India has agreed to provide Bangladesh with all-out support to establish the 'Bangabandhu Film City'.
A technical exchange between Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) and India's National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) took place on Tuesday (Jan 14), ANI reports.
The development came following talks between Information Minister Hasan Mahmud and his Indian counterpart Prakash Javadekar at the India Bangladesh Information and Broadcasting Ministers' Meet 2020 in New Delhi.
MOU FOR CO-PRODUCTION OF BANGABANDHU BIOPIC
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between India's National Film Development Cooperation of India and Film Development Cooperation of Bangladesh for the co-production of a biopic on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
BFDC Managing Director Miz Nuzhat Yashmin and her NFDC counterpart TCA Kalyani signed the MoU on behalf of their respected organizations.
The biopic will be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Benegal and will be released in March 2021 as part of centenary celebrations of Bangabandhu.
On India-Bangladesh Joint Venture Programme to produce the biopic on Bangabandhu, Hasan hoped that production of the film would be completed in scheduled time.
CONTENT-SHARING PROGRAMME
The two ministers also launched the content sharing programme between Bangladesh's state-owned radio public broadcaster, BETAR and All India Radio.
“Bangladesh Betar is now being heard across India while Akashvani, also now could be heard in Bangladesh,” a Bangladesh information ministry statement said.
It said a MoU was signed between the two state-run radios in April 2018 regarding broadcasting programmes of Bangladesh Betar, but it was not implemented so long.
Officials familiar with the development said listeners of both the countries, especially the people in Tripura and West Bengal, would be able to hear Bangladesh Betar’s programmes terrestrially while rest of India through using DTH (Direct to Home) service, reports BSS.
They said the people of Kolkata could now listen to the Bangladesh Betar programmes tuning FM 100.1 megahertz through Akashvani Channel while people of Agartala could hear it tuning FM 101.6 megahertz.
The Betar progarrmes could also be heard in India from 7.30 am to 9.30am and 5.30 pm to 7.30pm through Akashbani apps and DTH as well.
The audience of Akashvani, also known as All India Radio, in Bangladesh could hear the Indian radio programmes tuning FM 108 megahertz.
They said listeners from across the globe would also be able to enjoy Bangladesh Betar’s programmes by downloading www.newsonair.com apps from now on.
Hasan took the initiative to launch the broadcasting of Betar’s programmes by All India Radio in line with the agreement after he assumed the charge of the information ministry.
Delhi: Union Information & Broadcasting Minister, Prakash Javadekar met Bangladesh Information Minister, Muhammad H Mahmud, today. India extended its support to establish a film city in Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/COmIztGj7E
— ANI (@ANI) January 14, 2020
Speaking on the occasion, Hassan recalled India’s contribution to Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War and said that the relations between the two friendly countries now reached a newer height during the tenure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
He wished that the existing bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries would further deepen in the years to come for mutual benefit.
In his remarks, Indian Minister Prakash said that Bangladesh and India have “organic relations” and this bond of friendship would be further strengthened in future as both the countries have a “shared legacy”, reports BSS.
He said more programmes have to be produced especially on environment to create awareness among the people to save lives and nature through joint cooperation.
He said Bangladesh and India have been enjoining excellent bilateral relations which also got momentum during the tenure of the two leaders-Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladesh High Commissioner-in-Charge Rokibul Huq, Director General of Betar, Managing Director of BFDC and senior mission officials accompanied the minister in the meeting.
The Indian minister was accompanied by senior officials of the ministry of information and external affairs.
An open discussion between the delegation members of the two countries was held to discuss various issues mostly focusing on increasing cooperation between media Bangladesh and India.
Hasan, who is now on a 4-day official visit to India, also attended a roundtable discussion at the invitation of Vivekananda International Foundation before joining a dinner hosted by Bangladesh mission in New Delhi.
He will join a dinner to be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in honour of the participants of the prestigious Raisina Dialogue-2020 that began Tuesday.
As many as 700 guests including seven former heads of state and government from across the world have been participating in the two-day event.
The Bangladesh information minister will visit Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad on Thursday. He will leave Hyderabad for Singapore on Friday.
