamsul
Haque, Syed Shamsul (1935-2016) a noted poet, prose writer, and dramatist. He was widely known as a ‘sabyasachi’ writer who was active in all branches of poetry, novels, plays, short stories, translation and literature.Syed Shamsul Haque was born on 27 December 1935 in Kurigram district. His father’s name was Syed Siddique Hussain and mother was Halima Khatun. Syed Siddique Hussain was a homeopathic doctor by profession.
Syed Haque was the eldest of eight children of his parents. Syed Haque’s education started at Kurigram Minor School. Then he got admission in Kurigram High English School. As per his father’s wishes, he moved to Dhaka and enrolled in the old Dhaka Collegiate School. In 1950, he passed matriculation with letter in Mathematics.
At first he studied science on his father’s wish, but later he got admitted in humanities in Jagannath College and passed IA with letter in logic. Then he enrolled in Dhaka University with honors in English and studied till the third year; however, did not take the examination. His father died before he could pass the IA examination and he was left with the responsibility of seven siblings including his mother. He started writing school and college notebooks, movie scripts, stories and songs under pseudonyms to earn money. Along with writing poems, stories, novels, his screenplays and stories written for ‘Sheet Bikkel’, ‘Matir Pahar’, ‘Tomar Amar’, ‘Ka kha ga gha’, ‘Chaddabeshi’, ‘Adhikar’, ‘Bara Bhalo Lok Chhilo’, ‘Mainamati’ had received awards in the film world, achieving name and fame. As a lyricist, he was also celebrated in the cine world. The song written by him ‘Hayre Manush Rangin Phanus’ was once on people’s lips.
He left for London on 22 September during the Liberation War. There he was involved in various activities in favor of the Liberation War. He got a part-time job at the BBC in London. It was he who read the news of Pakistan Army’s surrender on 16th December 1971 on BBC radio and made the entire Bengali nation first into joy. During his stay in London, he began regular drama programs in the Bengali section of the BBC. Before this, there was never a drama program more than in this department BBC.
His debut stage play– ‘Payer Awaj Paowa Jay’, which observed 200 nights of successful stage performance till date. It is still considered the most important drama written on the Liberation War. ‘Nurladin’s Sara Jiban’ is another successful play of Shamsul Haque. He translated several plays of Shakespeare into Bengali.
He translated Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ in just thirteen days while undergoing treatment for cancer. He is the first to have portrayed the life of middle class citizens in the novels of Bangladesh. He wrote ‘Anupam Din’, ‘Deyaler Desh’, ‘Picture of a Woman’, ‘Crossing Border’, ‘Jasmine Road’, ‘Twelve Days Child’, ‘Golden Youth of Few People’, ‘Janak and Black Coffee’, ‘Khelaram Khele Ja’ and in each novel, he has portrayed the hopelessness, despair, disorder and decadence of the middle class. His novel ‘Rakta Golap’ brought the first magic realism in Bengali literature to the reader, the magic realism which the famous writer Marquis brought much later in his novels.
Syed Shamsul Haque has tried to establish himself in the novel as a unique portraitist of the Liberation War. His compositions include ‘Ekmutha Janmabhumi’, ‘Forbidden Frankincense’, ‘You That Sword’, ‘Neel Dangshan’, ‘Ami Basi Tumi Baso To’, ‘Balikar Chandrayaan’, ‘Smritimedha’, ‘Neel Danshan’, ‘Another One’. Embrace’, ‘Beane Paisar Neel Galpa’, ‘Master in Space’, ‘This Man’, ‘A Young Man’s Galaxy’, ‘Distance’, ‘Dreamy’, ‘The Teeth and Saws of Reality’, ‘To the Edge’, ‘Trahi’ , ‘Rain and Rebels’, ‘Second Day Story’ and many more novels, in which he depicted the story of the struggle of his homeland and the victory of the Liberation War.
In almost each of the short stories, his own language and personality especially grabed the reader’s attention. His first book of short stories ‘Taas’ was published at the age of eighteen. He wrote about the fabled town of Jaleshawri, ‘The Tales of Jaleshawri’. Jaleshawri is originally his birthplace Kurigram.
Wonderful additions to the collection of short stories written by him are ‘Selling in the full moon’, ‘Living in the dream’, ‘The destitute child of the ancient clan’, ‘Poet’, ‘The tree of hope in the chest’, ‘After defeat’ etc. He was the author of essays, articles, columns and numerous children’s books. ‘Hudson’s Gun’, ‘Simantere Inshasan’, ‘Anu Bara Hai’, ‘Amar School’, ‘Bangabandhu Birgatha’ have enriched the children and juvenile literature of Bangladesh.
He was adept at creating his own genre in poetry. He was able to create his own style of writing literature. Written by him, ‘I was born in Bengal, I speak in Bengali, I walk a thousand years through the paths of Bengal’ recited by the young and old.
He has been able to establish the regional language of the people of Bengal in the world literature. ‘Je tar Rumal Nade Paraner Gahin Bhitar’ or ‘Jago Baheh Konthe Sabai’ are his best examples. He presents to young poets and lyricists the key to the secret understanding of his experiential creative works. ‘Comments in the Margins/Story Captions: The Alchemy of Poetry’ is an example of that.
He brought up the vocabulary of the language from the experience of unknown roots. ‘Katha Shamannoi’ is one such work, which has never been discussed in Bengali literature before. His works have been translated, read and staged at home and abroad.In his spare time, he occupied himself with woodworking and painting. After Syed Haque’s death, an exhibition of his 56 paintings and two woodcuts was organized.
He was a renowned presenter in the TV. His unique presentation and sophisticated Bengali inspired the audience immensely. He has been honored with various awards for his outstanding contribution in a long literary career, including the ‘Bangla Academy’ Award, the ‘Adamji Sahitya Award’ and the ‘Ekushey Padak’ awarded by the Government of Bangladesh. He also won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay twice.
Syed Shamsul Haque’s wife Anwara Syed Haque is a famous writer and a psychiatrist. They have one son and one daughter. Syed Shamsul Haque died of lung cancer on 27 September 2016 in Dhaka. [Sabbir Ahmed]
