Bangladeshi Arts and Culture

Bengal has a rich multi-faceted folk heritage, derived from Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim roots. Weaving, pottery and terracotta sculpture were some of the earliest forms of artistic expression. Folk theatre is common in the villages and usually takes place during harvest time. Most classical dance takes its que from Indian models of dance, such as Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi.

Bengali culture is best known for the work of its great author poets - Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nasrul Islam. Tagore, who was born in Calcutta but spent most of his life in what is now the country of Bangladesh, won the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature - the only South Asian ever to win the Nobel Prize in that category. Apart from being a great poet, he was also a prolific songwriter, having written hundreds of songs, many of which are routinely adapted in Bollywood movies. Tagore has the distinction of being the only person in history to have written the national anthems of two nations: India - Jana Gana Mana (Thou Art the Ruler of All Minds) and Bangladesh - Amar Sonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal).

In the 1920's, the author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote Devdas, which became a classic piece of Bangali literature and has twice been made into a popular Bollywood movie. When Devdas was originally made into a movie, it was so powerful and so filled with emotion and pathos that 11 people committed suicide because they were so overcome by it! The movie was subsequently banned to prevent further loss of life. That's the power of a Bangali author.

More recently, the British-born Bangladeshi Monica Ali has gained international acclaim for her breakout novel, Brick Lane. Conversely, Taslima Nasrin drew considerable fire in the 1990's for her controversial book Lajja (Shame), which was very critical of Islam's oppression of women and the wars between Muslims and Hindus in South Asia. Ironically though, the death threats that Nasrin has received only further underly the pigheadedness and ignorance of those whom she criticized in the first place!