The Tale of Faces and Masquerades

It is obvious that a newspaper is not the ideal place for publishing sketched portraits of unknown individuals. However, one artist with an impeccable hand in art and remarkable skills in writing made it one of the most popular features of one of Bangladesh's most circulated newspapers. Masuk Helal is one of Bangladesh's most talented artists who has been portraying the life struggle of the floating people of Dhaka relentlessly through his lively sketch and powerful writing since 2006. Slum dwellers living in wretched polythene shanties, rickshaw pullers, day labourers, street soothsayers, hawkers, food peddlers all these unnoticed and unheard dwellers of this mechanised megacity have been featured in Masuk's very popular creation called Mukh o Mukhosh (Faces and Masquerades) published continuously in The Daily Prothom Alo for almost 10 years. 

With an impressive portrait and a short story about the person's life and his thoughts, this amazing rendition of Masuk titled Mukh o Mukhosh has revealed the inner soul of our society in a very artistic and comprehensible way. However, it was depressing for the readers that these artworks could not be preserved in a compiled manner as they are published in the daily newspaper which gets little attention after the day passes by.

Then Parijat Prokashani came forward to preserve these iconic stories of Dhaka and its people by publishing an epic book with Masuk's sketches and stories. This book titled 'Bachhai Mukh o Mukhosh' (Faces and Masquerades Selections) includes the selected sketches and stories of Masuk that has been published in the Daily Prothom Alo in different times. 

Started in 2006, Masuk has gathered hundreds of stories and drawn portraits of impoverished Dhakaites. It was the legendary artist Qayyum Chowdhury who selected the sketches for this book just before his demise. Another legendary artist Rafiqun Nabi's foreword on the book has depicted the book's unique features excellently.

The book contains around seventy sketches with stories. The titles of the stories are so attractive that a reader who once has read the title will be compelled to read the full story. And, with Masuk's unique, creative writing style, the strange stories from some of the very typical but unknown faces of our very familiar city generates an insightful view among the readers about the eternal struggles of human life. The alignment of the stories and the sketches are so intelligently done that while reading the story and looking at the sketches the reader will have that illusion that the portraits, themselves, are telling their stories through the magical pen and pencil of Masuk.  

Anisul Hoque, renowned writer and associate editor of Prothom Alo commented, “Masuk Helal is an amazing portrait artist. However, his task is more than a photographer; he actually reveals the inner picture of a human mind.” In fact, while featuring deprived and oppressed people of our country, Masuk has actually depicted the true picture of Bangladesh and its people. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to discover Bangladesh and its society through an artistic and human angle. Launched in this year's Ekushay Book Fair, this book can be obtained at only 500 Tk from any outlet of Parijat Prokashani.