Entertainment
World premiere of ‘Mujib Amar Pita’ held
The world premiere of ‘Mujib Amar Pita’ (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is my father) was held at Bombay Theatre Hall in Queens of New York City on Sunday (April 8).
The animated film, based on the life and works of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of the nation, was screened abroad for the first time after its release in Bangladesh.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division made the animation film to spread the heroic and successful story of Bangabandhu to the new generation across the globe.
Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque was present at the programme as the chief guest while state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak was present as the special guest.
Lawmakers Md Nurul Amin, Aparajita Haque, and Nahid Izhar Khan were also present.
Bangladesh Consul General in New York Dr. Mohammad Monirul Islam,moderated the function while Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations Ambassador Rabab Fatima, and Managing Director of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Bikarno Kumar Ghose were also present.
Sohel Mohammad Rana directed the film which will later be screened in various cities in the United States, said the ICT Division.
Tagore’s 161st birth anniversary celebrated with in-person events after 2 years
Different government and private cultural organisations organized cultural programmes, discussions and awards ceremonies across the country on Sunday to celebrate the 161st birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagor.
These events marked the glorious return of in-person celebrations of the 'Biswa Kabi's birth anniversary, after being virtually shelved for the last two years due to the global pandemic of COVID-19.
The Ministry of Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with Kushtia district administration, organised a programme at Rabindra Kuthibari in Shilaidaha, Kushtia on Sunday afternoon, which was joined by Jatiya Sangsad speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury as chief guest.
Chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on the Ministry of Cultural Affairs Simin Hossain Rimi was present as special guest at the programme, which was presided over by State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid.
The artistes of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA), led by eminent Rabindra exponent Rezwana Chowdhury Bannya, performed the national anthem at the event.
"Every criteria of Bengali emotions - happiness and sorrow, love and separation, joy and pain, all of these are impacted by the majestic creations of Rabindranath Tagore. He was deeply fascinated by the scenic beauty of Bangladesh, thus he composed "Amar Sonar Bangla" which was later selected as our National Anthem by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman," Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury said at the event.
State Minister for Culture KM Khalid said, "Rabindranath Tagore stayed in this historic Kuthibari in Shilaidaha in between 1891 to 1901, and crafted many of his iconic literary works - including the beginning of his Nobel Prize winning literature 'Gitanjali.' He has climbed the golden peak of success in all branches of poetry, stories, novels, essays, articles, plays, children's literature, biographies, music and more, which made him significantly unique and everlasting. Becoming the first Bengali Nobel Prize winner in literature, he has glorified Bengali language, Bengali literature and Bangladesh as well."
Marking the occasion, BSA organised a discussion session and arranged a painting exhibition and art camp on Sunday afternoon at the National Art Gallery in Segunbagicha, Dhaka.
The exhibition, which will continue till May 22, is showcasing reproductions of Tagore’s paintings and paintings portraying him, displaying 124 artworks in total. Among the displayed artworks, 45 are reproductions of Tagore’s paintings while 79 paintings are made on him.
'Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert' held at MSG in association with Walton
The "Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert" was held Friday at the Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York, USA.
The Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority organised the grand musical concert in association with Walton.
Also read: 'Golden Jubilee Bangladesh Concert' held at Madison Square Garden in New York
The concert was held to pay tribute to the Concert for Bangladesh, organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar at MSG on August 1, 1971, and celebrate the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence.
Key places, including Times Square, were decorated with billboards, banners and festoons with the logos of Walton and other sponsoring organisations.
New ‘Doctor Who’ star is ‘Sex Education’ actor Ncuti Gatwa
Ncuti Gatwa will take the mantle from Jodie Whittaker on “Doctor Who,” the BBC announced Sunday, ending speculation over the iconic Time Lord’s next regeneration.
“Sometimes talent walks through the door and it’s so bright and bold and brilliant, I just stand back in awe and thank my lucky stars,” returning showrunner Russell T Davies said in the broadcaster’s release. “Ncuti dazzled us, seized hold of the Doctor and owned those TARDIS keys in seconds.”
Also read:He said, she said: Accounts from Depp and Heard rarely match
Gatwa, whose first name is pronounced ’SHOO-tee, currently stars in Netflix’s high school comedy-drama “Sex Education” as the effervescent Eric Effiong, who is openly gay but from a highly religious family.
The Rwanda-born, Scotland-raised Gatwa, 29, will be the first Black actor to helm the quintessential British sci-fi show, but he won’t be the first Black Doctor — Jo Martin has played “Fugitive Doctor” in several episodes.
Whittaker became the 13th Doctor — and the first woman to play the central galaxy-hopping, extraterrestrial Time Lord who regenerates into new bodies — in 2017, when she took over from Peter Capaldi. Her last episode of “Doctor Who” is expected to air later this year.
The original run of “Doctor Who” spanned 1963 to 1989. Since the show was revived in 2005, the Doctor has been played by Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant and Matt Smith, in addition to Capaldi and Whittaker. Other stars, like Karen Gillan and Billie Piper, have made their names on the show as the Doctor’s “companion.”
“This role and show means so much to so many around the world, including myself, and each one of my incredibly talented predecessors has handled that unique responsibility and privilege with the utmost care. I will endeavor my utmost to do the same,” the release quoted Gatwa — who described his emotions as “a mix of deeply honored, beyond excited and of course a little bit scared” — as saying.
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In addition to seeing the start of Gatwa’s tenure, next year also marks Davies’ return to “Doctor Who” after more than a decade’s absence.
“Russell T Davies is almost as iconic as the Doctor himself and being able to work with him is a dream come true,” Gatwa said.
The writer and producer ran the reboot until 2009, and has worked on shows like “A Very English Scandal” and “It’s A Sin” in the interim. He promises a “spectacular” 2023.
“Unlike the Doctor, I may only have one heart but I am giving it all to this show,” Gatwa added.
Fahmida Nabi, Samina Salam bring new song on Mother’s Day 2022
Pouring heartfelt tribute to all the mothers, a special song titled ‘Ma’ by eminent singer Fahmida Nabi has been released on Sunday.
The song is written by Samina Salam, and composed by popular music director Foad Nasser Babu.
Also read: Mother’s Day returns with happiness, celebrations after two deadly pandemic years
A music video of this song has also been released, featuring veteran actress Dilara Zaman, actress Sallha Khanam Nadia and child artiste Affa Anjum.
Fahmida Nabi has sung about her mother before and specifying this song she said, “The word “Ma” is a short word, but the impact of mothers in our lives is uncountable and unimaginable. I feel honoured and lucky to voice this beautiful track and hopefully, this song will mesmerize the audiences.”
Samina Salam said, “I wrote the song after the passing of my mother, who was my universe. I had a lot to say which I could not express to anyone, thus I wrote this song to express those unspoken verses.”
Eminent actress Dilara Zaman also shared her emotional experience regarding the track, saying: “This song is pretty special for me, both as an artist and a mother. As sweet as the word “Ma” is, its meaning is incredibly deep and impactful. A girl has written and composed a song about her mother, and this is the first time in my life I got the opportunity to play the role of mother in the music video of that song, which is very special to me.”
Also read: 2022 Happy Mother’s Day: Five Athletes Who Make a Big Comeback After Becoming Mothers
Created by Alamgir Hossain, the music video of the song has been released and is now available on Samina's Creative World YouTube channel.
He said, she said: Accounts from Depp and Heard rarely match
There’s not much room for middle ground in the testimony thus far from Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in Depp’s libel suit against his ex-wife.
One of them is lying.
Heard has not yet finished telling the jury her side of things. Her testimony will continue May 16 once the trial — which has already stretched on for four weeks — resumes after a one-week break. Then she will face what one can safely assume will be an aggressive cross-examination in a case where both sides have employed scorched-earth tactics going back years to when the suit was first filed.
Depp is suing Heard in Virginia for libel over an op-ed she wrote in December 2018 in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The article doesn’t mention Depp by name, but his lawyers say the article defames him nevertheless because it’s a clear reference to the highly publicized allegations Heard made when she filed for divorce in 2016 and obtained a temporary restraining order against him.
Depp says he never physically abused Heard, while Heard says she was assaulted on more than a dozen occasions.
Heard says the first time Depp ever struck her was in 2013, when she made the mistake of laughing at one of his tattoos. Heard said there was an older tattoo she couldn’t make out, and Depp told her it said “Wino.”
In fact, it used to say “Winona Forever,” a tattoo that Depp got when he was dating actor Winona Ryder. He had it altered to “Wino Forever” when they broke up.
Heard said she laughed, and Depp responded by slapping her. Thinking the slap must be a joke, she laughed. Depp responded by slapping her twice more, with the third slap knocking Heard off balance.
“It was so stupid, so insignificant,” Heard told the jury. “I thought it must be a joke.”
Depp, while he was on the stand, flatly denied it occurred.
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“It didn’t happen,” he said. “Why would I take such great offense to someone making fun of a tattoo on my body? That allegation never made any sense to me.”
Both sides say the worst violence occurred in March 2015 in Australia, when Depp was shooting the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.
Heard said Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle — for the first time Thursday she identified a bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon as the offending instrument after she said she saw a photo of the distinctively square bottle — as part of an alcohol-fueled rage. Heard came to Australia after shooting her own film and Depp immediately accused her of sleeping with her co-stars, she said.
Depp, for his part, says he was the victim of the violence. He testified that Heard was irate over efforts by Depp’s lawyers to have her sign a post-nuptial agreement, as well as the fact that Depp wasn’t adhering to pledges of sobriety to Heard’s satisfaction.
He said he escaped the argument by pouring himself a drink, at which point Heard threw a vodka bottle at him. Depp said he responded by pouring another drink, and this time Heard threw another vodka bottle at him that smashed against his hand while it rested on a counter and severed the tip of his middle finger.
Photos of the aftermath show Depp wrote vulgar messages to his wife in blood on the walls of the house. Jurors have also seen contemporaneous text messages Depp sent to others in which he said he cut off his own finger. Depp said he made up that story to protect Heard and avoid police involvement.
Tasnia Farin to make silver screen debut with Atanu Ghosh's film
Television actress Tasnia Farin is set to make her silver screen debut.
Farin posted on her verified Facebook page that her first film "Aro Ek Prithibi" (Yet Another World) will be directed by renowned Indian filmmaker Atanu Ghosh.
After watching Farin in Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's web series "Ladies and Gentlemen," Atanu decided to cast her for his tenth film.
The film stars Farin, Kaushik Ganguly, Anindita Basu, and Saheb Bhattacharya as the leads and includes actors from the UK, Syria, Africa and South Korea.
Also Read: 'Rickshaw Girl' to premiere in New York on May 5
Aro Ek Prithibi's plot revolves around four homeless people, looking for shelter.
It explores the world of Pratiksha, to be played by Farin, who is desperately searching for a man lost in London.
Pratiksha looks for a shelter that has eluded her since she was 11. Entrapped in a vortex of lies, deceit, and danger, she traverses from one world to the other. She meets an intriguing and mysterious Ayesha, an unpredictable bohemian Srikanta Munshi, and a rashly impulsive Aritro Chatterjee.
The entire film will be shot in London and the shooting will begin on May 20.
Heard takes stand, accuses Depp of violent sexual assault
Actor Amber Heard tearfully told jurors Thursday that Johnny Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle in an alcohol-fueled rage.
The March 2015 incident in Australia, where Depp was filming the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, is sharply disputed and has been a focal point of the four-week civil trial in Fairfax, Virginia.
The night ended with the tip of Depp’s middle finger cut off, and him writing vulgar messages in blood on the walls of the house. Depp denies assaulting her in any way and says his finger was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him; Heard said she’d taken sleeping pills after she was attacked and was not awake when the finger was severed.
Also read:Depp trial: Psychologist testifies actor assaulted Heard
The graphic description of the sexual assault left Heard fighting for her composure as she described it to jurors. She said Depp had been angry as soon as she arrived in Australia, roughly a month after the couple had married in February 2015.
He was accusing her of sleeping with co-stars in her movies, including Billy Bob Thornton and Eddie Redmayne, with whom she’d just shot the film “The Danish Girl” — accusations she denied.
The fight escalated to the point where he threw her into a ping-pong table, breaking it, Heard testified. He ripped off her nightgown, and Heard said she was naked and exposed as she was assaulted.
“I couldn’t get up. I thought he was punching me,” she said. “I could just feel this pressure on my pubic bone.”
She thought he was assaulting her with her fist, but later figured out that she was being assaulted with a bottle, and realized that there had been numerous bottles broken in the fight.
“I looked around and saw so much broken glass. I just remember thinking, ‘Please God, please don’t be broken,’” she said.
Heard described bizarre details in the aftermath of the attack, including seeing her shredded burgundy nightgown used to wrap a raw steak that had been left out. She said that when Depp’s security team finally arrived to tend to his severed finger, Depp was still trying to leave vulgar messages for her, but was trying to write them by urinating on the wall.
Much of the trial testimony has been repetitive of a civil suit Depp filed against a British newspaper. A judge there ruled against Depp in 2020, finding that Heard had in fact been assaulted multiple times by Depp. But the sexual assault allegations described by Heard on Thursday were not publicly aired in the U.K trial.
Depp is suing Heard in Virginia for libel over an op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers say he was defamed by the 2018 article even though it never mentioned his name.
Earlier in her testimony Thursday, Heard testified that Depp surrounded himself with an entourage of enablers to shield him from the consequences of his drug and alcohol use.
She described an incident that has already come up at trial, a May 2014 plane ride from Boston to Los Angeles. According to Heard, Depp was jealous and irate that she was making a movie with actor James Franco that included a kissing scene.
“He hated, hated James Franco,” she said.
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As soon as Depp stepped into the private plane, he began berating her, she said. She got up and walked away, but Depp followed her. At one point, he slapped her, Heard testified. Later, she said, he kicked her, and not one person on board intervened on her behalf.
“I felt this boot in my back,” she said. “I fell to the floor. And no one said anything. No one did anything. You could have heard a pin drop. I just remember feeling so embarrassed.”
Depp, who testified earlier in the trial, described the incident differently. He denied that he’d drank excessively before getting on the plane, and said Heard initiated an argument and pursued him until he felt compelled to hide in a bathroom.
But jurors heard a recording Heard made toward the end of the incident, in which it sounds like Depp is howling and babbling incoherently. And the jury has seen a text message Depp sent his friend Paul Bettany shortly after the flight, in which he says he’s going to “properly stop the booze thing” because the flight got “ugly.” He also texted Bettany saying, “I’m admittedly too f——- in the head to spray my rage at the one I love for little reason as well.”
Heard has testified that she was physically and sexually assaulted on multiple occasions by Depp, typically when he was drunk or high on drugs. Depp has denied ever hitting her, but Heard’s lawyers have said his denials lack credibility in part because he can’t remember what he’s done when he blacks out.
Depp has said Heard greatly exaggerates his drinking, and that he tolerates his liquor well. Friends, family and employees of Depp have taken the stand and backed up his contention.
But Heard said that’s part of the problem: She said Depp has a team around him that cleans him up when he gets sick, and enables him to go about his business without acknowledging the consequences of his drinking.
Concert to celebrate 50 yrs of Bangladesh independence in NY on Friday
World famous Rock band Scorpions and Bangladeshi global-band Chirkutt are set to perform a concert to celebrate Bangladesh’s 50 years of independence at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday.
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Oyshee's 'Garir Mechanic' springs a surprise
Bangladeshi singer Oyshee Fatima Tuz Zahra’s new music video ‘Garir Mechanic’ was released on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr with a surprise for the audience.
Afghan-origin Bollywood actress Warina Hussain has, for the first time, synched her lips with a Bangla song in this music video.
Also read:12 years in the making: Rockstar James to launch new song on Eid-ul-Fitr eve
The song was written and composed by Kaushik Hossain Taposh and the music video was produced and styled by Farzana Munni. Moreover, Bollywood director Adil Sheikh has directed the music video under the banner of Taposh and Munni’s production company TM Records.
The music video was shot in Mumbai and was recently published in TM Record’s own Facebook page and Youtube Channel.