Interview: What is the importance of Premchand in the literature of Bangladesh? Read the interview of Professor Safikunnabi Samadi

New Delhi: This week, Prof. who teaches at Rajshahi University of Bangladesh at Sahitya Akademi. Safikunnabi Samadi was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Premchand Fellowship Award. Pro. Samadi has been translating Indian literature into Bengali for a long time and making it available to the readers of Bangladesh. Till now he/she has translated more than 18 books in Indian languages. On this occasion, Sulochana talked to him/her about the situation in Bangladesh and the readers and writers there. Here are the important excerpts from the conversation:

There is a lot of turmoil in Bangladesh at present. How is common life after the change of power?Only political personalities can talk about this well. What I am saying is that whatever is going on right now will not last long, it will be fine. Some changes cause problems to the public and they have also happened. But this time will pass.

Power continues to have an impact on creativity. What was the impact of the previous regimes on the writers of Bangladesh? Is the current government having any impact on the creativity of writers?

Writers do not write based on power. However, sometimes a writer has connections with power. he/she was there then and is there now too. But the writer is independent. As far as impact is concerned, I don’t see it, but it happens that writers go against those in power. We always go in protest, so there is no difference in this now, it is going on the same way. Whatever politics does, it does for power. But the author writes for the public, for humans.

For the progressive writers of Bangladesh, what space is still left for creativity in Bangladesh?

he/she can and does write whatever is on his/her mind. he/she used to write then, he/she writes now, he/she will write in future too.

What is the importance of Premchand in the literature of Bangladesh? Which Indian writers are influenced and read by the people of Bangladesh?

We have been reading Premchand since student life. Most people study in Bengali only, because the people of Bangladesh know very little Hindi. Therefore, Bengali is the only medium to read Premchand. Premchand’s literature was translated into Bengali in West Bengal and also in Bangladesh. Right now I am the only one doing it. Phanishwarnath Renu ji also has readers through translation in Hindi literature, people like him/her there. People know Ismat Chughtai. Among other languages, Mohammed Bashir is also familiar with Malayalam. People here are familiar with many other poets and fiction writers.

A large amount of literature has been written in both the countries of Bangladesh and West Bengal. How do you view Hindi literature or Indian literature in comparison to Bengali literature?

Bengali is a very old literature. In comparison, Hindi literature is a bit new. But many strong literary personalities write here. Like the name just mentioned. Among the writers of modern times are Dharamveer Bharti, Bhisham Sahni. Premchand and Renu are definitely there. Hindi literature has done a lot of good now and will do so in future also.

You also do a lot of translation. What things do you keep in mind while translating? How do you choose a composition?

While choosing a composition, I mostly look at whether the content will connect with people or not. We translate because we want to connect Hindi culture with Bengali culture. Then whatever content can connect, or whatever writers can connect, we translate them. Another thing is that I have more affection in my heart for most of the people who write and connect people. I choose such creations which can communicate and express culture. The work of connecting the Indian subcontinent will be possible only by connecting languages. When I translate, I translate a culture. I believe that this work will gradually take the form of a caravan and all the cultures of this continent will move towards reconciliation.

Which are the Indian writers whose work you wish to get translated?

There are many writers in front of me. There is a novel by Dharamveer Bharti – Gunahon Ka Devta. he/she is in my target for translation. There are some of my friends, I would like to translate their poems also. Just two days ago I went to the National School of Drama, Delhi. There I found a drama by Sanjeev Kapoor, which I was searching for for a long time. Now I will read it and see. If it turns out to be suitable for the readers of Bangladesh, I will translate it also. Recently I translated a play by Asghar Wajahat into Bengali. Now I want to do one of his/her novels, that will probably be my next project. Rahi is Masoom Raza Saheb, who wrote the script of the TV serial Mahabharata. he/she has a novel – Half Village. I have been thinking about its translation for a long time and will have to read it once more to take a final decision. There are many words in Aadha Gaon, we also have to think about what their translation would be in Bengali. But I will definitely do it.