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To mark its 10th founding anniversary, Nagarik Natyangan, a well-known theatre group, has organised a week-long theatre festival which will commence from today at the National Theatre Hall of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
   The festival will be inaugurated by Obaidul Huq, a renowned journalist, while poet and playwright Munzur-e-Mowla and former advisor of the caretaker government of Bangladesh Manzur Elahi will be present as special guests.
   On the occasion, the group will honour Professor Kabir Chowdhury, Sayeed Ahmed, a playwright, Aly Zaker, drama director and performer, Syed Shamsul Huq, poet and playwright and Professor Abdus Selim for their noteworthy contributions in the field of literature in translation. Besides, Ataur Rahman and Nasir Uddin Yusuf will be honoured for direction while Professor Rafiqun Nabi will receive the honour for art.
   Two groups, CAT from Dhaka and Abash from Kolkata, will join the festival to celebrate the group’s tenth founding anniversary. Habuchandra Gabuchandra by Nagarik Natyangan will be staged on the opening day.
   The plays which will be staged at the hall are Janatar Rangashala, Golmatha Chokamatha, Ami Birangana Bolchhi, Brand, Shikarukti, Char Odhyay, Opurba Golap. They will be presented by Nagarik Natyangan, CAT and Abash at 06:30pm.
   The plot of the play Habuchandra Gabuchandra revolves around two characters, Habu and Gabu. These characters have been depicted from the poem Joota Abishkar by Rabindranath Tagore. The plot portrays Habu and Gabu facing many humorous incidents in order to save their shoes from dust or mud. Most of the people in the locality are intrigued at their comical nature. To find out what happens next, enjoy the drama Habuchandra Gabuchandra.
   Advance tickets are available at Sagar Publishers and Theatre Corner on Bailey Road as well as Pathak Samabesh and Mormor at Aziz Supermarket.

Films, no matter how hard they try seldom become a true portrayal of the real world. Well, the idea of movies is to provide a getaway; so there is nothing wrong if they ditch the real world and take in doses of fantasy. But, in providing entertainment contemporary films take in so much of fun, frolic and miracles that often they turn into pathetically superficial fairy tales. Maybe that is the idea but in giving us too much candyfloss often films forget to perform one of its major roles: to give us a picture of the times we live in.
   The recently held German film festival highlighting contemporary productions veered away from the common formula of high octane action, highfalutin dialogue and the morally resolute protagonist to give us a very biting and perhaps depressing picture of life. But, before one appreciates the works one needs to look at our society steeped in dishonesty, full of pretension and immersed in lies and self-gratification. Yes, it’s a sorry picture but the fact is, all over the world it’s the same story – morality takes a severe beating, honesty is repaid by betrayal whereas hypocrisy and deception keep on living.
   Almost all the films that were shown at the Goethe Institut in co-operation with the Dhaka University Film Society (DUFS) had an undercurrent of negativity in them. Relationships were broken off, commitments flouted, laws circumvented and ethics trampled upon.
   As we talk of a sense of disillusionment smeared over these films, we bring one film titled, ‘Lichter’ into perspective.
   Beginning with an inescapable aura of doom this film looks at chunks of lives of people near the German-Polish border. One group of Ukranians fleeing grinding poverty and economic uncertainty come to the border in the hope of crossing over to Germany, a taxi-driver operating in this area desperately needs money to buy a new dress for his daughter, a woman interpreter working for the German border police wants to help a Ukranian to go to Germany, two lovers meet each other after a two year break and a young girl is caught in a triangular relation involving two brothers. These seemingly separate events form the basis of the film but as moments pass the individual sequences form a bond that in the end takes them, towards an ending that is anything but happy. Lichter is a film that rides on nothing but disappointments and shattering truth. What we see in real life is what we get here, no attempts to bring in miracles because in real life miracles never happen. Most of the Ukranians trying to cross the border are apprehended, some die of hypothermia and one is caught by the police, the taxi driver steals the money of his client, a couple with a baby wanting to cross the border, because he needs to buy a dress for his daughter, the female interpreter smuggles in a Ukranian man to Germany only to find that the man has stolen a camera from her car and a small businessman finds his business going bust with bleak prospects of a loan. Lovers do not see a happy end to their reunification as the man discovers that the girl has to work not only in the office but also in the bedroom of her superiors. With all these developments, Lichter’s main power is that it asks the audience to build hopes and then when there is the expectation of something ideal, reality is brought in with its heartless effects, pointing to the fragility of our anticipation. Though the overwhelming theme of the film is despondence, the inner message tells us that all actions and everything we do are focussed towards one thing – money. May sound too harsh, but that is the unadulterated truth. While all our visions and desires are guided by monetary considerations, good old honest motives do step in from time to time but faced with a deluge of cynicism, double dealing and hypocrisy these noble intentions just end up lost and beleaguered. Like the girl who tells her lover, ‘grow up and come to the real world’ Lichter asks us to leave our foolish dreams. Sounds too negative? Maybe, but admit it, this film will make us capable of taking life with all its disappointments.

On the occasion of the National Street Theatre Festival organised by the Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation and Bengal Foundation a number of plays were staged at two different venues, the central Shaheed Minar and the Rabindra Sarobar.
   The festival is a seven day programme and on the fourth day, Kheali group from Barisal, Chattogram theatre from Chittagong, Bonolata Natya Shangshad from Jhenidah, Kalomer Shainik Natya Shangshad from Magura, Tarunno Natya Goshti from Sylhet staged their plays. The plays were Public Servant, Dhormaghat, Adhab, Akjon Mukitojoddha and Akjon Muktijoddhar Golpho. The audience enjoyed the dramas and the programme will run till February 7.
   The festival was inaugurated at the Central Shaheed Minar Premises by eminent educationist Sardar Fazlul Karim. Theatre personalities Ramendu Majumdar, Mamunur Rashid, Nasiruddin Yousuf and others were present and spoke to promote and popularize our plays.
   The play titled Ekjon Muktijodda by Kalamer Sainik Natya Sangsad and staged at Rabindra Sarabar in Dhanmondi deals with the glorious Liberation War of the country. The plot of the drama revolves around two police constables who imitate what their actual boss does while speaking over the telephone. They think that if they became the boss, they would serve the country better. Meanwhile, they flatter their superior in his presence, who, by the way played a remarkable role during the Liberation War. Though the freedom fighters were able to defeat the Pakistan led occupation force, some malicious forces are still powerful and have been perpetrating destructive work damaging the country as well as its
   reputation.

The search is on for a young actor to fill the tuxedo of Agent 007 in the next James Bond film, ‘Casino Royale’, to be based on Ian Fleming’s first novel about the suave British spy with a license to kill.
   Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. said on Friday that filmmaker Martin Campbell has signed on to direct the 21st Bond movie, paving the way for casting to succeed Pierce Brosnan, 51, as the star of the multibillion-dollar film franchise.
   Campbell directed Brosnan in his debut as Bond in the 1995 film ‘GoldenEye’.
   In a message posted on his official Web site (http://www.piercebrosnan.com) this week, the Irish-born actor bid farewell to the role he inhabited in four films over nearly a decade, saying, ‘everything comes to an end.’
   MGM and the producers behind the Bond franchise said no decision has been made about casting. Brosnan has suggested that fellow Irish actor Colin Farrell would be ideal for the role, but Farrell has said he was uninterested.
   Other young actors whose names have surfaced as possible replacements include Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, Eric Bana and Clive Owen.
   Earlier big-screen incarnations of the British agent, starting with the film ‘Dr. No’ in 1962, were played by Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby.
   Production on ‘Casino Royale,’ slated for release in 2006, will start as soon as the New Zealand-born Campbell wraps up filming on his sequel to ‘The Mask of Zorro,’ MGM said.
   — Reuters

A seminar is to be held on the role of Bangla Academy in studying folklore today at 4:00pm at the Academy premises.
   Syed Mohammad Shahed will present the main paper while Momen Chowdhury, Mohammad Abdul Jalil and Mohammad Abdul Wahab will discuss it.
   Professor Abdul Hafiz will preside over the function.
   The seminar will be followed by a cultural programme.

John Kruger (Schwar zenegger) does disappearing acts - he makes Federal witnesses under his watch vanish. With clean slates, their enemies think they're dead and they can start lives anew. So if your name appears on Kruger's list, you're as good as dead. Pray you stay that way. But some lives are harder to erase than others. When Lee Cullen (Williams) discovers that her company is selling lethal weapons to international terrorists with the help of invisible hands in the government, she's a marked woman. But Kruger's got his eyes on her. To flush his witness out so that the terrorists can have their toys for Christmas, Kruger's up against some really top competition - government agents who are on the terrorists' payroll. In the end, he'll have to do some permanent erasing, so his enemies don't show up again.
   HBO
   8:30pm
   Starring
   Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams, James Caan
   Genre
   Action/Adventure