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{{Short description|Bangladeshi playwriter}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Munier Choudhury
| native_name = মুনীর চৌধুরী
| native_name_lang = bn
| image = Munier_Chowdhury.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1925|11|27}}
| birth_place = [[Manikganj District]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1971|12|14|1925|11|25}}
| alma_mater = [[Aligarh Muslim University]] <br/> [[University of Dhaka]] <br/> [[Harvard University]]
| education = MA (linguistics)
| awards = [[#Awards|full list]]
| nationality = Bangladeshi
| children = {{Hlist|Ahmed|[[Mishuk Munier|Ashfaque]]|Asif}}
| relatives = [[Ferdousi Mazumder]] (sister) <br/> [[Kabir Chowdhury]] (brother) <br> [[Ashfaque Munier]] (Son)
}}
'''Munier Choudhury''' (27 November 1925{{snd}}14 December 1971) was a Bangladeshi educationist, playwright, literary critic and political dissident.<ref name=bpedia>{{cite book |last=Hayat |first=Anupam |year=2012 |chapter=Chowdhury, Munier |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Chowdhury,_Munier |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Munier Choudhury |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref><ref name=DailyStarIntel>{{cite news|title=Profiles of martyred intellectuals|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2006/december/december14th/intellectuals.htm|access-date=7 November 2013|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=14 December 2022}}</ref> He was a victim of the [[1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals|mass killing of Bangladeshi intellectuals in 1971]]. He was awarded [[Independence Day Award]] in 1980, by the then president [[Ziaur Rahman]]'s government, posthumously.<ref name=indepen>{{cite web|url=http://brri.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/files/brri.portal.gov.bd/page/87944ec4_496e_415d_af37_27a10fb35625/Independence%20Day%20Award.pdf|title=Independence Day Award|publisher=Government of Bangladesh|access-date=23 September 2022}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Munier Chowdhury and his wife before 1950.jpg|left|thumb|Munier Chowdhury and his wife]]
Choudhury's ancestors were originated from [[Noakhali]].<ref name=DailyStarIntel/> He was born on 27 November 1925 in [[Manikganj]].<ref name=bpedia/> His father was Khan Bahadur Abdul Halim Chowdhury, a district magistrate and [[Aligarh Muslim University]] graduate.<ref name=bpedia/><ref name=kabir/> His mother was Umme Kabir Afia Begum (d. 2000).<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2005/12/14/d51214090381.htm|title=Homage To Our Martyred Intellectuals - Shaheed Munier Chowdhury - Remembering my brother|work=The Daily Star|date=2005-12-14|access-date=2017-10-20}}</ref><ref name=glimpse/> Because of his father's official assignment, Choudhury lived in Manikganj, [[Pirojpur]] and other parts of East Bengal.<ref name=kabir/> The family moved to Dhaka permanently in 1936.<ref name=kabir>{{Cite news|url=https://arts.bdnews24.com/?p=2614|script-title=bn:কবীর চৌধুরীর সঙ্গে আলাপ|trans-title=Conversation with Kabir Choudhury|date=2010-01-23|work=bdnews24.com|access-date=2017-10-20|language=bn}}</ref> Then he grew up in the residence ''Darul Afia'', named after her mother, among 14 siblings.<ref name=glimpse/> He completed his matriculation from [[Dhaka Collegiate School]] in 1941 and intermediate examination from [[Aligarh Muslim University]].<ref name=bpedia/> He then studied [[English literature]] for his bachelor's degree (with honours) in 1946 and master's in 1947 at the [[University of Dhaka]]. He was expelled from Salimullah Hall, his residential dorm, because of his involvement in leftist politics.<ref name=lost/> He was imprisoned for two years in 1952 for his participation in the [[Bengali Language Movement]].<ref name= lest/> While in jail, in 1954, he appeared at the master's examination in [[Bengali literature]] and stood first in the first class.<ref>{{cite web |last=Chowdhury |first=Kabir |date=14 December 2003 |title=Remembering Munier Chowdhury |url=http://www.muktadhara.net/intel.html |work=The New Age |publisher=Muktadhara |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618215438/http://muktadhara.net/intel.html |archive-date=18 June 2013 |access-date=7 November 2022}}</ref> Later, in 1958, he obtained his third master's degree in linguistics from [[Harvard University]].<ref name=bpedia/>

==Academic career==
In 1947, Choudhury started his career in teaching at [[Brajalal College]] in [[Khulna]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-192108|title=Shaheed Munier Chowdhury Remembered|date=2011-06-30|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en}}</ref> He moved to [[Jagannath College]] in [[Dhaka]] in 1950.<ref name=bpedia/> He joined the [[University of Dhaka]] in 1950 and taught both in the departments of English and Bengali until 1971.<ref name=bpedia/> He became [[Reader (academic rank)|reader]] in 1962 and professor in 1970 and the dean of the faculty of arts in 1971.<ref name=DailyStarIntel/><ref name=tribute>{{cite news|last=Chowdhury|first=Shamsher|title=A tribute to Munier Choudhury|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2006/december/december14th/munier.htm|access-date=7 November 2013|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=14 December 2022}}</ref><ref name=lest>{{cite news |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/2003/12/15/d312151503106.htm|title=Lest we forget Prof Munier Choudhury|newspaper=The Daily Star|access-date=2017-10-13|first=Shamsher|last=Choudhury}}</ref>

==Political activity==
Choudhury was associated with leftist politics and progressive cultural movements.<ref name=bpedia/> In 1948, he attended the Communist Party Conference in Kolkata. He was elected Secretary of the ''"Pragati Lekhak O Shilpi Sangha"'' (Progressive Writers and Artists Association).<ref name=bpedia/> In 1952, he was arrested under the Preventive Detention Act for protesting against police repression and the killing of students on the [[Bengali language movement|Language Movement]]. In 1967, he protested the Pakistan government's ban on [[Rabindranath Tagore|Tagore]] songs on radio and television. In the early 1950s, there was a movement in Pakistan to replace the [[Bengali language]] alphabet with the [[Arabic alphabet]]. As a linguist and writer, Choudhury protested this move to undermine the native language of [[East Pakistan]]. He actively participated in the non-co-operation movement during the early part of 1971 and renounced his award ''[[Sitara-e-Imtiaz]]'', awarded by the Government of Pakistan in 1966.<ref name=bpedia/>

==Literary works==
During his imprisonment in 1952–54, he wrote his symbolic drama on the historic language movement, ''Kabar'' (''[[The Grave (play)|The Grave]]'').<ref name=tribute/> He continued to write after being freed from prison, some of his notable works being ''Roktakto Prantor'' (1959; a play about the [[Third Battle of Panipat]]), ''Chithi'' (1966) and ''Polashi Barrack O Onyanno'' (1969).<ref name=lost/> In 1965, Choudhury redesigned the keyboard of the Bangla typewriter, named ''Munier Optima Keyboard'' in collaboration with [[Remington Rand#Typewriters|Remington typewriters]] of the then East Germany.<ref name=lost>{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/what-weve-lost-2203|title=What We've Lost|date=2013-12-13|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2017-10-19|language=en}}</ref>

* ''Mir-Manas'', 1965 – literary critique of [[Mir Mosharraf Hossain]]'s literature
* ''Ektala-Dotala'' (first ever Bengali drama telecast on television), 1965<ref name=tribute/>
* ''Dandakaranya'', 1966
* ''Tulanamulak Samalochana'' (Comparative critique), 1969
* ''Bangla Gadyariti'' (Bengali literary style), 1970

==Awards==
* [[Bangla Academy Literary Award]] (1962)
* Daud Prize (1965)
* [[Sitara-i-Imtiaz]] (denounced, 1966)
* [[Independence Day Award]] (posthumously, 1980)
* Bangladesh Mujibnagar Staff Welfare Association Commemoration (posthumously, 1992)
* Language Activist and Political Prisoner Council Commemoration (posthumously, 1993)
* Liberation War Teachers' Council Commemoration (posthumously, 1996)
* Dhaka University Alumni Association Commemoration (posthumously, 2018)
* Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commemoration (posthumously, 2019)

==Death==
After the Pakistani army crackdown in 1971 in the University of Dhaka area from which Chowdhury escaped like many, he moved to his parents' house, near Hatirpool.<ref name=DailyStarIntel/> On 14 December 1971, he, along with a large number of Bengali intellectuals, educators, doctors and engineers, were kidnapped from their houses and later [[torture]]d and executed by the [[Pakistan Army]] and its Bengali collaborators [[Al-Badar (1971)|Al-Badr]] and [[Al-Shams (Bangladesh)|Al-Shams]]. According to a witness, Choudhury was last seen in [[Government Physical Education College, Dhaka|Physical Training College]] in [[Mohammadpur Thana]], Dhaka where his fingers were mutilated.<ref>{{cite news|last=Akhtar|first=Shameem|title=A tribute to our martyred intellectuals|url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/a-tribute-to-our-martyred-intellectuals/|access-date=31 December 2013|newspaper=The Daily Star|date=14 December 2022}}</ref> His dead body could not be identified.<ref name=DailyStarIntel/>

On 18 July 2013, Asif Munier Chowdhury Tonmoy, a son of Choudhury, made the statement before the [[International Crimes Tribunal (Bangladesh)|International Crimes Tribunal-2]].<ref name=tonmoy/> According to his testimony, [[Chowdhury Mueen-Uddin]], a Muslim leader based in London, and [[Ashrafuz Zaman Khan]], based in the United States, were directly involved in abduction, [[forced disappearance]] and killing of Choudhury.<ref name=tonmoy>{{Cite news |url=https://bdnews24.com/politics/2013/07/19/ashraf-mueen-abducted-munier|title=Ashraf, Mueen abducted Munier|work=bdnews24.com|access-date=2017-10-20}}</ref> On 3 November the same year, both of them were sentenced in absentia after the court found that they were involved in the abduction and murders of 18 people – nine Dhaka University teachers including Choudhury, six journalists and three physicians – in December 1971.<ref name=Independent1>{{cite news|last=Chowdhury|first=Syed Tashfin|title=UK Muslim leader Chowdhury Mueen Uddin sentenced to death in Bangladesh|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/uk-muslim-leader-chowdhury-mueen-uddin-sentenced-to-death-in-bangladesh-8919895.html|access-date=7 November 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=3 November 2022}}</ref>
{{more|1971 killing of Bengali intellectuals}}

==Personal life==
[[Image:Munier Choudhury 1957.jpg|thumb|right|Choudhury with his wife Lily (1957)]]
Choudhury was married to Lily Choudhury.<ref name=glimpse>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/munier-chowdhury-personal-glimpses-1320649|title=Munier Chowdhury: Personal Glimpses|date=2016-11-26|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2017-10-19|language=en}}</ref> Together they had three sons, Ahmed Munier, [[Ashfaque Munier]] (Mishuk) and Asif Munier. Ashfaq was a cinematographer. Ahmed is retired and previously worked for UN missions in Africa. Asif is a human rights activist and works in the development sector. He was a founder member of ''Projonmo Ekattor'', a human rights group.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.observerbd.com/details.php?id=45474|title=An intrepid writer: A requiem for Munier Chowdhury |work=The Daily Observer|access-date=2017-10-19|date=2016-11-27|first=Iftakhair|last=Hossen}}</ref>

Choudhury's notable siblings include actress [[Ferdousi Mazumder]], [[National Professor]] [[Kabir Chowdhury]] (d. 2011), columnist Shamsher Choudhury (d. 2012) and language activist Nadera Begum (d. 2013).<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-232275|title=Shamsher Chowdhury|date=2012-04-30|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2017-10-20|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/04/13/language-activist-nadera-begum-passes-away|title=Language activist Nadera Begum passes away|date=2013-04-13|work=bdnews24.com|access-date=2017-10-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/feature/people-feature/2019/04/14/remembering-nadera-begum-on-her-death-anniversary|title=Remembering Nadera Begum on her death anniversary|date=2019-04-14|work=Dhaka Tribune|access-date=2020-03-08}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Since 1989, a Bangladeshi theater troupe named ''Theatre'' has been conferring theater personalities for their contribution to the performing art form with ''Munier Chowdhury Shammanona'' award.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-65386|title=Shaheed Munier Chowdhury birth anniversary celebrated|date=2008-11-29|work=The Daily Star|access-date=2017-10-19|language=en}}</ref> [[Bangla Academy]] confers ''Shaheed Munier Choudhury Memorial Award'' to book publishing houses for the merit of quality of printing and aesthetic values.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://banglaacademy.org.bd/english/?page_id=145|title=Awards Bangla Academy|website=banglaacademy.org.bd|language=bn|access-date=2017-10-20}}</ref> Central Road, the street in Dhaka where Choudhury lived, was renamed to ''Shaheed Munier Chowdhury Road''.<ref name=glimpse/> In 1991, on the 20th anniversary of Bangladesh's independence, the government issued a commemorative stamp featuring Choudhury.<ref name=lost/>

On November 27, 2020, [[Google]] celebrated his 95th birthday with a [[Google Doodle]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.google.com/doodles/munier-chowdhurys-95th-birthday |title=Munier Chowdhury's 95th Birthday |website=Google |date=27 November 2020 }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Bengali theatre}}
{{1971 Bangladesh genocide}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choudhury, Munier}}
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Manikganj District]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi male novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:University of Dhaka alumni]]
[[Category:Aligarh Muslim University alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:University of Dhaka faculty]]
[[Category:People killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War]]
[[Category:Pakistani torture victims]]
[[Category:People murdered in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Independence Day Award]]
[[Category:Recipients of Bangla Academy Award]]
[[Category:Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz]]
[[Category:20th-century male writers]]
[[Category:Bangladeshi textbook writers]]
[[Category:People from Chatkhil Upazila]]
[[Category:Dhaka Collegiate School alumni]]

Munier Choudhury - Revision history

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