India-B’desh to produce documentary on 1971 war

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu has expressed cooperation to the neighbouring country Bangladesh and agreed to on a range of issues. While discussing with his Bangladeshi counterpart Hasanul HaqInu and his delegation at the national Capital on Wednesday, both ministers agreed to jointly produce a documentary on the 1971 War of Independence of Bangladesh.

In this context, Naidu stated that the archival material available with Films Division, DD and other media units would be optimally utilised. The proposed documentary would commemorate the 50th year of Bangladesh Independence in 2021. The minister also agreed to the proposal of Hasanul HaqInu to facilitate the production of the mega movie by Bangladesh to mark the 100th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020.

Both sides also agreed to jointly workout a proposal for a joint AV co-production agreement between the two countries. It was also agreed to organize Film Festival of India in Bangladesh and a Bangladesh Film Festival in India. 

The Bangladesh Minister also agreed to the request of Naidu to provide the celluloid version of the film Devdas directed by Pramatesh Barua, the Bengali version produced in 1935. Bangladesh had earlier provided the DVD version of the film to NFAI. Regarding the facilitation of Free Film Trade between the two countries, Naidu mentioned that Bangladesh could consider relaxing the legal provisions which restricted the number of Indian films in that country.

The easing of restrictions would have a positive impact on the local film industry. The minister also offered to train the young film makers and entrepreneurs from Bangladesh at the Indian Film and Training Institutes.  He also mentioned that collaborative measures would be initiated between NFDC and Bangladesh Film Development Corporation to promote joint production of films and also between NFAI and Bangladesh Film Archives for digitization and archiving.

The ministers during their deliberations also agreed to promote capacity building and training workshops for media persons, exchange program for officers associated with Information and Broadcasting and exchange of programs between DD and its counterpart in Bangladesh.

Stating that information dissemination is critical to counter terrorism which is a common issue plaguing both India and Bangladesh, the government of India also conveyed to his Bangladesh counterpart that AIR would be launching an exclusive service for Bangladesh and Bengali diaspora titled “Akashvani Maitree” on August 23, 2016.

President Pranab Mukherjee will be launching the channel which would act as a bridge of amity between the two countries.