Entertainment
‘Black Adam’ alights at Star Cineplex
‘Black Adam,’ one of the most anticipated Hollywood movies in 2022 starring popular actor Dwayne Johnson, hit US theatres on Friday (October 21, 2022) as well as Star Cineplex in Bangladesh.
The superhero movie is a spin-off of Shazam! (2019), the 11th movie in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), and the first movie in the franchise's Phase One, based on the same-named DC Comics character.
A ‘Shazam!’ spin-off produced by Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema, ‘Brack Adam’ first debuted in DC Comics in the 1940s as a villain; however, in 2000, it was re-introduced as an anti-hero.
Read Star Cineplex's Awesome Autumn gives moviegoers chance to win trip to Maldives.
The character of Black Adam, portrayed by wrestler-turned-actor Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, possessed divine abilities from the Egyptian gods. After being freed from the earth for approximately five thousand years, he returned to the modern world to take part in an exciting conflict over justice and retaliation, crossing the path with the Justice Society of America (JAS).
Dwayne Johnson, the main draw as the title character, is appearing in a DC Comics movie for the first time with this film. In addition to this, Pierce Brosnan, the former James Bond actor, is also playing a special character in the film.
Moviegoers and DCEU fans in Bangladesh have been eagerly waiting to see the powerful anti-hero in the theatres.
Marking the release, Star Cineplex arranged a gala press premiere on Thursday (October 20, 2022) night at its SKS Tower branch in the capital which was joined by journalists from different media outlets alongside popular celebrities and social media influencers.
Read New Releases: Top 10 South Indian Movies to Watch in October 2022
“Previously, it was unthinkable for moviegoers in our country to watch the most eagerly awaited Hollywood productions on the day of their international premiere. Star Cineplex brought that opportunity to its fans and now we are premiering the biggest Hollywood films on the same day of their global releases, and we will continue this trend for our moviegoers,” Star Cineplex parent company ShowMotion Limited Chairman Mahboob Rahman Ruhel said at the event.
He also informed that the Cineplex is bringing two of the next most-anticipated Hollywood films in the upcoming months - the celebrated Marvel Comics superhero ‘Black Panther’ sequel ‘Wakanda Forever’ in November, and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ in December, the second installation of the groundbreaking American epic science-fiction film ‘Avatar’ (2009), directed by James Cameron.
Star Cineplex is now showing the film ‘Black Adam’ across all of its five branches in the capital - Bashundhara City in Panthapath, Shimanto Shambhar in Dhanmondi, Sony Square in Mirpur, SKS Tower, Mohakhali and Bangabandhu Military Museum in Bijoy Sarani.
Read Star Cineplex's Awesome Autumn gives moviegoers chance to win trip to Maldives.
'Wolfed Down': One-woman theatrical show memerises Dhaka audience
Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) and Goethe-Institut Bangladesh are hosting the theatrical performance "Wolfed Down" by French puppeteer Laurie Cannac, at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA).
The theatrical puppetry, presented entirely in English, enthralled the Dhaka audience Wednesday at 7pm, and the first show was held on Tuesday, at 4pm at the same venue.
The theatrical presentation is a "one-woman performance" by Laurie with a varied puppet universe.
The story is based on the popular European fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" by the Brothers Grimm, a brother duo of German academicians, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and novelists.
This "Gothic" adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood examines the animistic force of the puppet, creates an eclectic relationship between itself and the actress's body, and effectively unites poetry with a sense of humour, amusing the audience.
Turongomi Repertory Dance Theatre to join Indonesia International Culture Festival 2022
Turongomi Repertory Dance Theatre will join the prestigious "Indonesia International Culture Festival 2022" in Indonesia from October 22-30.
The festival is one of the largest gatherings of dance professionals in the world, organised by the government of Indonesia, said a media release Wednesday.
Pooja Sengupta, the artistic director of Turongomi, will represent Bangladesh at the festival. She will also conduct a workshop and talk about the Bangladeshi Aroti dance. She will also take part in the popular Bandung Art Festival 2022 in Jawa.
Recently, Pooja represented Bangladesh at the Sustainable Development Goals UNESCO Resili-Art Festival in Manila, the Philippines in April 2022.
Later this year in July, Turongomi took part in the Daegu Colorful Festival, one of the largest dance parades in the world.
Since its inception in 2014, Turongomi has been working with the motto of establishing the signature style of Bangladeshi dance in the international arena and achieving professionalism in the dance scenario of Bangladesh.
Turongomi School of dance, a sister concern of Turongomi Repertory Dance Theatre, became a member of the International Dance Council of UNESCO along with Pooja herself, in 2019.
Pooja received the Noorul Quader Entrepreneur award in 2018 for establishing Turongomi.
Ayub Bachhu's 4th death anniversary comes and goes quietly
Though it was expected that several functions would be held commemorating the fourth death anniversary of the country’s iconic rock superstar Ayub Bachhu, surprisingly no significant event was organised marking the day across the country or in the music industry on Tuesday.
However, some fans, music lovers, co-artists remembered the legendary iconic singer and guitarist on social media including Facebook.
Here, some remarkable memories of the late superstar were put up.
Sharing a picture with his friend Ayub Bachhu, popular singer Kumar Bishwajit in a Facebook post said "Stay in the heart forever, stay sound friend".
Music Director and Singer Nakib Khan in another post said ‘’How time flies! Our dear Bachhu--you will always stay in our heart, May Allah grant you Jannah.”
Read: “Miss and love you…Sollo,” says Ayub Bachchu’s son on his 4th death anniversary
Lyricist and composer Prince Mahmud said “Losing you we understood what you were."
Popular Singer Kanak Chanpa wrote “I was not able to write mourning when I was about to write the word on the mourning notebook, pride came out instead of mourning for you. Not a single song fell on the soil, rather grabbed its place in the minds of people, which (you) magician of composer and guitar designed. There is no need to write the songs, sung by you, on the notebook which youths of the country can sing like timetables”.
“I don’t call him an artist, rather a saint. No mourning comes from the heart for a saint, comes pride. Ayub Bachhu is the greatest guitarist of the sub-continent, Bachhu is our pride, and we will surely feel pride, Rest in peace in the graveyard,” she observed.
Music artist Shawkat Ali Emon in his Facebook timeline wrote “Those whom we love very much they don’t go away, rather walk beside us, unseen and no tearing always stay closer, still love you, miss. May Alla grant you jannah, You (Bachhu bhai) was, is and will be,”
Popular Singer Asif Akbar recalled the guitarist by saying “Bachhu bhai played guitar for two hours at a function organised by me and tied my with the knot of gratefulness, once there was a good family bonding with him and he used to love very much my mother, and even he used to meet mother going Cumilla, though I didn’t know it.”
Colleagues, admirers bid tearful adieu to Masum Aziz
People from all walks of life including colleagues and admirers paid their last tributes to Ekushey Padak-winning thespian, playwright, and director Masum Aziz at the Central Shaheed Minar in the city on Tuesday.
His body was taken to the Central Shaheed Minar at 11 am, after the first janaza at Banasree in the capital at 9 am. Sammilita Sangskritik Jote arranged the programme.
Aziz’s son Utsha Zaman expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the fans, colleagues and admirers of the legendary thespian.
"I cannot explain how the people of the country loved my father throughout his entire life. There is nothing more to say than to express gratitude for this. I will be grateful for the rest of my life to those who stood by our side and fought together during the last ten months,” he said.
The event was joined by a number of cultural personalities including Asaduzzaman Noor, Dilara Zaman, Mamunur Rashid, Ramendu Majumdar, Ghulam Quddus, Nader Chowdhury, Ahsan Habib Nasim, Salahuddin Lavlu, Chayanika Chowdhury and many more.
“I knew him for years, never seen him without his youthfulness and positivism towards life. With his death, we have lost one of our most iconic artistes in the industry,” eminent thespian and former Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor said at the event.
On behalf of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Additional Secretary (Administration) Hasna Jahan Khanam paid homage to the late artistes at the Central Shaheed Minar.
His body was then taken to the Central Mosque of Dhaka University where his second namaz-e-janaza was held after Zohr prayers, and the body was then taken to his hometown Pabna where he will be laid to eternal rest.
“Miss and love you…Sollo,” says Ayub Bachchu’s son on his 4th death anniversary
Friends, fans and family members observed the fourth death anniversary Bangladesh’s iconic rock superstar, singer, guitarist, composer and music director Ayub Bachchu on Tuesday.
"We all miss and love you very much Sollo,” said Ahnaf Tazwar Ayub, son of the legendary Rockstar, in a social media post.
Read: Ayub Bachchu’s 60th birth anniversary today
He posted a guitar cover of ‘Nirobe’-- one of Bachchu’s popular songs--with flamboyant guitar riffs on LRB's official Facebook page and his personal profile.
The legendary frontman of one of the most well-known Bangladeshi rock bands ‘Love Runs Blind’ died of cardiac arrest on October 18 in 2018 at his home in the capital’s Moghbazar. He was 56.
The band is popularly know as LRB.
Fairuz Saffra Ayub, daughter of the rock legend, posted an emotional write-up on her profile, remembering his dearest father.
“Compassionate, caring, humble, grounded, emotional and an incredibly hard working being is how I have always known him to be,” she wrote.
“Immaculate skills with his art, endless wisdom about life and his way of looking at things differently is what got him to where he was at his life,” she added.
Among the events, several of the Ayub Bachchu and LRB fan clubs organised special prayers sessions and discussions across the country, marking the anniversary of his demise.
Bacchu was born at Patiya at Khorna union in Chattogram on August 16, 1962. He started his band LRB in his hometown, Chattogram, in 1991.
Before that, Bachchu began his career as a musician with the band ‘Golden Boys’ (renamed later as ‘Ugly Boys’), which he co-founded with his childhood friend and renowned Bangladeshi singer Kumar Bishwajit.
Read: Smritydahan: Tanvir Tareq's book on rock legend Ayub Bachchu published
He also played an important role in other well-known Bangladeshi bands including ‘Feelings’ and ‘Souls’. During his time with ‘Feelings’, he played with another contemporary rock icon of Bangladesh - James.
With Bachchu being the frontman of LRB, the band performed more than thousands of concerts at home (500+ open-air & 2000+ indoor) and abroad. They went for their first international tour in the US and they played in seven states.
In his lifetime, Bachchu has created a total of 16 solo albums, a full-fledged studio-turned-production house named ‘AB Kitchen’, numerous super hit playbacks such as ‘‘Ammajaan’’, ‘’Sagorika”, “Ononto Prem”, “Ami to preme porini” and many other scores in Bangladeshi commercial movies.
“Rupali Guitar,” “Cholo Bodle Jai,” “Ekhon Onek Raat,” “Koshto”, ‘‘Shei Tumi Keno Eto Ochena Hole,” ‘’Ferari Ei Monta Amar,” ‘’Ekdin Ghum Bhanga Shohore,’’ ‘‘Hashte Dekho Gaite Dekho’’ are some of his most iconic tracks with his beloved LRB.
Restricted from Twitter, Instagram; Kanye to buy conservative social network Parler
The rapper formerly known as Kanye West is offering to buy right-wing friendly social network Parler shortly after getting locked out of Twitter and Instagram for antisemitic posts.
The acquisition of Parler would give West, legally known as Ye, control of a social media platform and a new outlet for his opinions with no gatekeeper. The question is, who will listen?
Even among the new breed of largely right-wing, far-right and libertarian social apps that purport to support free speech by having looser rules and moderation, Parler’s user base is tiny — and with competition only increasing for the relatively small swath of mostly older people who want to discuss politics online, there is no clear roadmap to growing it beyond a niche platform chasing crumbs left by mainstream social media.
If Tesla CEO Elon Musk goes through with his planned purchase of Twitter, things may get even more complicated for Parler. That's because Musk has already made it clear he would like to loosen Twitter's rules and content-moderation efforts, including reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump. If the libertarian and far-right users who left Twitter — either because they felt it was constricting to their political views or because they were kicked off — return, sites like Parler, Gab and Trump's Truth Social could end up losing users.
Parlement Technologies, which owns Parler, and West said Monday the acquisition should be completed in the fourth quarter, but the price and other details were not disclosed. Parlement Technologies said the agreement includes the use of private cloud services via Parlement’s private cloud and data center infrastructure.
Parler restructured its business last month to form Parlement Technologies, which it said aims to become the “world’s premier free speech technology infrastructure and platform." This means that rather than running a single platform such as Parler, the company wants to provide services to other niche sites that are often deemed too extreme for mainstream tech companies to support. A Parlement spokesperson said the deal with West was not yet in the works when the company was restructured and the two transactions are separate.
Ye was blocked from posting on Twitter and Instagram a week ago over antisemitic posts that the social networks said violated their policies. In one post on Twitter, Ye said he would soon go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE,” according to internet archive records, making an apparent reference to the U.S. defense readiness condition scale known as DEFCON.
Ye has also suggested slavery was a choice and called the COVID-19 vaccine the “mark of the beast.” Earlier this month, he was criticized for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt to his collection at Paris Fashion Week.
“In a world where conservative opinions are considered to be controversial we have to make sure we have the right to freely express ourselves,” Ye said in a prepared statement.
Parler has struggled amid competition from other conservative-friendly platforms like Truth Social, which are tiny as well compared with mainstream social media sites. Parler had an average of 725,000 monthly active users in the U.S. for the first half of this year, according to Data.ai, which tracks mobile app usage. That's down from 5.2 million in the first half of 2021. Overall, including people outside the U.S., Parler still failed to reach the 1 million mark in the first half of this year.
Truth Social, meanwhile, had 2.4 million monthly users during the same period, despite launching just in February and only on Apple devices, according to Data.ai. The market research firm said another right-leaning platform, Gettr, which launched in July 2021, is ahead of both Parler and Truth Social with about 3.8 million monthly active users.
None of them come close to Twitter, which reported that it had a daily average of about 237.8 million active users during its most recent quarter. Many of the right-wing platforms emerged from opposition to the content-moderation restrictions at mainstream services such as Twitter and Facebook, but they have failed to attract users in large numbers.
Part of that reason may be that most people don't actually want to discuss politics online. According to the Pew Research Center, one-third of tweets sent in the U.S. are political in nature, but these are mainly sent my a small subset of mostly older people. While Americans ages 50 and older make up 24% of the U.S. adult Twitter population, they produce nearly 80% of all political tweets, according to Pew. This is the audience Ye's Parler would have to be courting if the rapper is serious about growing Parler's user base.
Parler launched in August 2018 but it didn’t start picking up steam until 2020. It was kicked offline in January 2021 over its ties to the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol earlier that month. A month after the attack, Parler announced a relaunch. It returned to Google Play last month.
“This deal will change the world, and change the way the world thinks about free speech," Parlement Technologies CEO George Farmer, who is married to conservative activist Candace Owens, said in a prepared statement.
Eminent actor Masum Aziz no more
Ekushey Padak winning actor and playwright Masum Aziz passed away on Monday at a private hospital in the capital.
Masum, who had been suffering from heart-related ailments, breathed his last at the hospital this afternoon, said Faisal Hasan, senior information officer of the Cultural Affairs Ministry.
He was admitted to Square Hospital with cardiac problem on October 3 and put on life support later as his condition deteriorated on Thursday morning.
Masum’s son Utsho Zaman said his body will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar on Tuesday morning so that people from all walks of life can pay tributes and he will be given national honor there.
His body will later be taken to his ancestral home in Pabna where he will be buried at family graveyard.
Aziz earned fame through acting on stage, in television dramas and cinemas. He made his acting debut in the group theater while studying in Chittagong University.
He acted in his first TV drama in 1985. In his lifetime he acted in more than 400 dramas and films throughout his eventful long career.
His notable dramas are Ure Jai Bok Pokhkhi, 24 Carat Men, Tin Gadha, Priyo Protipakkha, Josna Korechhe Aari, and Sakin Sarisuri.
The actor was awarded the country's second highest civilian award, the Ekushey Padak this year for his remarkable contribution in acting.
In 2006, he won National Film Award as best supporting actor for playing his role in film Ghani.
State Minister for Cultural Affairs Ministry KM Khalid expressed deep shock and sorrow at the demise of the talented actor.
Curtain closes on 40th Jatiya Rabindra Sangeet Sammelan
The 40th Jatiya Rabindra Sangeet Sammelan came to an end at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy's (BSA) National Theater Hall auditorium in Dhaka Sunday.
The three-day flagship event of the Jatiya Rabindra Sangeet Sammelan Parishad (JRSP) featured several programmes this year, celebrating the return of the in-person edition to the capital for the first time after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eminent academician and researcher Professor Syed Manjurul Islam joined the closing ceremony as the chief guest.
"As an ardent admirer of Rabindranath, I have studied his majestic literary creations, especially his music. And I was also fortunate to explore his exclusive artworks at the Shantiniketan in Kolkata, India. He visited many East Bengal townships and got a close-up look at the people's everyday lives – this experience ultimately showed up in his writing."
"It is impossible to explore and practice all of Rabindranath's talents in one lifetime, and that is why we need arrangements like this convention."
Ekushey Padak winner recitation artist Bhaswar Bandyopadhyay hosted the ceremony, and National Rabindra Sangeet Sammelan Parishad Executive President Atiur Rahman presided over it.
‘Ei Somoy’: 7 bands including Meghdol perform for Dhaka music lovers
Music lovers in Dhaka turned out at the series premiere of ‘Ei Somoy’, an exclusive series of concerts, at the Liberation War Museum auditorium on Friday (October 14, 2022).
‘Chapter One’ of this series had seven popular bands perform live – Meghdol, Avash, Shonar Bangla Circus, Shohojia, Shohortoli, Bangla Five and Apekkhik – captivating the packed auditorium from 3 pm till 10 pm.
Organised by Acoustica and powered by Metal Freak T-Shirt, the concert began with the performances of Apekkhik.
The autumnal afternoon was then greeted by Bangla Five, enthralling the fans with their popular tracks including “Left Right.” Sohortoli performed their fan-favourites after Bangla Five. Shohojia came up next with their popular tracks “Chhoto Pakhi,” “Ma,” “Jadukor” and more.
Read: Kabir Suman 'to go ahead with concerts in Dhaka'
Fans enjoyed the songs by Shonar Bangla Circus next, known for their unique line-up and majestic theatrical performances. Vocalist Probar Ripon delivered one after another hit of the band, including “Ondho Deyal,” “Ami Valobashi Tomake,” “Mrittu Utpadon Karkhana” and more, alongside the captivating instrumental performances of his bandmates.
Avash with Tanzir Tuhin was up next, covering a couple of popular tracks including “Prithibita Naki Chhoto Hotey Hotey” by the Indian Bangla band Moheener Ghoraguli, alongside originals including “Avash” and “Nishchup Adhar.”
Meghdol, the showstopper band of the night, then took the stage and had the crowd singing along to “Esho Amar Shohore,” “Kichhu Bishad Hok Pakhi,” “Nirban,” and ended the show with their latest track “E Hawa” from their upcoming album ‘Aluminum er Dana.’
“We did this arrangement with some psychedelic bands for the first chapter, and in coming days, new bands will be added to this event,” said Saikot Biswas Tutul, coordinator of the concert. Beyond the capital, ‘Ei Somoy’ will move forward in different parts of the country, he added.