Guwahati: Maung Paw Tun, a renowned Rakhine novelist who translated the well-known Hindi book Mera Naam Joker by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas into Burmese, passed away on Saturday.
The award winning writer-translator, who was suffering from colon cancer, breathed his last at 9:45 am on August 13 at his residence in Yangon city of Myanmar.
Maung Paw Tun was born Khin Maung Soe on May 14, 1935, in Shwemyetwa village, Manaung township, Rakhine State, British Burma. His parents are Maung Pu and Aye Tha. Maung Paw Tun finished his secondary education there before moving to Yangon for matriculation and college.
In 1973, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history and went to work as a stenographer. Later, he held the position of editor for the periodicals Pen, Cherry, and Cee-bwaa-yay.
In 1958, he made his literary debut with the translation of the Russian short story Seven-Year-Old Girl. At least 30 novels were translated into Burmese by Maung Paw Tun. Revolt on the Nile, his debut book, was released in 1974.
He was given the national Kan-taa-ya San-yay-aing (1997) and Kam-kya-ma Ah-kyin-thaa honours for his translation works (2006). In 2014, he received the Myanmar National Literature Award in recognition of his lifetime accomplishments.
It should be noted that Kam-kya-ma The Hindi novel Mera Naam Joker, which served as the basis for the 1970 blockbuster Hindi film of the same name, was translated into Burmese as Ah-kyin-thaa.
Raj Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Simi Garewal, Kseniya Ryabinkina, Padmini, Manoj Kumar, Dharmendra, Dara Singh, Rajendra Kumar, etc. are among the cast members of the Raj Kapoor-directed movie. With several actors from the Soviet Union, it was partially filmed in Moscow.