His maternal grandfather, Munshi Fazar Ali Dewan, was a lawyer of Calcutta High Court who also practiced at Chittagong.

[1][2] During the course of his secondary and graduate education in Calcutta, he came in contact with reputed artists, like Santosh Chandra, the sarod player, the composer Timir Baran Bhattacharya, and dancers Uday Shankar and Sadhana Bose.

He got his break in 1936, when he was given the chance to perform with danseuse Sadhana Bose in the Rabindra Nritya Natya Kach O Devajani.

[1] Following the outbreak of the World War II, in January 1940, Chowdhury came to Dhaka with his troupe and performed a number of dance dramas.

Bulbul Chowdhury played a crucial role in popularizing dance in East Pakistan's Bengali Muslim society.

After settling in Dhaka following the partition of India, he creatively merged classical dance forms with themes from Muslim history and culture.

He incorporated classical mudras(postures) and rasas(sentiments) into performances like Chand Sultana, Anarkali, and Dream of Hafiz made him pioneer a distinct form of Muslim dance.