Film personalities of West Bengal and Bangladesh called for joint film ventures at the commercial launch of a Bangladeshi film here on Tuesday.
“At a time when Bengalis are spread all over the world, both Bengals [West Bengal and Bangladesh] should unite to bring fore our common emotion, language and culture…and spread it through films,” acclaimed Bengali film-maker Goutam Ghosh said.
Ma Amar Swarga [My Mother is My Heaven] will be the first commercial Bangladeshi film to be released in India on Friday, organisers claimed. The event was attended by eminent journalist M. J. Akbar, Bengali film actor Prosenjit Chatterjee and members of the Bangladeshi film industry. A book, jointly written by professors of West Bengal’s Burdwan University and Bangladesh’s Dhaka University, based on Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, was also released. December 16 marks the day of victory of Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) over Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan), with the help of the Indian Army.
Mr. Chatterjee said there was considerable demand for an exchange of art, music and films between West Bengal and Bangladesh. “The business pattern [of the Bengali film industry] is changing. Both the Bengals need to widen their film market. The Bengali film industry is undergoing a change and there is a lot of fresh talent coming up. The Bangladeshi film industry is also undergoing a similar change. We should proceed towards a joint film venture which can compete with the Tamil, Telugu film industries,” Mr. Chatterjee said and added that his father Biswajit Chatterjee was the first Indian actor to act in a Bangladeshi film after the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Both Mr. Ghosh and Mr. Chatterjee have been working with Bangladesh from the past one year to facilitate the exchange of films from both sides. Terming the release of the Bangladeshi film as a “fundamental step forward”, Mr. Akbar said change in history was always brought about by culture.
