Centenary of Bengali cinema to be celebrated in Dubai

The centenary of Bengali cinema will be celebrated through a musical event at the 'Bongo Probashi Milap 2018' in Dubai on November 30, 2018, Bengali film superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee said.

The musical event will be presented by artistes from the Bengali entertainmeent industry and is "aimed at showcasing the contemporay best of Bengal," he said yesterday.

Chatterjee said Punjabi soundtracks have become the rage for rhythm, pace and beats in the country and globally though many did not understand the lyrics. Bengali music should strive to get that kind of popularity among the non-Bengali speaking people.

"We must ponder how to make Bengali music equally popular among a cross-section of Indians. We have everything - from lyrics to foot-tapping rhythm - we have such a rich reserve of different genres of music with which people can easily connect. We have to take Bengali music to the world," Chatterjee said adding events like the 'Bongo Probashi Milap 2018' can serve the purpose of taking our culture to the diaspora.

Besides Chatterjee, popular radio jockey-actor-emcee Mir, actors Biswanath Basu, Kanchan Mullick, actress Pallavi Chatterjee, Poulami Das and director Kaushik Ganguly have suppported the initiative.

As part of the event, besides hosting the show to commemorate special celebration for '100 years of Bengali Cinema', a film festival showcasing six Bengali feature films and six short films will be held on December 1 and 2.

There will also be a trade exhibition on December 1 and 2, 2018 involving exhibitors from Bengal and UAE to showcase designer apparels, specialty foods and savories, travel and tour options, education opportunities and many more.

"Bongo Probashi Milap 2018 is a celebration of the rich Bengali Art and Culture on a single platform. It is an attempt to create a warm confluence of cinema, music, business, art and culture, handicrafts, fashion and specialty food from Bengal," actress Pallavi Chatterjee said on behalf of the organisers.