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Salehin, Meer Moksudus (1929-1988) actor, director, and organiser of group theatre, was born at Gafargaon in Mymensingh district. He passed ICom and BCom (1955) from
Jagannath College in Dhaka and then took admission in
Dhaka University to study MCom. In 1961 he went to the United States on a scholarship for higher studies in dramatic art at the East-West Centre in Hawaii. He then took permanent residence in New York, opening a shipping agency there, Sagar Limited.
Moksudus Salehin's initiation into acting began at the
end of his school life when he saw plays and jatra
in his village. Between 1946 and 1948 he organised a number of plays in
association with other boys in the village. In the fifties, he acted and
directed several plays staged at Jagannath College, Salimullah Muslim
Hall and Curzon Hall of Dhaka University. He was entertainment secretary
of DUCSU in 1955-56 and organised a cultural festival in which five plays
were staged. He directed the DUCSU productions of Nildarpan and
Nabasangskaran. He also acted in the Salimullah Hall production of
Dui Purus. The play Manchitra directed by him was well received.
He also acted in the play Keu Kichhu Balte Pare Na and assisted
in staging munier
chowdhury's kabar.
During 1956-57 Moksudus Salehin organised the Drama Circle
in association with Tawfiq Aziz Khan, Abu Zafar Obaidullah Khan, Monirul
Alam, Abed Husain, Bazlul Karim and others. This group set a new trend
in presentation of plays, acting, stage setting, and lighting. Under his
leadership and direction the Drama Circle staged plays in Kolkata and
several cities of West Pakistan. Among the plays produced by the group
were Kabar, Keu Kichhu Balte Pare Na, Raktakarabi,
Raja O Rani, Taser Desh, Sabai Amar Chhele, Bahipir,
Oedipus, Arms and the Man, Saptashurer Thibi, Akraman, Danter Mrtyu
and Kalbela. He also acted as assistant director of the film
Tanha (1964). [Anupam Hayat]
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