Asaduzzaman Noor is a Bangladeshi actor, politician and activist. He has been a Jatiya Sangsad member from Nilphamari-2 constituency since 2001 and served as the Cultural Affairs Minister during 2014–2019. Noor worked as an actor in theatre, film and television productions. He is best known for his role as Baker Bhai in the television series Kothao Keu Nei. His other notable television works include Ayomoy, Bohubrihi and Ei Shob Din Ratri. His notable films are Shonkhonil Karagar and Aguner Poroshmoni. In 2018, Noor was awarded the Independence Day Award, the highest civilian state award in Bangladesh, by the Government of Bangladesh.
Noor's acting career began with the theatre. In 1973, he joined the theatre group "Nagorik". He was a receptionist of the paper "Chitraly" at that time and went to take the interview of the prominent actors that time. There he met Aly Zaker, an actor of Nagorik, who asked him to visit the rehearsal of his new team. Later he joined that group. At first, he used to work behind the stage as a prompter. At one point the rehearsal of the drama "Toilo Shonkot" which was written by Rashid Haider was going on, when with only two days remaining until performance day, the leading actor of that drama Abul Hayat got injured. As Noor had learned all the lines in his role as a prompter, Zaker asked Noor to take the part. Following a bit of persuasion from the other cast Noor performed the role and thus began his career as an actor. Noor's first television drama "Rang-er Phanush" was directed by Abdullah al Mamun in 1974. Noor got his break-through in acting during his early days as a Bangladesh Television dramatic artist and has since starred in many television shows and films. In 2018, Noor returned to the stage with his long-term acting partner, Zaker, in a Bengali adaptation of Bertolt Brecht's play The Life of Galileo about the 17th Century polymath Galileo Galilei. The role of Galileo was played by Zaker with Noor playing a number of supporting roles. The play ran for a limited number of performances in Dhaka's Bailey Road.
Politics
Noor came to politics during the period of Ayub Khan in 1962. He was a student and had joined the East Pakistan Students' Union, which was a left-sided organisation. Later he became the chairman of the Nilfamari Mohokuma Shomeetee. In 1966, he was admitted to Dhaka University to study law still a member of the Students' Union. Later he became the cultural secretary of the central committee. He also was the chairman of the Shongskriti Shongshod, a very large cultural organisation of Dhaka University. Noor stayed in the Iqbal Hall which was the centre of student politics during that period. At that time Noor came in contact with the versatile student leaders of that time. Though the followers of different political belief they worked together against the dictatorship of West Pakistan government. At the eve of Bangladesh Liberation War, Noor left Dhaka and came back to Nilphamari District when he received an order from his political party on 8 March 1971. There he helped the then East Pakistan Rifles. He crossed the border during the War of Liberation on 8 April. Noor was a freedom fighter under the Sector-6 and helped to organise the war and took training. He also helped to recruit freedom fighters during the nine-month war period. But following the liberation of Bangladesh he grew more distant with active politics. However, later Noor became active in the 1990 Mass Uprising against the military leader Ershad. In 1996, Noor was asked by the Bangladesh Awami League leader and future Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, to run as an Awami League candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election. However, claiming he was not yet ready, he postponed participation until the subsequent general election in 2001, running in his home-town, Nilphamari. In the 2001 general election Noor was elected as the Member of Parliament for Nilphamari-2, a constituency in the north-west, where he won with 38% of the popular vote. In the subsequent 2008 general election Noor was re-elected, increasing his vote share to 62%. In 2013, his election convoy in Nilphamari was attacked by activists of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, causing the deaths of five people. Noor ran unopposed in the 2014 general election, as the election was boycotted by the opposition alliance. He was elected for a fourth consecutive time in the 2018 general election for Nilphamari-2. In 2014, Noor was appointed to the Cabinet by the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, as Minister for the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He served a full term as Minister but was dropped from the subsequent Cabinet formed in 2019.
Other Activities
Noor is an elocutionist known for his poetry and prose recitation and his oration. He has lent his voice to numerous television shows as a narrator and to advertisements. Noor is the former Vice Chairman at Asiatic Three Sixty and the former Managing Director at Desh Television, but resigned from these posts when assuming his role a Minister. He is also a trustee at the Bangladesh Liberation War Museum.
Noor is married to Shaheen Akhter, a professor of paediatric neurology in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the director of the Institute of Paediatric Neurodisorder and Autism. Together they have a son, Shudeepto, and a daughter, Shuprova. Noor has a sister, Kaosar Afsana, former director of Health, Nutrition and Population at BRAC, Bangladesh and a brother, Ahaduzzaman Mohammad Ali, a retired professor from the University of Dhaka.
