| Enamul Karim Nirjhar | |
|---|---|
| Born | East Pakistan |
| Nationality | Bangladeshi |
| Alma mater | Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology |
| Awards | IAB Award |
| Work | |
| Buildings | British American Tobacco Headquarter, Dhaka |
Enamul Karim Nirjhar (Bengali: এনামুল করিম নির্ঝর) is a Bangladeshi architect and film maker.[1] His skills also include photography, writing poetries, stories and lyrics, with graphics designing and involvement in various social and organizational initiatives.[2]
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Enamul Karim Nirjhar was born to Muhammad Afsar Ali and Momtaz Begum in Rajshahi of the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Nirjhar and his family became refugees and had to take shelter in a neighboring country. After the war when he and his family returned in an independent Bangladesh, found the house they used to live were burned down.
Nirjhar was admitted to Rajshahi Cadet College in the mid-1970s. After passing the exam for Secondary School Certificate, he opt himself out of the institute and passed Higher Secondary exam from Rajshahi Government College. Nirjhar studied MBBS for two years and later chose not to continue as he chose to study architecture in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
Along with the study of architecture he started different youth and culture oriented initiatives in and out of BUET. A stage play of that time named Bibhajito Upakkhan organized by Enamul Karim Nirjhar became almost a part of the legacy of BUET’s cultural activity. When studying, a personal experience changed Nirjhar’s overall approach to the world. At that time he led himself to various activities like film movement, poetry, story writing, publication and illustration. He joined the popular humor magazine Unmad and later became a contributor of weekly Sachitra Shandhani in mid-1980s. An experimental magazine based on cinema named Kino Eye and a literary Potito Shubash was also initiated by Nirjhar at that period. The same year he formed a design concern named System Design & Ideas.
In 1994 Nirjhar formed his architecture firm SYSTEM Architects, which came up with varieties of architectural and interior projects in next two decades including many commercial, residential, industrial and restaurant projects. His theme based works with contemporary thoughts in many of his projects gave him acclamation around the architecture zone. In 2001 Nirjhar designed for WE the Restaurant at Hampshire, UK.[3] Nirjhar involved with Architectural & Interior Design of Head Office Complex for British American Tobacco Bangladesh in 2003, which later in 2005 earned him Architect of the year honor from AYA JK Cement Award.[4] The same year Nirjhar completed a restaurant project named VOOT (ghosts in English) in Dhaka which created hype among masses for getting frightened officially. Nirjhar started a trend of naming residential buildings in Bangla like Jethay, Hochhe Hobe & Fera.[5] He started working for a conceptual commercial building for the project entitled ‘ninaKABBO’. The poems of 12 prominent poets of Bangla Literature were used in different faced of the building.[6]
Nirjhar started his film career with short films on different social issues. In 2005 he made a documentary named Tini (The Architect) on the life and work of architect Muzharul Islam, a pioneer of modern architecture in Bangladesh.[7][8][9] After some practices with short films Nirjhar decided to direct a full length feature film.
Aha! the first feature film by Enamul Karim Nirjhar which later earned him National Film Award for best director.[10][11][12] The story of Aha! grew up over a 100 year old house and the characters surrounding it.
A review of The Daily Star wrote, "The USP of Aha! is its treatment. Nirjhar's directorial compositions maintain the 'language of cinema', which a lot of Bangladeshi filmmakers miss."[13]
The cast of the film includes Humayun Faridi, Tariq Anam Khan, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Shathi Yasmin, Ferdaus and Khaled Khan. Songs used in the film are written by Nirjhar himself and music composed by Indian music director Debojyoti Mishra.
Aha! won National Film Award 2007 in four categories including best director, best female singer, best cinematography and best editing. The film was viewed in many international film festivals in Cairo, Dubai, Munich. It also got the National Nomination from Bangladesh for the 81st Academy Awards.
In 2009 Nirjhar directed his second feature film Nomuna (The Example). The film is yet to be released due to some objections from censor board of Bangladesh.[14] Apart from directing, Nirjhar also wrote the story, script and songs for Nomuna.[15] As the director put it, his latest project was "more ambitious," and he "tried to overcome limitations previously encountered" in his last film. Debojyoti Mishra, who did the soundtrack of Nirjhar’s previous film Aha!, is the music director of Nomuna. The film follows an incident of a child being shot. Death of children, though appalling, becomes a reality in a dystopian world.[16]
Nirjhar’s other fields of interest include photography, lyrics and story writing, painting, graphic illustration and many more. Photography has always been a passion for Nirjhar as he won KODAK FIAP National Award for Photography in 1993. He also wrote lyrics for his own films Aha!, Nomuna and also for an Indian bangla movie named Shukno Lanka.[17] Nirjhar had many exhibitions over the years since his first solo exhibition in Rajshahi in 1978.