Sayeed Ahmed

Ahmed was born on 1 January 1931 at Islampur in Old Dhaka in the-then Bengal Presidency in British India.[3] His mother was Jamila Khatun.[4] His father, Mirza F Mohammad, was the owner of a commercial theatre, Lion Theatre, at Islampur.[5] Ahmed had three elder brothers – Nasir Ahmed, radio personality and journalist Nazir Ahmed and painter Hamidur Rahman.[5] Ahmed studied at Dhaka Collegiate School.[5] He completed his bachelor's in international studies from the University of Dhaka.[4] He later studied for his master's at the London School of Economics in 1954.[5] In 1956, Ahmed moved back to Lahore and joined the public service.[5]

Ahmed, along with Shamsur Rahman and Hasan Hafizur Rahman, compose and wrote radio plays in the early 1950s.[5] He played sitar in BBC and acted on stage in London and New York.[5][6] He was the sitarist during the Europe tour of Uday Shankar.[5]

Ahmed served as the secretary of Ministry of Youth and Sports and the director general of Bangladesh Television.[5] He served as guest lecturer in Georgetown University, and other academies in Brazil, China, France, Germany, The Netherlands, India, Japan, Malaysia and Russia.[5]

Ahmed was married to Parvin Ahmed.[4] He had two brothers - journalist Nazir Ahmed and sculptor Hamidur Rahman.[7]

• Kalbela (originally written as The Thing in English; 1962)[5]
• Milepost (1965)
• Trishnay (1968)
• Ek Din Protidin (1974)
• Shesh Nawab (1988)

Ahmed's plays was translated into French, German, Italian, Urdu and Punjabi and were staged by different troupes in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and United States.[5] He created "Bishwa Natok", a program in Bangladesh Television, where he introduced and directed plays of international fame.[8]

• Bangla Academy Literary Award (1974)
• Legion of Honour from the French Government (1993)[7]
• Shilpakala Academy Award (2007)[8]
• Ekushey Padak (2010)