Dhaka, Sept 19 (UNB) - The muhurat (launching ceremony) of a film based on a novel penned by Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader was held at Dhaka Club on Wednesday.

The shooting of the film based on novel ‘Gangchil’ will begin from next month. Its story is based on the life of people living in coastal belt of Cox’s Bazar.  

Quader, also Awami League General Secretary along with Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, State Minister for Information Tarana Halim, Bangladesh Film Directors Association president Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar, Actors Tarik Anam Khan, Ferdous Ahmed, Actress Purnima and Rituparna Sengupta from Kolkata took part in the launching ceremony.

Minister Obaidul Quader said “The politicians of the sub-continent do not write novel but I have written it. I want to project the real life story of coastal people and that’s why I spend a week with the coastal people in Cox’s Bazar after my jail release.”

The novel Gangchil has become the best seller after release in the Ekushey Boi Mela. The minister said it was beyond his imagination that a cinema would be produced based on his novel.  

Hasanul Haq Inu said the movie will play an important role to portray the development of the country.  

Asaduzzaman Noor said it is a great example of a politician’s creative work.

New York, Sep 19 (AP/UNB) — Julie Chen announced Tuesday that she was leaving the cast of the CBS daytime show "The Talk" a week after her husband, CBS Corp. boss Leslie Moonves, was ousted from the company due to sexual misconduct allegations.

Chen hadn't appeared on the show during its season-opening week last week. She wasn't on the set Tuesday, either, making her announcement via a taped message from the set of "Big Brother," the prime-time CBS show that she also hosts.

She made no mention of the case involving Moonves. On one episode of "Big Brother" last week, she pointedly signed off as "Julie Chen Moonves," when she usually doesn't use her married name professionally.

"Right now, I need to spend more time at home with my husband and my son," she said.

She's been with the show since its inception nine years ago, along with co-hosts Sara Gilbert and Sharon Osbourne. Chen called the trio "The Three Musketeers" in her goodbye message, played at the end of Tuesday's episode.

Chen appeared to fight back tears when thanking crew members, but quickly gathered her composure.

"I know this show and the sisterhood it stands for will continue on for many, many more years to come," she said.

She appeared to endorse "Dancing With the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba as a successor. Inaba was filling in for Chen behind the show's desk on Tuesday. Chen was effectively the moderator of "The Talk," steering the show's conversation.

"The Talk" began strongly against "The View," the ABC show it is clearly modeled after, and even eclipsed its rival in the ratings four years ago. Since then, "The View" righted itself and has taken over first place.

It's the second traumatic television exit that Gilbert has endured this year. The actress who's in the "Roseanne" reboot also saw Roseanne Barr fired from that show for an offensive tweet.

"We love you, Julie," Gilbert said after the message aired.

Los Angeles, Sep 18 (AP/UNB) — Claire Foy of "The Crown" and Matthew Rhys of "The Americans" won top drama acting Emmys as Monday's ceremony spread its wealth around to streaming and cable but largely snubbed broadcasting and, largely, diversity.

"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," Amazon's freshman sitcom about a 1950s homemaker turned edgy stand-up comedian, took an early lead at the Emmy Awards, which gently mocked itself for its own lack of diverse winners.

"Mrs. Maisel" star Rachel Brosnahan was honored as best comedy actress, Alex Borstein earned the supporting actress trophy and the series creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, nabbed writing and directing awards.

The field bested by Foy included last year's winner Elisabeth Moss for "The Handmaid's Tale" and Sandra Oh of "Killing Eve," who could have been the first actor of Asian descent to get a top drama award.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," said Foy, honored for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix series.

In a ceremony that started out congratulating TV academy voters for the most ethnically diverse field of nominees ever, the early awards all went to whites.

"Let's get it trending: #EmmysSoWhite," presenter James Corden joked at the midway point, riffing off an earlier tribute to Betty White.

"I want to say six awards, all white winners, and nobody has thanked Jesus yet," co-host Michael Che said, referring back to his earlier joke that only African-American and Republican winners do.

Then Regina King broke the string, with a best actress trophy in a limited series or movie for "Seven Seconds," which tracks the fallout from a white police officer's traffic accident involving a black teenager.

She was followed by Darren Criss, who won the lead acting award for the miniseries "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" and who is of Filipino descent.

Thandie Newton won best supporting drama actress for "Westworld," and Peter Dinklage added a third trophy to his collection for "Game of Thrones."

The ceremony had a real-life drama moment when winning director Glenn Weiss, noting his mother had died two weeks ago, proposed to his girlfriend, Jan Svendsen.

"You wonder why I don't want to call you my girlfriend? It's because I want to call you my wife," Weiss said. She said yes, he put his mother's ring on her finger and the crowd whooped and cheered.

Brosnahan used her acceptance speech to give a shout-out to her comedy's celebration of women power.

"It's about a woman who's finding her voice anew, and it's one of the things that's happening all over the country now," she said. She urged the audience to exercise that power by voting.

Bill Hader collected the best comedy actor award for "Barry," a dark comedy about a hired killer who stumbles into a possible acting career.

Henry Winkler, aka "The Fonz," won a supporting actor award — his first Emmy — for "Barry," four decades after gaining fame for his role in "Happy Days."

"If you stay at the table long enough, the chips come to you. Tonight, I got to clear the table," an ebullient Winkler said, with an equally delighted auditorium audience rising to give him a standing ovation. To his children, he said: "You can go to bed now, daddy won!"

The biggest award so far won by a broadcast network was "Saturday Night Live" for best Variety Sketch Series.

The Emmys kicked off with a song, "We Solved It," a celebration to the diversity of nominees sung by stars including Kate McKinnon and Kenan Thompson. The tune included that Oh was could become the first woman of Asian descent to win an Emmy. "There were none, now there's one, so we're done," the comedians sang.

Oh played along from her seat: "Thank you, but it's an honor just to be Asian," said the Korean-Canadian actress.

While Emmy nominees nervously waited to hear their name called, or not, there's more on the line at the ceremony on NBC than personal glory.

"Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels, producing his second Emmy telecast in 30 years, is tasked with turning viewership around after the 2017 show's audience of 11.4 million narrowly avoided the embarrassment of setting a new low.

The ceremony clearly bears his stamp, with Che and Jost as hosts and familiar "SNL" faces, including Kate McKinnon and Alec Baldwin, as presenters and nominees. The long-running NBC sketch show, already the top Emmy winner ever with 71, could snare up to three more.

The pressure's on Michaels because NBC and other broadcasters are increasingly reliant on awards and other live events to draw viewers distracted by streaming and more 21st- century options. The networks, which air the Emmy telecast on a rotating basis, are so eager for the ad dollars it generates and its promotional value for fall shows that they endure online competitors sharing the stage.

Los Angeles, Sep 11 (AP/UNB) — The horror pic "The Nun" scared off the competition and dominated the North American box office in its first weekend in theaters, grossing $53.8 million.

A spinoff of a character seen in "The Conjuring 2," ''The Nun" banked the most successful launch of the "Conjuring" universe, which also includes the "Annabelle" films.

Another newcomer, STX's "Peppermint," starring Jennifer Garner as a mother out for vengeance, moved up to second place with $13.4 million, and ahead of "Crazy Rich Asians," which fell to third place with $13.1 million.

Fourth place went to the shark thriller "The Meg," with $6.1 million, while the John Cho screen mystery "Searching" placed fifth with $4.6 million.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

1. "The Nun," Warner Bros., $53,807,379, 3,876 locations, $13,882 average, $53,807,379, 1 Week.

2. "Peppermint," STX Entertainment, $13,423,255, 2,980 locations, $4,504 average, $13,423,255, 1 Week.

3. "Crazy Rich Asians," Warner Bros., $13,148,404, 3,865 locations, $3,402 average, $135,770,569, 4 Weeks.

4. "The Meg," Warner Bros., $6,094,327, 3,511 locations, $1,736 average, $131,637,101, 5 Weeks.

5. "Searching," Sony, $4,570,235, 2,009 locations, $2,275 average, $14,366,365, 3 Weeks.

6. "Mission: Impossible - Fallout," Paramount, $3,885,798, 2,334 locations, $1,665 average, $212,202,565, 7 Weeks.

7. "Disney's Christopher Robin," Disney, $3,404,931, 2,518 locations, $1,352 average, $91,934,021, 6 Weeks.

8. "Operation Finale," MGM, $2,871,184, 1,818 locations, $1,579 average, $13,935,630, 2 Weeks.

9. "BlacKkKlansman," Focus Features, $2,609,915, 1,547 locations, $1,687 average, $43,498,445, 5 Weeks.

10. "Alpha," Sony, $2,517,768, 2,521 locations, $999 average, $32,460,286, 4 Weeks.

11. "God Bless The Broken Road," Freestyle Releasing, $1,386,254, 1,272 locations, $1,090 average, $1,386,254, 1 Week.

12. "Incredibles 2," Disney, $1,352,194, 1,446 locations, $935 average, $604,465,699, 13 Weeks.

13. "Mile 22," STX Entertainment, $1,206,503, 1,802 locations, $670 average, $35,111,649, 4 Weeks.

14. "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation," Sony, $1,121,921, 1,012 locations, $1,109 average, $164,233,534, 9 Weeks.

15. "The Happytime Murders," STX Entertainment, $1,082,377, 1,839 locations, $589 average, $20,027,804, 3 Weeks.

16. "Slender Man," Sony, $838,526, 983 locations, $853 average, $29,692,608, 5 Weeks.

17. "Kin," Lionsgate, $804,401, 2,141 locations, $376 average, $5,318,012, 2 Weeks.

18. "Ya Veremos," Lionsgate, $767,346, 369 locations, $2,080 average, $3,312,383, 2 Weeks.

19. "Juliet, Naked," Roadside Attractions, $642,022, 467 locations, $1,375 average, $2,429,485, 4 Weeks.

20. "The Wife," Sony Pictures Classics, $639,857, 153 locations, $4,182 average, $1,964,144, 4 Weeks.

Dhaka, Sept 10 (UNB) - A film based on the major historical event of British India, the Bhawal case which took place in today's Gazipur, "Ek j Chhilo Raja", got its first theatrical trailer released on Monday starring Jaya Ahsan.  

The movie is entirely based on the lore of Bhawal Sannyashi, the controversies regarding the return of presumably dead prince of Bhawal estate Ramendra Narayan Roy who was presumed dead and was cremated in 1909.

However controversies arose when a mysterious Sannyashi visited Bhawal estate in 1921 and claimed that he is Ramendra, the King of Bhawal. 

This phenomenal event shook the then British India and Ramendra was accused as an imposter. 

Cases were filed for and against the accused and this feud went on for 16 years when Privy Council in London ruled in favour of Ramendra in 1946. 

The 2 minute and 14 seconds long trailer opens in a gloomy courtroom where a pleader addresses the court seeking permission to present a man named Raja Mahendra Kumar Chowdhury. This character is based on Ramendra Narayan Roy. 

In various shots afterwards flashbacks are shown in the trailer picturing the colourful life of Ramendra. Several other major characters are also either introduced or hinted. 

The trailer ends by putting up the question is the claim of Mahendra alias Ramendra Narayan Roy legitimate or not. 

'Ek Je Chhilo Raja' is directed by prominent Tollywood director Srijit Mukherjee. 

Jisshu Sengupta is starring as Mahendra Kumar Chowdhury. The cast also includes Jaya Ahsan from Bangladesh who plays the sister of the Bhawal King. 

Other cast members are Rajnandini Paul, Anjan Dutt, Aparna Sen Rudranil Ghosh and others. 

The film is set to release in late October this year in India under the banner of Sree Venkatesh Films.