entertainment
Scenic reading of two contemporary German plays in Bangla held in city
Scenic reading of the two contemporary German plays translated into Bangla have been held at the Bangladesh Mohila Samity in the capital.
While welcoming the audience during her inaugural speech on Sunday evening, Dr Kirsten Hackenbroch, Director, Goethe-Institut Bangladesh highlighted the significance of the project titled “Contemporary German drama in South Asian Languages” to the local theatre scene.
This project aims to familiarize contemporary German plays to the South Asian local theatre scene and audiences alike. This project has been launched by Goethe-Institut Mumbai in 2020, focusing on the selection of plays, as well as identifying qualified German to local language translators at the initial stage.
Afterward, 46 translations were produced out of 20 German plays. Some of these plays were translated by just one person, others by several; altogether they were translated into six languages: Bangla, Hindi, Marathi, Sinhalese, Tamil, and Urdu.
According to the Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, contemporary German-language drama is characterized by enormous variety. It has long been and continues to be shaped by both a rich tradition and significant international influences.
Many playscripts written in German are known to audiences in Asia primarily through their English translations. It would of course be far preferable to present these plays to the public in Asian languages – in translations carried out by competent translators working directly from the German.
This would also make it possible for theatre companies who operate in local languages to familiarize themselves with the current German theatre scene, according to the institution.
Read: Dhaka Theatre’s new play opens with metaphoric presentation on ‘virus’
Those reflections are what gave rise to the project: contemporary German-language drama in six South Asian languages – Bangla, Hindi, Marathi, Sinhalese, Tamil, and Urdu. These translations are intended first and foremost to be used within India, but will also be available to other Goethe-Instituts in Dhaka (Bangla), Colombo (Tamil and Sinhalese) and Karachi (Urdu), and in principle to Goethe Centres and additional theatre companies throughout South Asia.
On Sunday evening, Prachyanat staged the scenic reading of the German play titled “DER ZINNSOLDAT UND DIE PAPIERTÄNZERIN” by Roland Schimmelpfennig. Romit Roy translated this play into Bangla.
Directed by Kazi Toufikul Islam Emon, the play featured performances by Diana Meriline, Urmi Saha Ray, Farhad Ahmed Shamim, AKM Itmam, Abdulla Mohammad Sakib, Prajna Tasnuva Rubayyat, Tanji Kun, Yead Khorshid Eashan, Swatee Bhadra, Gopi Devnath, Supti Das Chaity, Nahida Akhter Akhi, Ucchas Talukder, Mohammad Abu Imran, and Audree Ja.
Social organization Bonhishikha staged the scenic reading of the German play titled “ICH LIEB DICH“ (ভালোবাসি) by Kristo Šagor on Monday evening. Parthapratim Chattopadhyay translated this play into Bangla.
Directed by Shararat Islam, the two-person scenic reading was performed by Shararat Islam and Samina Yasmin, narrating different roles.
Followed by around 50 minutes of scenic reading, a panel discussion moderated by Syeda Samara Mortada was held.
Sanjida Anwar Preety, Actor, Prachyanat Theatre Troupe and Samina Luthfa, Associate Professor, Dhaka University and Playwright and Actor, theatre troupe Bottala, were among the panellists.
Roni Bhowmik’s New Short Film ‘Chakrakar’ released by Vivo
Roni Bhowmik directed short film ‘Chakrakar’ has recently been released by international smartphone brand Vivo Bangladesh, which has been shot on its latest flagship device Vivo X80 5G.
Receiving overwhelming responses on social media, the short film has been released on Vivo Bangladesh Facebook page.
Apart from its making, story, and acting; the most jaw-dropping surprise is that this short film has been made with the Vivo X80 5G smartphone, according to Vivo Bangladesh. Filmmaker Roni Bhowmik worked on this short film, as a part of vivo X80 5G campaign.
‘Chakrakar’ has been shot in different locations of Dhaka and Chattogram. The story revolves around a suburban middle-class family. It illustrates mother-son relationship, their mutual love and care and a sudden attack of Alzheimer's disease.
Read: Short film 'A Happy Man' shot entirely on vivo X70 Pro 5G
Popular actors Afsana Mimi, Yash Rohan, Nova Firoz and Aryan Mohammad Dihan acted in the short film. Alongside direction Roni Bhowmik has written the screenplay and Mohammad Towkir Islam did the cinematography.
Regarding this project, Roni Bhowmik said, “The advantage of shooting with a phone is that, since it is very easy to use, one can take multiple dynamic shots. My experience of shooting with a phone is pretty new. It is a bit challenging for people who work professionally."
"New filmmakers who want to tell stories, can resort to a smartphone for visualizing their stories. Young filmmakers can easily present their contents to the audience without bothering about large arrangements," he added.
War isn’t funny but humor helps Ukrainians cope with trauma
Because he’ll shortly be deployed as a soldier on the battlefields of Ukraine, Serhiy Lipko and Anastasia Zukhvala chose to marry first, like a growing number of couples being torn asunder by war with Russia.
Like others, their nuptials were rushed and smaller than they would have been during peacetime, with just a few dozen close friends and family. She wore a simple crown of blue flowers in her hair. And then, because laughter can be medicinal and because Lipko was building a career as a comic before the defense of his country called, they headed to a stand-up comedy club in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
There, with his new wife watching from the wings, he took the stage in olive-green fatigues and soon had the crowd in stitches with close-to-the-bone humor about army and married life. He joked that military training with NATO instructors had been a great opportunity for him to practice his English, and how nervous he’d been about handling expensive military gear, for fear of breaking it.
The war isn’t remotely funny, but Ukrainians are learning to laugh about the awfulness of it all. Not necessarily because they want to, but because they have to — to stay sane in the brutality that has killed tens of thousands of people, is upending Ukraine, millions of lives and the world order as it rages on front lines in the east and south of the country.
Read: Zelenskyy’s unlikely journey, from comedy to wartime leader
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his troops, especially dead and wounded ones, are favorite targets of dark Ukrainian wartime humor. But there are red lines: Ukrainian dead aren’t laughed about and the grimmest battles, among them the brutal siege of Mariupol and the port city’s Azovstal steelworks, are far too raw for jokes. The same is true of atrocities in Bucha and elsewhere.
“Tragedies cannot and will never be the object of humor,” said Zukhvala, who also works as a stand-up comic, as she and Lipko hugged with the tenderness of newlyweds after his show and scooped up armfuls of bouquets, wondering aloud how they’d find space for them at home.
“This is an absolutely crazy time, beyond ordinary experience,” she said. “Our life now is made of paradoxes, and it can even be funny.”
Ukraine’s most famous comedian is Volodymyr Zelenskyy, now the country’s president, elected in 2019. In the TV comedy series “Servant of the People,” the former stand-up comic and actor played a lovable high school teacher who accidentally becomes president — before he later actually became one for real. But Zelenskyy hasn’t had much cause for comedy since the Feb. 24 invasion thrust him into the role of wartime leader. His daily video addresses to the nation are often grim and forceful.
Spears' ex who appeared at wedding charged with stalking
A man once briefly married to Britney Spears who showed up uninvited at the pop star's wedding to longtime boyfriend Sam Asghari was charged Monday with felony stalking.
Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded not guilty in Ventura County court to the charge, along with misdemeanor counts of trespassing, vandalism and battery.
The three misdemeanor charges stemmed directly from Alexander's attempt to get into the wedding, which he livestreamed on Instagram. The stalking charge involved repeated incidents over time, Spears attorney Mathew Rosengart said.
“He’s going to — I hope, and I pledged my support — be very vigorously prosecuted," Rosengart said outside the hearing. “It’s a very serious matter. This was more than just a quote ‘wedding crash.’ This was an intrusion.”
Also read: Britney Spears marries Sam Asghari in California
A judge issued a restraining order requiring Alexander, who appeared in court via video conference from jail, to stay at least 100 yards from Spears for three years. The judge set his bail at $100,000 and scheduled a Wednesday hearing on the issue.
An email seeking comment from his public defender Matthew Terry was not immediately returned.
Alexander was Spears' first husband. The two were married for less than three days in 2004 before an annulment.
Spears, 40, and Asghari, 28, were married Thursday at her home in Thousand Oaks, California, in front of several dozen guests including Selena Gomez, Drew Barrymore, Paris Hilton and Madonna.
Alexander, who was a childhood friend of Spears, was streaming live on Instagram when he approached house. He appeared in a mostly empty but decorated room, telling security Spears had invited him.
Deputies responding to a trespassing call detained him, and he was arrested when they learned he had a warrant for his arrest in another county, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said.
Spears was previously married from 2004 to 2007 to Kevin Federline, with whom she shares two sons, ages 14 and 15.
She met Asghari in 2016 on the set of the video for her song “Slumber Party.”
Their wedding came nine months after Spears and Asghari were engaged, and nearly seven months after Spears won her freedom from a court conservatorship that controlled her life and affairs for more than 12 years.
Also read: Britney Spears under investigation over battery of staff
Spears posted about the nuptials on her Instagram and Twitter accounts the following day.
“Wow !!! Holy holy crap !!! WE DID IT !!! WE GOT MARRIED !!! Gggggeeeeezzzzz !!! It was the most spectacular day !!!” Spears said in the posts along with a picture of her and Asghari from the wedding. “The ceremony was a dream and the party was even better !!!”
Amber Heard says she doesn't blame jury in Depp libel case
Amber Heard says she doesn't blame the jury that awarded Johnny Depp more than $10 million after a contentious six-week libel trial in her first post-verdict interview.
“I don’t blame them," Heard told “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie in an interview clip aired Monday on NBC. "I actually understand. He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.”
“Today” plans to air more of its interview with Heard on Tuesday and Wednesday. The interview is airing nearly two weeks after the verdict, which also saw Heard awarded $2 million over her claim that one of Depp's attorneys defamed her.
Also read: Johnny Depp and Amber Heard: Uphill battle to rebuild images
Depp sued Heard for libel in Virginia over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers said he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.
The verdicts brought an end to a televised trial that Depp hopes will help restore his reputation, though it turned into a spectacle that offered a window into a volatile marriage and both actors emerged with unclear prospects for their careers.
Guthrie pressed Heard on her credibility and what it meant to jurors in the clips released Monday. “There’s no polite way to say it. The jury looked at the evidence you presented. They listened to your testimony and they did not believe you," she said. "They thought you were lying.”
Heard responded, “How could they not come to that conclusion? They had sat in those seats and heard over three weeks of non-stop, relentless testimony from paid employees” and witnesses the actor described as “randos” or random people.
Depp, who has not yet done a formal interview about the case, has said the verdict “gave me my life back." Heard said in a statement after the verdict that she was heartbroken, while her attorney said in a separate “Today” interview that her client was “demonized” on social media and she plans to appeal the judgment.
“I don’t care what one thinks about me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home, in my marriage, behind closed doors. I don’t presume the average person should know those things, and so I don’t take it personally,” Heard told Guthrie.
Also read: Depp and Heard face uncertain career prospects after trial
“You still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation. You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair,” Heard said.
The Heard interview will also be featured in Friday's “Dateline” episode.
No satisfaction: Jagger has COVID, Rolling Stones gig off
The Rolling Stones canceled their concert in Amsterdam on Monday, just hours before it was due to start after lead singer Mick Jagger tested positive for COVID-19.
The band announced the cancelation in a statement, saying the 78-year-old Jagger tested positive “after experiencing symptoms of COVID upon arrival at the stadium” on the outskirts of Amsterdam. There were no further details about his condition.
“The Rolling Stones are deeply sorry for tonight’s postponement, but the safety of the audience, fellow musicians and the touring crew has to take priority,” the statement said, adding that the show would be rescheduled and tickets for the concert at Amsterdam's Johan Cruyff Arena would be honored for the new date.
READ: Rolling Stones return to stage, tour after Mick Jagger mends
Some fans were already in the stadium when it was announced that the show had been scrapped.
The veteran rockers are touring Europe with a show called SIXTY to mark six decades together. Their last show was at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium on June 9. The next scheduled concert is in Bern, Switzerland, on June 17.
Sani v Zayed: Fardin takes father’s side
Film actors Omar Sani and Moushumi's son Fardin opened up to the media about the Zayed Khan issue and took his father’s side by confirming the allegations as being true.
Fardin in a statement to media on Monday said, “My mother did not want any controversy regarding the issue and the statement she gave this morning was to cool off the situation.”
He said he is giving a statement to stop the matter from getting ugly.
“There are many people including Zayed who disturb my mother and I have proof of it. But I won’t share it as I don't want to give any importance to him (Zayed),” he said.
Also read: Omar Sani comes live after Moushumi says “Zayed is a good boy
“Many disagreements occur in a family which is very normal and both my parents want to resolve the issue immediately,” Fardin added.
On Monday noon appearing on the social media platform around noon Omar Sani said he won’t back away from his allegation that Zayed has been harassing his wife for some time.
The drama heightened after Moushumi on Monday sent an audio message to the media rejecting Omar Sani’s claim, saying she adores Zayed as a good boy.
Moushumi’s mention of her husband as ‘Omar Sani Bhai (brother)’ in that audio message raised many eyebrows.
Sani-Zayed strife
On Friday night at the wedding ceremony of actor Dipjol’s son at a convention centre in the capital, Sani himself said he slapped Zayed accusing him of misbehaving with Moushumi earlier. After that, Zayed Khan took out a pistol and threatened to shoot him, said Sani.
However, both Dipjol and Zayed denied the incident.
Also read: Omar Sani to lodge GD against Zayed
On Sunday , Sani submitted a written complaint against Zayed over the incident and said he would also lodge a general diary against him with police.
Omar Sani comes live after Moushumi says “Zayed is a good boy"
Actor Omar Sani on Monday went live on Facebook to reiterate his complaint against fellow actor Zayed Khan, a day after his wife popular actress Moushumi threw her weight on Zayed calling him “a very good boy.”
Appearing on the social media platform around noon Omar Sani said he won’t back away from his allegation that Zayed has been harassing her wife for some time.
The drama heightened after Moushumi on Monday sent an audio message to the media rejecting Omar Sani’s claim, saying she adores Zayed as a good boy.
A sharp reply came from Omar Sani on Monday.
Also read: Omar Sani to lodge GD against Zayed
Sani said, “In my 32 years of film career no one can point a finger at me and we (he and Moushumi) have been married for last 27 years with two children. I won’t move from my allegation against Zayed Khan that I have made at the Film Artistes Association on Sunday.”
Contiuing he said “Moushumi is my wife, mother of my children and a gorgeous mother actually. I won’t say anything disrespecting her. She knows better why he said Zayed is good boy! We have all evidences against him.”
“My children Fardin and Faiza will make the matter clear to you later as my guardian. I won’t make any further comments as I don’t want any misunderstanding in my family because of some outsider,” he added.
Sani also requested the audience and journalists to not make any bad comments about Moushumi.
Moushumi’s statement
Moushumi in an audio clip sent to the media on Monday morning said, “The allegation Omar Sani brought against Zayed about misbehaving with me is false. I adore Zayed Khan and he respects me a lot.”
“Our working relationship is quite good and he is a very good boy”, she added.
Moushumi’s mention of her husband as ‘Omar Sani Bhai (brother)’ in that audio message raised many eyebrows.
Also read: Zayed Khan denies allegation of wielding pistol and threatening to shoot Omar Sani
The Sani-Zayed strife
On Friday night at the wedding ceremony of actor Dipjol’s son at a convention centre in the capital Sani allegedly slapped Zayed accusing him of misbehaving with Moushumi earlier. After that, Zayed Khan took out a pistol and threatened to shoot him, said Sani.
However, both Dipjol and Zayed denied the incident.
On Sunday , Sani submitted a written complaint against Zayed over the incident and told he would also lodge a general diary against him with police.
Omar Sani to lodge GD against Zayed
Film actor Omar Sani is going to lodge a general diary against actor Zayed Khan for taking out a pistol and threatening to shoot him at the wedding event of Dhallywood actor Dipjol's son on Friday night.
Omar Sani said this to journalists at the Film Artistes Association on Sunday after he submitted a written complaint against his fellow actor Zayed.
According to Omar Sani, he slapped Zayed Khan on that night over misbehaving with his wife popular actress Moushumi and after that Zayed threatened to kill him.
Also read:Zayed Khan denies allegation of wielding pistol and threatening to shoot Omar Sani
However, actors Dipjol and Zayed denied the incident to UNB when contacted.
But Omar Sani said in a Facebook post that he is not going to leave the matter here saying, ”I will keep silent until my self-respect gets hurt.”
Sani told the media, “This industry is my longtime family and my seniors were always by my side in any crisis. Even today, I have approached the artists association keeping confidence in them.”
He further said that he would file a GD with the police following the advice of industry seniors.
Bongo brings Girls Squad Season 2 on June 15
Streaming platform Bongo will release Girls Squad Season 2 on the OTT platform on June 15 after its successful journey of season 1.
Girls Squad is a story centering the life of six girls. In Season 2, Samira Khan Mahi, Rukaiya Jahan Chamak, Sharna Lata, and Samonty Shoumi will continue their struggle for friendship, and love, and chase their dreams, Bongo said in a statement.
Also read: Bongo brings Turkish series 'Hercai' as 'Rehana'
The statement reads Girls Squad Season 2 is coming again under the composition and direction of Maidul Rakib.
Tania Brishti and Anindita Mimi will make their appearance in season 2. Popular actor cum anchor Shahriar Nazim Joy and actor Zaher Alvi will also play alongside the rest of the cast.
Bongo is releasing 20 new episodes of the new season.
Last year during Eid-ul-Azha, Bongo released the drama series 'Girls Squad Season 1' and broke the convention of hero content.
Also read:Bongo to bring another 7 original telefictions this Eid
Mushfiqur Rahman, Bongo's chief content officer said, "To give 100 percent entertainment to our viewers, we always thrive to select the best-suited actors and actresses for the project That is why, for Season 2, Joy, Alvi, and some other stars have been added to the series. Following the success of Season 1, we hope Season 2 reaches, resonates with, and delights our audience just as much."