NEW DELHI: India and Bangladesh are to jointly collaborate to produce a documentary on the 1971 War of Independence of Bangladesh to mark the 100thbirth anniversary of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020.
Information and Broadcasting Minister M Vekaiah Naidu told his Bangladesh counterpart Hasanul Haq Inu here today that the archival material available with Films Division, Doordarshan and other media units would be optimally utilized.
This documentary is proposed to be produced to commemorate the 50th year of Bangladesh Independence in 2021. Naidu also agreed to the proposal of Inu to facilitate the production of a movie by Bangladesh to coincide with the centenary of Bangabandhu.
Both sides also agreed to jointly workout a proposal for a joint Audio-visual co-production agreement between the two countries. It was agreed to organize Film Festival of India in Bangladesh and a Bangladesh Film Festival in India.
The Bangladesh Minister agreed to the request of Naidu to provide the celluloid version of the film Devdas directed by Pramatesh Barua, the Bengali version produced in 1935. Bangladesh had earlier provided the DVD version of the film to National Film Archives of Inda.
Referring to facilitation of Free Film Trade between the two countries, Naidu said Bangladesh could consider relaxing the legal provisions which restricted the number of Indian films in that country. The easing of restrictions would have a positive impact on the local film industry. The Minister also offered to train the young film makers and entrepreneurs from Bangladesh at the Indian Film and Training Institutes. He also mentioned that collaborative measures would be initiated between the National Film Development Corporation and Bangladesh Film Development Corporation to promote joint production of films and also between NFAI and Bangladesh Film Archives for digitization and archiving.
The Ministers during their deliberations also agreed to promote capacity building and training workshops for media persons, exchange programme for officers associated with Information and Broadcasting and exchange of programs between DD and its counterpart in Bangladesh.
Naidu said information dissemination is critical to counter terrorism which is a common issue plaguing both India and Bangladesh. Secretary Ajay Mittal and senior officers of the Ministry were also present in the meeting between the two delegations.
