Humayun Ahmed

Humayun Ahmed's
Chondrokotha (2003)
[Watch the full Movie]
Directed/Written by Humayun Ahmed
Starring: Ferdous, Shaon, Ahmed Rubel

Humayun Ahmed had a meteoric rise in Bangla literature. His first novel, Nondito Noroke was written while he was still a student of the University of Dhaka, gained immediate popularity and critical acclaim. Equally successful was his second novel, Shankhanil Karagar (tr: "The Conch-blue Prison"), later made into a successful film by Nasiruddin Yusuf. Humayun Ahmed went on to become one of the most prolific writers in Bengali literature, having published around one hundred and fifty novels to date.

Along with his more traditional novels and short stories, Ahmed is often credited with creating or maturing many literary genres in Bangladesh. The rise of Bengali science fiction can largely be attributed to Humayun Ahmed.

His televised drama Bohubrihi was one of the most successful productions of the national TV of the country called Bangladesh Television. He later developed Bohubrihi into a novel.

Though set in the realities of middle class life, Ahmed's works display a particular penchant for the mysterious and unexplained. He himself and his literature are often referred to as "moon-struck," and references to the full moon in his prose are numerous. In almost every one of Ahmed's novels, there is at least one character who possesses an extraordinary milk of kindness—a characteristic of Ahmed’s writing. Also, he is prone to create funny characters through which he reveals social realities and passes on his message.

Until recently Bengali fiction has largely been dominated by the works and style of Bengali writers from the West Bengal. Humayun Ahmed has distinguished himself with a unique simple literary diction that quickly became extremely popular. His prose style is lucid and he resorts to dialogues rather than narration by an all-knowing story-teller. As a result his writining is compact and can be easily understood by a large audience. However, he depends heavily on a few stereotypical characters which behave in a predictable way, but are, nevertheless, very popular, because of the romanticism they carry. He has dealt with rural as well as urban life with equal intensity of observation. Frequently, he captures contemporary issues in his writings from a different angle. He is an optimist who is prone to focus on the positive aspects of humanbeings. His portrayal of a hooligan or a prostitute is usually non-judgmental. His human touch to stories hugely appeals to emotional Bengali psychology. Also, his storylines often blend reality with supernatural episodes. This blend is in some ways similar to magic realism. In the contemporary literary world, perhaps none exists today who writes as spontaneously as Humayun Ahmed. [Source: Wikipedia]

Updated 20/07/2012

Humayun Ahmed died on 19 July 2012 at Bellevue Hospital in New York City in the United States after an eleven-month struggle against colorectal cancer. Humayun’s death has proven that the tragic and completely unexpected passing of an icon familiar to millions can create an emotionally unifying experience for a nation.
Rashidul Bari, the author of Grameen Social Business Model, wrote in Daily New Age after Humayun's death:

"So pragmatic was Humayun’s approach to love, that when he realized that his 32-year marriage to Gultekin was floundering, he filed for divorce in 2005, and married Meher Afroz Shaon shortly afterwards. Many people have tried to understand Humayun’s behavior through the poems of Nazrul: “I am disorderly and lawless, I trample under my feet all rules and discipline! I dance at my own pleasure; I am the unfettered joy of life.”

Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus expressed deep shock at the death, saying, “It is with great sadness and a deep shock that I learned of the death of Humayun Ahmed. “Humayun Ahmed has been a shining light in Bangladeshi literature for over decades. He gave our nation confidence in our creativity. His impact on Bangla literature will last forever. ... He became a rallying point for our nationhood. His death is not just a great loss to our culture and literature, but also to the entire nation.”