Mustafa Monwar

Mustafa Monwar

Born & Death
1935
Details
Mustafa Monwar is an eminent Bangladeshi artist, painter, sculptor, puppeteer, TV and radio programme director and producer. After graduating from the Government Art College in Kolkata, he started his teaching career at the College of Art and Crafts in Dhaka. Monwar is remembered for his contribution in the sixties uprising, and in the Liberation War of 1971, when he organised puppet shows in camps in West Bengal, India, in order to boost the morale of refugees who had fled the conflict. Such was the popularity of these shows that the American documentary filmmaker Lear Levin visited Bangladesh to make a film on his puppets. These scenes were later added to director Tareque Masud’s noted film, Muktir Gaan. A former chairman of Bangladesh Shishu (Children’s) Academy, Mustafa Monwar is known to children as the ‘Puppet Man’ for his brilliant contribution as a masterful puppeteer. He taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka. Monwar’s television and stage plays significantly impacted the country’s cultural milieu. The noted Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray lauded Monwar for his stage design and the atmosphere of his productions. He received the Ekushey Padak in 2004, among many honours and awards.

Some of Works