Subsequently, Heera translated a few Shakespearean plays, such as Cornelious, which inspired him to write plays for theatre. Among his patha natoks is Khudi Ramer Deshey in 1983 and this marks his career as a playwright. Currently, Heera is one of those few contemporary playwrights to write TV plays regularly.

Heera is now trying to build a bridge between the rural narrative drama form and that of European theatre. He regards this as experimental work to bridge the East and the West. He says: 'This type of experiment is not easy. First of all, a large number of my colleagues and teachers as well as urban people are greatly influenced by the European theatre concept. Moreover I have not yet mastered the scattered rural art form, which is very important for a successful blending.'

After the successful introduction of package drama in the electronic medium, like a few other young playwrights he has also earned popularity. His mega-serial Bajpakkhi is now being aired on the ATN Bangla channel.

So far, Mannan Heera has written 10 stage plays. Of these, his own theatrical group Aranyak has produced four and several other groups have produced the rest. His stage plays, Mayur Shinghashon, a political satire, produced by Aranyak and Bhager Manush, a historical play, produced by Somoy Shankskritik Dal have won acclaim and popularity.

The 40-patha natok that Heera has written are basically against class struggle. His stage plays also have the same theme. In his words: 'I believe that drama is not for mere entertainment. It can be used as a sharp weapon against the class struggle.'

Comparing his work with that of Mamunur Rashid, the well-known theatre personality, he maintains, 'I have the same concept and I have learned many things on drama from him. However, our style is totally different. In the case of stage plays, I am more narrative. And my plays have more of a political underpinning.'

As a playwright Manna Heera has won awards like BACHSAS Award, Sadot Ali Award of the Bangla Academy and Zakaria Smrity Padak of the group Theatre.

Heera's favourite stage playwrights are William Shakespeare, Rabindranath Tagore, George Bernard Shaw, Bertolt Brecht, Utpal Datt, Mamunur Rashid and Selim Al Deen.

Outlining his major concerns, Heera says, 'The introduction of the package drama on television is a landmark. However, the commercial mindset of the producers is largely responsible for the poor quality of the TV plays. I consider this phenomenon a crisis.' Another of Heera's worries is the lack of autonomy of directors and playwrights. In his view: 'The producers force us to cast models and winners of beauty pageants in the plays. I know that some of the models are doing well. But I think the voice of the theatre activists needs to be heard and greater freedom given to them.'

Mannan Heera is very optimistic about the new talent in theatre. He says: 'To some extent the younger generation favours the short cuts to success. However, the talented and dedicated theatre activists are doing better. I think that if they continue to keep in touch with theatre they will take our drama a long way ahead.'