Mishuk Munier’s work and life

The exhibition was opened at Dhaka Art Centre, 5:00 pm on 22 July, 2012. Professor Abdul Momin Chowdhury lighted the candles and Professor Anisuzzaman inaugurated the show. M Shah Alam Sarwar, Managing Director and CEO of Trust Bank Limited, was presented as a special guest. The exhibition remained open till 31 July, everyday from 3:00 to 8:00 pm. On the closing day, at 3:00 pm, friends and relatives remembered Mishuk Munier. Muhammad Jahangir facilitated the discussion, while Mustafa Monwar graced the session as the chair.

His full name was Ashfaque Munier. Everybody knew him as Mishuk. He was the second son of Shaheed Professor Munier Chowdhury and well-known drama artiste Lily Chowdhury.

 
It’s almost a year since Mishuk died in a road accident. He was not yet 52 years old.

With a head full of greying hair, uncannily like Einstein, and a face ready to burst into laughter, Mishuk lived every moment of life with fullness. His compassionate but penetrating gaze had the curiosity of a child, touching every person he met, seeking to uncover the mystery of everything he saw.

He loved life and the people around him deeply. He lived and worked with deep devotion and commitment, following his own whims and desires, his own bohemian ways.

Mishuk Munier was talented and versatile in many fields. He was a photographer, a cinematographer, a teacher of journalism, a pioneer and guru of broadcast journalism in Bangladesh, a fan of new media technology and a passionate amateur cook. He was very dear to all who knew and loved him, a huge charismatic presence to all who worked with him.

His colleagues will remember his invaluable contribution to the news section of three different TV channels, one in North America. Mishuk was responsible for developing the audiovisual department in the National Museum. He designed and developed the ‘Media Center’ project introducing photo journalism, video journalism and computer-based publishing in the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism in The University of Dhaka.

Mishuk worked behind the camera, both nationally and internationally, in the making of documentary films, alternate feature films, telefilms and drama, puppet movies and television news. He identified himself primarily as a ‘cameraman’.

He grew up taking photographs—photographs of his friends and family, of the construction of Aparajeyo Bangla, of artist S M Sultan and his works, of the DU Campus alive with protests and marches.

For a number of months after his death last year, his wife Manjuly Kazi and son Shuhrid, both of whom live in Toronto, had been scanning thousands of mouldy negatives of pictures that Mishuk had taken. Mishuk’s friend Ali Morshed Noton in Dhaka has diligently restored them. These photographs, along with others, Mishuk’s glasses, his books, his camera, his spoons and his spatula... are presented in this exhibition.

The journey of cinematographer Mishuk Munier and director Tareque Masud had started with their documentary on S M Sultan, Adom Surat. The lives of these two talented persons were cut short by the road accident last year. Their assistants Motahar Hossain Wasim and Jamal Hossain and their driver Md. Mustafijur Rahman died as well.