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Ek din alu, ek din jabu, ore abodh mon — a bhawaiya by AKM Mustafizur Rahman, opened the second day’s music programme of the four day folksong festival which began on the evening of February 25 at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, Segun Bagicha. Singers from different parts of the country are participating in the festival.
   It was followed by Dil Afroze Reba who rendered Lalon’s Bhabe manush guru nishtha jar. Laila Binte Hossain sang Kanai Lal Shil’s Bandhur preme shil pashilo sai followed by Mohammad Enamul Haque with Bijoy Sarkar’s Ami jare basi bhalo se kire ta jane.
   Mohammad Abdul Alim’s palligiti, Ashar masher bhasa pani re and Shama Ahmed’s bhatiali, Amar gahin ganger naiya enthralled the audience. These songs are gems in the world of music and are being protected and upheld, the organisers said.
   Apart from the solo singers, Abdur Rahman Bayati Shilpi Goshthi, Parash Ali Dewan and his troupe, Ranjit Das Baul and his troupe and Arman Pagla and his troupe also sang in the function.
   A huge number of folk music lovers have been thronging to the Academy everyday. In the inaugural ceremony of the festival, Abdur Rahman Bayati, who has been ill for quite some time, said that the government should consider increasing the remuneration for singers and other musicians.
   The festival, organised by the Music and Dance Department of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, will end today.

Black swept all top seven prestigious awards, including the Best Film, at the 51st Fair One Filmfare Award, at a gala evening on February 26 in Bombay.
   The Best Actor and Actress awards went to Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji for Black while Sanjay Leela Bhansali got the Best Director award (for Black).
   Besides, Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherji also received the Critic’s Awards for Black.
   Ayesha Kapoor got the Best Supporting Actress for Black and Abhishek Bachchan the Best Supporting Actor for Sarkar.
   In the Comic Role category, Akshay Kumar received the best award for Garam Masala while Nana Patekar received the Best Actor Award in a villainous role for Apaharan.
   Himesh Reshammiya took the Best Male Playback Singer award for Aashiq Banaya Aapne in the film Aashiq Banaya Aapne while Alisha Chinai took the Best Female Singer award for Kajra re in Bunty Aur Babli.
   The best music award went to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for Bunty Aur Babli while the best lyricist award went to Gulzar for Kajra re in the film Bunty Aur Babli.
   The best debut actress and actor awards went to Vidya Balan for Parineeta and Shiney Ahuja for 'Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi respectively.
   Shabana Azmi was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

On the fifth day of the ITI Theatre Festival, Nritya Nandan’s much acclaimed dance drama, Tagore’s Chandalika, was staged at the auditorium of the Jatiya Natyashala of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Segun Bagicha.
   Directed and choreographed by Sharmili Bandapaddhaya, who also designed the costumes, the dance drama captivated the audience. Rizwana Chowdhury Bannya and Durbadal Chatterji jointly directed the music.
   Milita Chowdhury’s set design was simple but attractive; Bhaswar Bandapaddhaya’s lighting was also very effective.
   Sharmila Bandapa-ddhaya played the role of Prakriti and Lubna Marium that of the mother. Bannya sang the songs for Prakriti while Rama Mandal sang for the mother. Among others, Abul Hasan Tapan, Afsana, Laxmi, Chitra, Snigdha, Sudeshna, Oishi, Priangka, Nipa and Liza performed in the production.
   Rani, Sathi, Dipa, Sharmin, Rebeca, Talat, Bidisha, Kanak, Jyoti also sang along with other singers.
   The students of Sadhana seemed to have done their rehearsal well, and the show has developed over the time consistently. In the role of Prakriti, the director perhaps could consider selecting some one younger to do more justice to the role.
   Sharmili Bandapaddhaya said that they have plans to hold similar shows across the country in the near future.

Indian-born director Deepa Mehta was celebrating Saturday after her problem-plagued film Water finally found its way to success, winning best film award at the Bangkok International Film Festival.
   Water, which focuses on the plight of castigated widows in Gandhi-era India was nearly abandoned by Mehta after protests by Hindu extremists halted filming and then became the centre of a bitter tug-of-war at the festival.
   In Bangkok, organisers said a Thai studio had tried to pull Water from the competition as part of a boycott of the festival being staged by the nation's film industry group which claims it was not properly consulted over the event.
   A jury led by Australian director Fred Schepisi awarded the prize which Princess Ubol Ratana of Thailand presented to Mehta and Canadian David Hamilton at a star-studded awards ceremony in the capital late Friday.
   The festival closes Monday with Rent, based on the musical that focuses on poverty, illness and AIDS.

The following plays Koibarta Bidraha by Bogra Theatre, Behular Bhasan by Dramatics Department of the Dhaka University and Janmadin by Theatre will be staged at the National Theatre Hall, Experimental Theatre Hall and at Mahila Samity on Bailey Road respectively at 6:30pm today on the occasion of the ITI festival.

Starring:
   Michael Douglas, Glenn Close
   This blockbuster suspense thriller was nominated for 6 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, Best Director (for Adrain Lyne) & Best Supporting Actress for Glenn Close.
   Happily married man Dan Gallagher (Douglas, The In-Laws, Traffic) makes the mistake of his life when he has a brief affair with lady executive Alex Forrest (Academy Award® nominated actress Close, The Stepford Wives, Heights). He's had enough but she wants more and is about to make his life a violent, waking nightmare! ‘Fatal Attraction – is the classic suspense, spellbinding thriller –’ says movie critic Roger Ebert. With Anne Archer – who starred in ‘November’ and ‘Rules of Engagement’ – as the beautiful wife.