Renowned cultural organisations celebrated the Victory Day through various cultural events on Monday.

Bangla Academy started the day by placing wreaths at the National Mausoleum Savar paying homage to the martyrs of the Liberation War.

A seminar, presided over by Bangla Academy President and National Professor Dr Anisuzzaman, was arranged in the afternoon at the academy’s Nazrul Stage.

Eminent historian and academy’s former Director General Dr Syed Anwar Husain joined the seminar session titled ‘Victory: History and Significance’ as the solo speaker. Bangla Academy’s Director General Habibullah Siraji and Dr Anisuzzaman also spoke at the event.

Country’s distinguished cultural institution Chhayanaut celebrated the day through an enormous arrangement at Dhaka University’s central playground.

Starting at 3:45pm through raising the national flag by DU Vice-chancellor Prof Akhtaruzzaman, the event included a cultural session with solo and group songs, poetry recitations and dance performances.

The National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) celebrated the day with a range of colourful festivities.

BSA started the day at 8:30 am by placing a wreath at the National Mausoleum by its Director General Liaquat Ali Lucky and other staff members.

At 9 am, a cultural session was organised at the adjacent green valley of the memorial where 500 promising artistes took part in poetry recitations, acrobatics, musical performances and art camp.

The academy also arranged a seminar followed by a cultural session at the National Theatre Hall of BSA in the evening.

The cultural session featured mesmerising performances by BSA artistes, including group and solo musical and dance performances, and poetry recitations by Syed Hasan Imam and Jharna Sarkar.

A daylong photo exhibition organised by Dhaka University Journalists’ Association (Duja) was held on the premises of Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) of the university on Monday, marking the 49th Victory Day.

DU Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman inaugurated the exhibition titled ‘Victory of Courage’ in the morning while Duja President Raihanul Islam Abir and Joint Secretary Imran Hossain were present among others.

The exhibition remained open for all from 9am to 11:30pm.

The exhibition showcased 150 rare collections of photographs and paper cuttings based on the history of Bangladesh from the British era to the birth of Bangladesh, especially events of the Liberation War and those related to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

A two-day music festival of the Music Department of Dhaka University (DU) begins on Tuesday with the theme ‘Bangla Gaan’ (Bangla Songs), aiming to keep cultural activities alive and thriving in the country.

Organisers said the ‘Music Festival 2019’ will be part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the department that started its journey in 1994.

On the opening day, a colourful procession will be brought out at 10am from Arts Faculty building. Teachers of the department, its present and former students, and staff will join the procession.

DU Vice-chancellor Prof M Akhtaruzzaman will inaugurate the festival at 11am at the Teacher-Student Centre (TSC) while Professor Emeritus Dr Rafiqul Islam and DU Pro-VC Dr Nasreen Ahmad, among others, will be present as special guests.  

Housing and Public Works Minister SM Rezaul Karim will be present as the chief guest at the evening session at 5:30pm.

Commemorating Bangla songs and its creators of the period from ‘Shakta Padabali’ to present, prominent artistes from Bangladesh and India as well as teachers and students of the department will perform during the two-day festival.

Celebrated Indian singer Sreeradha Bandyopadhyay will be present at the first day’s cultural programme.

Over 250 students of the department will present improvised chorus songs on the first and second days of the festival.

Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, in cooperation with the International Film Initiative of Bangladesh (IFIB), organized the screening of the Shahneoyaj Cacoly-directed film “Nodijon” (The River of Colours) on Sunday, December 15 at Goethe-Institut Bangladesh auditorium.

The event was joined by President of the International Film Initiative of Bangladesh (IFIB) Samia Zaman, Dhaka University’s Associate Professor of the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies and actor Wahida Mollick, the film’s actor Pran Roy and director Shahneoyaj Cacoly.

Samia Zaman, in her welcoming speech, said “Almost a year has passed since we started ‘Through Her Eyes’ Film Screening series, which has given us the opportunity to come together regularly to watch and discuss films made by women. A bold film about social injustice against women, ‘Nodijon’ again reminded me about why we thought it was important to have this space.”

The film “Nodijan”, deals with the social and marital consequences of a man divorcing his wife by using the oral 'talaq'; first suspecting her of adultery and then realising his mistake and wanting her back.

Followed by the screening, filmmaker Shahneoyaj Cacoly and actor Pran Roy spoke during a lively Q&A discussion session, moderated by Wahida Mollick.

Marking the occasion of the 49th Victory Day of the country, the artistes of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra (Free Bengal Radio Centre) reunited and performed at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) on Sunday.

Featuring a series of performances at BSA’s National Theatre Hall by artistes of the only radio broadcasting centre of Bengali nationalist forces during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, programme was presided by eminent journalist - cultural personality and head of news of then Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, Kamal Lohani- and joined by BSA director general Liaquat Ali Lucky, music composer and instrumentalist Jahangir Hayat Khan, singer Kalyani Ghosh, Anup Bhattacharya and Rafiqul Alam.

Recalling the emotion of the time, Kamal Lohani said “The 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh saw a ‘never-seen-before’ kind of activism and patriotism from the people all over the country, and Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra was the soul of that united body. We had been lucky to contribute in our liberation war through our talents and cultural works.”

Artistes from BSA presented several tremendous dance and musical performances, while renowned singers of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra including Fakir Alamgir, Kaderi Kibria, Rupa Forhad, Moloy Kumar Ganguly, Timir Nandi, Shaheen Samad, Indra Mohan Rajbongshi, Rafiqul Alam, Bulbul Mahlanbish and Dalia Nawshin enthralled the audiences with their solo songs, written on the liberation war.

Artist Ashraful Alam performed a live, on stage news presentation of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra, recreating the palpitating yet majestic notion and emotion of the war-period when people used to depend on radio (the only broadcasting entertainment medium available during that time) news to get daily updates on the war.