The first ever Bharat-Bangladesh Film Awards (BBFA) ceremony was held at International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) in the capital on Monday.
Bashundhara Group, country’s leading business conglomerate, and Film Federation of India jointly organised the gala award ceremony. The event was presented by TM Films, a Bangladeshi film production company.
At the outset of the programme, Bashundhara Group Chairman Ahmed Akbar Sobhan was accorded special honour for his supportive role in organising such a mega event.
Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud and minister of West Bengal Bratya Basu and President of the Film Federation of India (FFI) Firdausul Hasan were present at the inauguration ceremony.
Dr Hasan Mahmud said that this kind of cultural exchange will help develop the film industry and create a synergy between the two neighbouring countries.
“We have many things in common that keep close each other in every aspect. I hope our film industry will shine globally with our joint efforts” he said.
Bratya Basu, who is also a dramatist, director and actor, said such a big cultural programme reflected beautiful and meaningful relations of two Bengals.
“Once we had meaningful cultural exchanges between us. We organised film festival for the first time in 1965 where great Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray was present. It is just beginning of a new era for our film industry which will progress fast in coming days”, said Bratya Basu.
Jury members from Bangladesh side actor Alamgir Hossain, Sarah Begum Kabori, novelist Imdadul Haq Milan, Film Producers’ Association president Khorshed Alam Khasru and film producer Hasibur Reza Kallol and from Indian side renowned filmmaker Goutam Ghosh, actor-director Bratya Basu, Gautam Bhattacharya and actress Tanushree Chakraborty were present.
West Bengal popular actor Ranjit Mollik and Bangladesh actress Anwara Begum have been given lifetime achievement awards.
Twenty-four awards were given in three categories to Bengali films which were released in Bangladesh and India between June, 2018 and June 2019.
The awards are best film, best producer, best actor and actress, best co-actor and co-actress, best music, the best musician (male and female), popular film of the year, popular actor and actress of the year, life time achievement, best screenplay and best editor.
Anchored by noted comedian Mir Afsar Ali from West Bengal and actor Shahriar Nazim Joy from Bangladesh, popular actors and actresses from West Bengal and Bangladesh entertained the audience with their performance.
