“The journey of my life is a mixed media” -- Khalid Mahmood Mithu

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• published: 10 Mar 2016
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Renowned artist and national award-winning filmmaker Khalid Mahmood Mithu’s untimely demise through an unusual accident left us in an ocean of grief. People from all walks of life joined in his last adieu at Shaheed Minar, Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University (FFA, DU), Bangladesh Film Development Corporation and Channel i office premises to pay tributes to the celebrated personality on March 9. The creative gem was laid to eternal rest at Banani Graveyard on the day. Four months back, this correspondent went to his residence to interview all the family members of Mithu ahead of three generation’s (renowned artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma, her mother Sarat Mala Chakma and her daughter Shiropa Purna) group art exhibition at Athena Gallery of Fine Arts. At that time, Khalid Mahmood Mithu, in an exclusive interview, shared his artistic journey, conscience, vision and diverse facets and expressions of arts. Excerpts: “The journey of my life is a mixed media. I lost my father when I was only four -and- a- half. I grew up at several of my uncle and aunt’s families with new beds, new schools and new guardians. They adored me a lot. I woke up in the morning with songs of Manna Dey, Hemanta Mukherjee and Rabindra Sangeet on long play. My mother Begum Momtaz Hossain was a school teacher and a popular writer too. The first successful mega serial “Shokal Sandhya” was written by my mother in the '80s. The entire Dhaka city would turn empty as the spectators sat in front of BTV to watch it. Later, she wrote “Shuktara” that also gained great popularity. “At one point I started living with my uncle Alamgir Kabir, the famous filmmaker. I studied in the storeroom of my uncle. The ambience was like I was circled with 35mm, 60m film cameras and editorial panel. “I love to study science, while art lies embedded in my heart. At one point I started reading books especially on biographies of great personalities. I was inspired by them and imagined myself in the life sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Alva Edison, Satyajit Ray and others. I discovered my passion, and was determined to learn fine art and filmmaking. My experiences taught me both the happiness and the harsh reality of life. I had a good friendship with the helping hands and the caretakers of the houses. While I was in seventh or eighth grade, I ventured on to outdoor photography. I saw the life of the labourers at the suburb of Dhaka with their struggles and perspiration. The lens has taught me many things. While portraying paintings, I thought of the presentation rather than philosophy. I attached sand, paper and many things to my canvases to develop my mixed media. When I made a painting with the title ‘The Last Creation’, everyone thought I had stopped painting…But no. I actually tried to portray the last painting with the waste art materials of Kanak. I thought of making a lively painting with the dead art materials. “During my stay at DAC (Dhaka Art College) (now FFA, DU), I was a popular students’ leader who got elected VP twice and GS once. To remove disparity between the students of Chittagong Charukala and DAC, I initiated a movement to include DAC under the jurisdiction of University of Dhaka. Police sought me at that time as I locked the classroom for three months. I also played a significant role to withdraw duty on the imported colour tubes from UK. For this, I met the-then President. The duty-free educational materials flow is still on in Charukala. I was a medium level student in first year. But from the second year onwards, I secured the best results and bagged the first prize in annual exhibitions completing big-sized watercolours. “Filmmaking, in a true sense, has a long way to go in our country. Bangladesh has found its right place in fine art thanks to the unique efforts of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin. If filmmaking, music, literature and other creative faculties were nurtured just after the independence of Bangladesh, our country would shine in all regards.”