India and Bangladesh To Jointly Produce Documentary On '1971 War'

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday met his counterpart Hasanul Haq Inu, Minister of Information of Bangladesh in New Delhi. During the meeting it was decided that a documentary will be produced on the 1971 War of Independence of Bangladesh.

Naidu conveyed to his Bangladesh counterpart that AIR would be launching an exclusive service for Bangladesh and Bengali diaspora titled ‘Akashvani Maitree’ on 23rd August 2016. President Pranab Mukherjee would be launching the channel which would act as a bridge of amity between the two countries. Naidu further mentioned that the relationship between the two countries would strive to promote the commonality of heritage and culture.

During the discussions, both India and Bangladesh agreed to cooperate on a range of issues. Both Ministers agreed to collaborate 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 utilized.

#Bangladesh Minister of Information Sri Hasanul Haq Inu called on to me.Discussed cooprn areas in information sector pic.twitter.com/hCmdx49vPk

— M Venkaiah Naidu (@MVenkaiahNaidu) 17 August 2016

This documentary proposed to be produced would commemorate the 50th year of Bangladesh Independence in 2021. Naidu also agreed to the proposal of Hasanul Haq Inu 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.