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Move to revive moribund Pakistani
film industry
Jonaid Iqbal in Islamabad
Hard to believe: a movie house is showing the Pushto film Gul Soori Soori Karam (The flower that injures people) in the disturbed area of Swat, more than a year since film hoardings were strapped down and movie houses were barred, and gunmen roamed around to enforce Shariah.
However one swallow does not make a summer. Pakistan had over 1000 cinema houses a decade ago. Now, one could hardly say with certainty that we have more than 150. In fact cinema houses have given way to modern shopping complexes.
Hard to believe, again, but the federal capital Islamabad has no cinema house now. Once upon a time it could boast of at least two. One was torched by a horde of moulvis about a decade ago. The big Nafdec cinema auditorium was closed down several years ago. In good days it used to screen latest Hollywood movies.
By this time it could ill afford the expense to keep it open, and many cinegoers could afford to purchase DVD and watching cinema at home.
Pakistani film centre at Lahore got the name of Bollywood as if to proclaim the same glamour as Hollywood (USA) and Bollywood at Mumbai because once it vied with these awesome film production centres in producing good films, perhaps not on the same spectacular scale.
In fact a number of Pakistani films had serious content and many of them were much better in terms of stories, lyrics and taste than majority of those produced at Bollywood, which had a recipe of lewd dances and ugly songs topped by attractive locales in foreign countries. Before 1965 Pakistani films would do big business in India, and in the former Pakistan province, what is now Bangladesh.
Some critics may have the temptation to hypothesise the decline of Pakistani cinema to the religious agenda followed by former General-President Zia ul Haque because the State Film Authority (SFA) was closed down during his regime on the report submitted by the late Mahmud Ali (from Sylhet) who then had the portfolio of culture for a brief time. First the SFA was denied finances. Ostensibly it was argued that the organization had been slack in doing what it was set up to do. However, we can perhaps attribute a more cogent reason; more likely, it was done as spite, because the former Prime Minister Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto had established the SFA to finance domestic film production.
Facts are contrary to the hypotheses. At least 1984 was a better year for Pakistani films. The National Film Awards were established that year, One year later, in 1985 the NAFDEC reported that 83 films (Urdu 21; Punjabi 42; Pushto 17; and three Sindhi films) were produced in the country in that year. In fact Pakistani films, screened abroad at centres in major markets in Egypt, England, Ghana, Malaysia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and the UAE, were able to earn, PAR 400 million. President Ziaul Huq died three years later (1988) in a plane crash at Bahawalpur in mysterious circumstances, which have not been unravelled till date.
With the degeneration of Pakistani films cinema houses have disappeared. Today, Pakistani only produces three box office flop films a year because necessary steps had not been taken to keep the cinema houses above water .
Cinema got into trouble because of the policy of protectionism after 1965, if it were not the leaders who played havoc with artistic expression and banned entertainment, as periodical interventions of military rule caused horrors for this industry.
The curse of piracy and failure of cinema and intellectual property organizations to enforce piracy laws wreaked havoc - worst, cable operators show Indian films without any legal consequences or being punished for violating law, the source asserted.
The latest film screened at home in Pakistan as well as in India, Middle East, the U.K. and the USA achieved box office successes.
Recently, the Senate Standing Committee on culture has wakened up to the necessity for the revival of Pakistani film industry.
It has set up a committee to be headed by Chairman Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC) Barrister Malik Shahnawaz Noon while its members will include senior film producers Nadeem Mandiwala, Sajad Gul, actress/producer Samina Pirzada, producer Sohail Khan, senior actor Mustafa Quraishi, Sangeeta, Syed Noor, Nisho and two representatives from the Culture Ministry.
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ARTCELL CELEBRATES ITS TENTH YEAR
Tribute concert at Sheraton today
Mohiuddin Alamgir
Young generation's heartthrob music band Artcell to celebrate its 10th founding anniversary has organised a exclusive live concert at the Winter Garden of Hotel Sheraton at 5:00pm on Friday.
Apart from Artcell, leading band groups Miles, Feedback, Warfaze, Aurthohin, Cryptic Fate, Rockstrata, and X-Factor will present their perform numbers. The organisers said that band groups Power Surge, Reborn and Mechanix will also attend the concert.
Tickets will be available at all the outlets of Fahim Music, American Burger, H2O and Tehari Ghar of Dhanmondi, KFC and Pizza Hut on Bailey Road for Taka 800 each.
Inspired by the Metallica and Dream Theater, the band Artcell was formed in November 1999 with Lincoln De Costa as the main vocal and rhythm guitarist, Khandoker Ershad as the lead guitarist, Saef All Nazi Cezanne in the bass guitar and Sadequl Arefin Shaju on the drums. They occasionally perform Pink Floyd numbers.
With the passing of time, the band moved from its initial metallic and now takes the credit of presenting the 'progressive metal' genre to the local audience, said the band's public relation officer Manjero Raihan.
The band usually carries out experiments with tunes from other metal genres such as grunge and thrash. Artcell's music features strange timing, many tempo and scale changes. Lyrical themes include philosophy, social injustice and hypocrisy targeting the young generation as their main audience.
'We are organising this concert as a part of our acknowledgment to the musicians for being the inspiration to our music in last ten years,' said Saef All Nazi Cezanne.
The band had released nine mixed albums and two studio albums, 'Onno Shomoy' (2002) and
'Aniket Prantor' (2006), which received wide appreciation.
The band has also been engaged in various awareness activities in last few years. The remarkable concerts are the 'Stand up speak out: A concert against poverty and inequality' under CAMPE (Campaign for Popular Education), 'International Coastal Cleanup Day 2009' organised by Ocean Conservancy, 'Kewkradong Bangladesh' and the concert for 'World Hepatitis Day 2008'.
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Ibsen fest, Selim Al-Din art competition begin in Nov
Rifat Munim
Centre for Asian Theatre will organise the International Ibsen Seminar and Theatre Festival in Dhaka from November 12 to November 22.
As a part of the 11-day programme, the organisers will arrange an art exhibition based on eminent playwright late Selim Al-Din's life and his plays from November 14, the organisers told media at a press conference at the National Press Club on Monday.
Entries are invited from the students of local art institutions and the last date for submitting the artworks focusing on various aspects of Selim Al-Din's life or images from his plays is November 5, said the organisers.
Entries submitted in the competition will be selected for an art exhibition to begin on November 14 and continue till November 23.
The organisers expect at least 200 entries and half of the sale proceeds will go to Selim Al-Din Foundation.
The first prize carries a cash award of Taka 50 thousand, the second Taka 30 thousand and the third prize will include a cash of Taka 20 thousand.
The IITF programme coordinator professor Shafi Ahmed, noted theatre personality Nasiruddin Yousuff, Selim Al-Din Art Exhibition convenor Shahjahan Ahmed Bikash, CAT secretary general Mosharraf Hossain Tutul and noted actor and CAT executive member Rokeya Rafiq Baby spoke at the Meet the Press programme.
The organisers also informed the media that noted professors and researchers from home and abroad will participate in the fourth IITF in Bangladesh.
The scholars will present research papers in the three-day seminar titled 'Ibsen through new eyes: freedom and religion', they added.
Theatre groups from Egypt, Iran, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the host Bangladesh will stage 21 plays written by Henrik Ibsen. Apart from these, the organisers will also arrange film shows on Ibsen's life and a special workshop titled 'Ibsen Lab'..
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Cartoon, photo show at Shilpakala
Cultural Correspondent
An eight-day exhibition of installation art, news photographs and cartoons began at the Jatiya Chitrashala Plaza of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on October 18.
Eminent journalist ABM Musa inaugurated the show which includes installation art 'Samaychitra' by Ashok Karmaker, and selected photographs and cartoons published in the Bangla daily Prothon Alo in last 10 years.
The exhibition, organised by the Bangla daily Prothom Alo as part the newspaper's 10th founding anniversary celebration, will remain open from 12:00pm to 8:00pm till October 24.
A total of 135 photographs of significant events like fire outbreak, hartal, political turbulence and natural disasters are on display.
Some 112 selected cartoons of the leading cartoonist Shishir Bhattacharjee published in the newspaper are also put on exhibition.
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Sonu Nigaam performs today
Cultural Correspondent
Popular Indian singer Sonu Niigaam will perform today evening at the Bangabandhu Inter-national Conference Centre.
The singer will arrive Dhaka today will attend the show at 7:30pm, the organiser Fireworks Events said in a press release on Wednesday.
Tickets will be available at ETC Fashion Exclusive in Gulshan, Coffee World in Dhanmondi and also in Fireworks Event in Gulshan.
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Solo painting show of Palash begins at Asiatic Society
Cultural Correspondent
A month-long solo painting exhibition titled 'Of Conflicts and Harmony' by architect Mustapha Khalid Palash will be inaugurated at the Gallery of Fine Arts of Asiatic Society of Bangladesh in Dhaka on October 23.
The information and cultural affairs minister, Abul Kalam Azad, will inaugurate the show as chief guest while Architects Regional Council Asia chairman Mubasshar Hussain will be present as special guest at the inaugural session.
Mubasshar Hussain will also unveil the cover of book 'Of Conflict and Harmony' at the event.
The Bangladesh Uni-versity Grants Commission chairman, Professor Nazrul Islam, and architect Shamsul Wares will also be present in the programme.
The exhibition will remain open from 11:00am to 8:00pm till November 22.
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Universal cancels Blanchett film
Culture Desk
Film studio Universal has cancelled historical drama Indian Summer, which was to star Cate Blanchett.
The decision to scrap the film - due to be shot in India - was mainly down to budgetary constraints, according to trade paper Variety.
Atonement director Joe Wright was to make the movie about the last days of Britain's colonial rule of India.
Both Wright and Blanchett will remain attached to the project for the foreseeable future, Variety added.
Blanchett had been cast as Edna Mountbatten, wife of Lord Mountbatten - the last viceroy of the British Indian Empire who oversaw the country's transition to independence in 1947.
Wright told Variety there had been creative differences between the film's producers and the Indian government.
'We were in between a rock and a hard place,' he said.
'The Indian government wanted us to make less of the love story while the studio wanted us to make more of the love story.'
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Dhaka Art Centre launches studio
Cultural Correspondent
Eminent artists Aminul Islam, Monirul Islam and Rafiqun Nabi jointly inaugurated a studio of the Dhaka Art Centre in Dhanmondi on Sunday.
The studio will provide 60 young artists of the country a drawing space for three months and the artworks will be displayed later, the organisers said.
Artists Jamal Ahmed, Nisar Hossain, Shishir Bhattacharjee, Dhali Al Mamoon, Dilara Begum Joly, art critic Moinuddin Khaled, trustees of Dhaka Art Centre Anis Mukit and Mushtaq Ahmed were, among others, present at the inaugural function.
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