Lal Mia - Promotion of Bengali Culture

Promotion of Bengali Culture

Lal Mia had been immensely close to Rabindranath Tagore, the man described as the Shakespeare of Bengali Literature and the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize. Such was the level of their relationship, the great poet treated Lal Mia as his own nephew and gave him the nickname Korli Krishna.

Lal Mia also promoted folksinger Abbas Uddin by arranging several small concerts for him in Faridpur and other districts, introduced renowned Sufi writer Motahar Hossain to Rabindranath Tagore and the elite of Calcutta and promoted his works in those circles. He supported the endeavours of Kabi Jasimuddin and Kazi Nazrul Islam, and also wrote two books of spiritual poems himself. He had also been unanimously elected President of the Writer's Guild of Pakistan in 1961 for his immense patronage of literature. He also organized the first Memorial Conference on Rabindranath Tagore across India after the death of the great poet. He also had a volume of the Quran written in letters of gold on parchment.

Lal Mia also heavily promoted the Bengali film industry in its early days and was the first president of Bengal Motion Pictures. He also hosted a session of this Committee at Moyez Manzil palace in 1934 December which was attended by Prithvi Raj kapoor, Promothesh Borua, Leela desai, Kanon Devi, and many others Stalwarts of Indian Cinema including Producers and Directors as well such as B N Sarkar and many more. He set up a cinema hall in Faridpur, the first in Bengal outside Calcutta.

He organised the first All India Literary Conference in 1924 in Faridpur which was chaired by Sharat Chandra Chayttyapadhdhya. Here he actively promoted the incorporation of independence oriented thoughts in all forms of literary works. He also organised a similar conference in 1951 in faridpur which was chaired by Dr. Mohammad Shahidullah. He also organised the first memorial conference for Rabindranath Tagore after his demise in Calcutta and later in Faridpur. He wrote and published poems and essays himself which were compiled into several books later.

Lal Mia also had a special Quran written with gold wires on parchment, which is a rare treasure still retained by the family.

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