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Over the years, women have been flocking to Pride in order to buy elegant saris at reasonable prices. With 54 outlets all over the country, it continues to offer its trademark cotton saris at an affordable price, along with a new diversified collection of home furnishings, kid’s wear and other women’s clothing.
   The ambience heavily invested in, the new Banani outlet of Pride is extremely spacious and attractive. The cosy décor certainly makes the experience of shopping for friends and family special. The store’s specialisation, the saris, is displayed in a manner that manages to resemble traditional sari shops on one hand and a modern store on the other. They are wrapped around spools on the walls. Other outlets like the ones in Bashundhara City and Rapa Plaza are less striking, but the way these beautiful saris are arranged makes the process of just looking around enjoyable.
   Pride has gained immense popularity for their collection of cotton saris over the years. It has been proven that cotton saris are not only within everybody’s reach (the price ranging from Tk 350 to Tk 500) but the fabric is also long lasting and certainly worth the buy. ‘We will continue to enhance the range of saris available by using newer materials, crafting newer designs and improvising’ says Abdul Momen the director of Pride.
   Typical Pride cotton saris are available in bright colours, with and without embroidery. There is also a collection of block print cotton saris with contrasting colours that make them eye catching. Kota saris that have gained immense popularity recently are present in different forms. They are offered in full prints and zari dye costing around Tk 1200 to Tk 1650. There is also ‘Karchupi’ kota saris costing around Tk 1850. Saris are also present with hand stitches, glass work, hazarbuti and each have their own distinctive feel to them. ‘This year a lot of work has been done on saris with sequins’ said Bizly Hoque the head of product development and design manager of Pride. The most expensive sari this season is an endi silk with benarasi patch work on it, costing around Tk 5000 and the finish is absolutely fabulous.
   Kid’s wear is new to Pride’s collection. Aimed at 4 – 7 year old boys and girls, the outfits cost around Taka 350. ‘A range of western style t-shirts are available for women, from the younger generations’ says Momen. The prices of these trendy and chic T-shirts range between Tk 250 to Tk 450. Kurtis are also available in festive colours with innovative designs and exclusive sequins work. Maroon kurtis are specially gorgeous and perfect to wear at parties.
   ‘All our products are made of Bangladeshi material, and we take great pride in this fact’ says Momen. Other than these Bangladeshi knit-wear products for ladies and kids, home furnishings like towels and cushion covers along with bedspreads are also available. ‘The cushions made up of dupian silk are available in various designs and colours, costing around Tk 500 to Tk 700’ says Bizly Hoque. Jewellery and home furnishings are available that are not only needed in everyday life, by ourselves, but are also ideal gifts for friends in Eid or other functions. Bed sheets are made of cotton knit wear and cost around Tk 750 to Tk 1200.
   ‘Our greatest strengths are the consistency in quality and designs over the years. We have managed to gather a strong customer base because of the satisfaction they feel after buying and using our products. We will continue to enhance the quality and increase the basket of goods available at pride’ says Momen. With such optimistic determination it is obvious that Pride will continue to impress for many years to come.
   
   Pride
   Bashundhara City
   Rapa Plaza
   Banani Road 11

It was like a Shraban day in autumn. Fortunately the day long drizzle did not mar the programme. Many theatre enthusiasts gathered at the office room of the drama group, Theatre, at 1 Natya Sarani (Bailey Road) in the city.
   The group, as part of its regular programme related to theatre, arranged a discussion on Deen Bandhu Mitra and his plays, especially on his most popular play, Neel Darpan on the afternoon of October 21.
   Noted playwright Sayeed Ahmed was present as the chief guest while Dr Afsar Ahmed of Jahangir Nagar University, Dr Soumitra Shekhar of Dhaka University and president of the drama group Theatre, Professor Momtaj Uddin Ahmed were present as the discussants. Actor Keramat Mawla chaired the function. Theatre secretary Rezaul Ekram Raju in his speech welcomed the audience.
   The function started with a song taken from Neel Darpan and sung by Nilufar Banu and Kamrul Hasan. The discussants said that Neel Darpan, which was written in 1860, can be considered the first ever Bangladeshi drama as it was written, published and staged first in Dhaka. The playwright had written the play just one year after the historic Neel Bidroha, in which he presents the peasants and highlights their revolt against the indigo cultivators, the tyranny of British and the local zamindars.
   According to them, Deen Bandhu was a down to earth person and he had written Neel Darpan as his commitment to the common people. He depicted the problems of the peasants so authentically that the British government forbade the staging of the play.
   As a government servant, Deen Bandhu Mirta was under tremendous pressure because of his free thinking and his play; he was constantly transferred from one posting to another, as a mean of harassments by the authorities.
   The discussants further said that it is very interesting and wonderful that how the playwright used the original dialects and the colloquial languages used that time very effectively.
   Unlike the other contemporary plays, Deen Bandhu Mitra had presented the common people as his heroes. He followed three classical unities of the play, the unity of time, place and action.
   The set of the play and the costumes were very simple, as the theatre groups of that time could stage plays with a limited budget. It became so popular that in 1872 the play was staged seven times in five months.
   The playwright used songs in his play which was a new dimension in writing plays. Died at the age of only 43, Deen Bandhu Mitra had also written a number of other plays, such as Sadhabar Ekadashi, Biye Bari, Jamai Bari and Biye Pagla Buro to name a few. These plays are also popular in the history of Bangla theatre.

The world premiere of a film from Oscar-nominated director Zhang Yimou is to open Tokyo International Film Festival this weekend.
   Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles follows a Japanese fisherman and his dying son as they travel to China.
   Zhang Yimou’s film Hero was nominated for a best foreign film Oscar in 2003.
   The nine-day annual festival will also show wrestler biopic Rikidozan and award six prizes, including the $100,000 (£56,200) Tokyo Grand Prix.
   The festival is showing fewer Hollywood blockbusters this year as movies from nations including Japan, China and South Korea take prominence.
   ‘Asian cinema has been gathering momentum in recent years and shows no sign of abating, with films from all over the region finding audiences across the globe,’ said festival chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa. The theme for this year’s festival is collaboration, especially between Japan and Asia.
   Rikidozan, from South Korean director Song Hae-seong, is based on the true story of the eponymous pro-wrestler who became a national hero in Japan after World War II.
   The few Hollywood movies in the festival include Christmas fantasy Noel, starring Penelope Cruz. Aardman animation’s hit Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit will also be shown.

Africa-based movie ‘The Constant Gardener’, based on the novel by John le Carre, opens the London Film Festival on Wednesday.
   More than 20 movies will be screened daily over the next two weeks, including the latest offerings from directors like Steven Soderbergh, Lars von Trier and Terry Gilliam.
   The Constant Gardener, a political and romantic thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz, is set in Kenya and was directed by the man behind ‘City of God’, Fernando Meirelles.
   Le Carre, the author of ‘The Spy Who Came in from the Cold’ and ‘Smiley’s People’ shifted from Cold War espionage to modern-day Africa for his 2000 book.
   The film follows the life of a British diplomat (Fiennes) in Nairobi who goes in search of the truth behind the brutal murder of his wife (Weisz).
   Closing the festival, Britain’s largest, is ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’, a film directed by George Clooney which chronicles the real-life conflict between a US television man and Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s when McCarthy presided over an anti-communist witch-hunt.
   The line-up of films during the festival also includes an extensive programme of shorts, documentaries and restorations of several Charlie Chaplin and Keystone films.

Pluto Nash (Murphy, Shrek 2, The Haunted Mansion) has his hands on some hot property -- he's the proud and successful owner of the most popular nightclub in town. Only this isn't any ordinary town, but the moon, circa 2087.
   The nightclub peeks the interest of a ruthless gangster Mogan (Emmy® Award winner Pantoliano, The Moguls, A Piece Of My Heart). But when Pluto refuses to sell, he finds himself knee deep in trouble. But that's the least of his worries. Seems Mogan's working for Rex Crater, a mysterious mastermind scheming to take over the moon. But Pluto isn't going to let some craterface moonwalk over his dreams.
   With the help of an aspiring singer Dina Lake (Dawson, Alexander, The Rundown) and Nash's robot bodyguard Bruno (Golden Globe® winner Quaid, Black Cadillac, Grind), this man on the moon is ready to give em' hell.
   The Adventures Of Pluto Nash
   HBO
   9:30pm
   Starring
   Eddie Murphy, Randy Quaid, Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano