Career

 

 

Television and film

His first television drama was "Prothom Prohor" (first moment) in 1983, directed by Nawazesh Ali Khan.[15] However Humayun's first drama serial was Ei Shob Din Ratri (Tale of our daily lives), which achieved substantial popularity and it was followed by the comedy series Bohubrihi, the historical drama series Ayomoy, and the urban drama series Kothao Keu Nei (There is no one in anywhere). The last one featured a fictional character of an idealistic gang leader named Baker Bhai, who was wrongly convicted and executed. Baker Bhai became such a popular character that before the last episode was aired, people across the country brought out processions protesting his death sentence; public prayers and death anniversaries have been observed for this fictional character by Ahmed's fans. Nakshatrer Raat (The Night of the Stars) was a long serialized televised drama that explored many facets of modern human life and relationship.

Ahmed explored the film industry both as an author and director. He directs films based on his own stories. His first film, "Aguner Parashmoni", based on the liberation war, won the National Film Award in total eight categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. The theme of the Liberation War often comes across in his stories, often drawing upon Ahmed's in-depth memories of that war and his father's execution during the war.

Ahmed's film Shyamal Chhaya was submitted by Bangladesh for Oscar nomination for best foreign language film. This film was also based on the liberation war of 1971. It portrayed a realistic picture of the liberation war without malice and prejudice.[16]

Ahmed also wrote songs for few of his own films and plays. Some of the notables are titled as Ami Aaj Bhejabo Chokh Somudrer Joley, Chadni Poshor Ratey and Amaaar Achey Jol.

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​Literary style

Until recently Bengali fiction has largely been dominated by the work and style of Bengali writers from the West Bengal. Humayun Ahmed distinguished himself with a unique simple literary diction that quickly became popular. His prose style is lucid and he resorts to dialogues rather than narration by an all-knowing story-teller. As a result his writing was compact and could be easily understood by a large audience. However, he depended heavily on a few stereotypical characters which behaved in a predictable way, but are, nevertheless, very popular, because of the romanticism they carry (for example, Himu and some other madlike characters are available in many of his works). He dealt with rural as well as urban life with equal intensity of observation. Frequently, he captured contemporary issues in his writings from a different angle. He was an optimist who was prone to focus on the positive aspects of human beings. His portrayal of a hooligan or a prostitute is usually non-judgmental. His human touch to stories hugely appeal to emotional Bengali psychology. Also, his storylines often blend reality with supernatural episodes. This blend is in some ways similar to magic realism. He avoided obscenity and revolt against religion in clever ways. In the contemporary literary world, perhaps none exists today who writes as spontaneously as Humayun Ahmed.[17]

Although Humayun created literary fever through his works, which spread all around Bangladesh, unfortunately he still remains as one of the great unsung heroes for those who live outside the Indian subcontinent. With that said, literature, of course, is not all about recognition. In a time when hardly any of the roles are being played correctly in Bangladesh, Humayun played his role of a writer and filmmaker remarkably well. As a result, his name has become synonymous with the greatness of Bengali literature. Hence, to a Bangladeshi, his loss is manifold. He made young people—especially students who had been bred to political passion—understand that there was something more important than politics: reading books, and appreciating the fine arts

In New Age, Rashidul Bari wrote:
                                                           One of the remarkable things about Humayun's long and distinguished literary career is his influence. His writing is so influential that people not only get psychological pleasure from reading his books, but usually end up becoming fans of his fictional characters, such as Himu, Misir Ali, and Baker Bhai. His creations generate the smells, sounds, and vibrations of feelings and moods, which are more powerful than all the unused hydrogen bombs in the United States. However, in death, Humayun's celebrity seems likely to exceed his popularity, even at the height of his fame. His funeral, which was held in Dhaka on Tuesday, became a Super Bowl-like event: millions of Bengalis from all walks of life flocked to the Central Shaheed Minar yesterday to say "Hasta la vista, Humayun Sir."​



​Tagore, Nazrul and Humayun

"In assessing Humayun's importance, Times of India reports, "one should take into account that had he not lived, his books and films would never have been created at all. For this reason, many people even contend that it is Humayun, rather than Tagore or Nazrul, who should really be considered as the greatest Bengali of all time. Carried to its logical conclusion, that argument would lead one to place Humayun higher than Tagore or Nazrul. "However, "wrote Rashidul Bari, "I am a little skeptical about accepting such logic. It is true that Bengali literature would have remained piteously incomplete, and even imperfect, without the works of Humayun. However, it is also quite apparent that without the works of Tagore or Nazrul, Bengali literature would have broken up into mutually unintelligible dialects. Hence, it is fair to place Humayun after Tagore and Nazrul. However, Humayun never compared himself to Shakespeare, and not even to Tagore and Nazrul. He did not regard himself as a great writer[3] ".

He wrote in Times of India:
In fact, I am sure that if anyone conducted a survey to list the five greatest writers of Bengali literature, Humayun would be third, if not first or second. Furthermore, one should consider what other great people have said about Humayun. Several years ago, I asked Muhammad Yunus how he assessed Humayun's overall impact, and he replied, "Humayun's works are the most profound and most fruitful that literature has experienced since the time of Tagore and Nazrul." Al Mahmud, the poet laureate of Bangladesh, told me something similar: "One golden age of Bengali literature ended with Tagore and Nazrul and another began with Humayun." Fiction writer Imdadul Haq Milon considered him to be the almighty lord of his Bengali literature, controlling all their actions and thoughts. If so, he is a generous lord, who is great because he created immortal characters, such as Misir Ali and Himu, and they, on entering our memory, become more alive than the living. Misir Ali is basically a rational psychologist committed to unraveling the mysteries around him through logic. On the other hand, Himu, who works with anti-logic, appears to possess strong intuitive power, though he dismisses his intuitions that come true as mere coincidence. Misir Ali forces us to realize that logic is above emotion, and Himu forces us to understand within ourselves that the better side of our nature should always struggle for dominance with our subtle dark side​​