Main Page «
Front Page «
Metro «
Business «
International «
Sports «
National «
Editorial «
Op-Ed «
Home «
Letters «

Archive «
Launch Supplement «
Special Supplements «

Ritwik theatre group from India staged Deshadrohi, based on Henrik Ibsen's 'An Enemy of the People' at the National Theatre Hall of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in Dhaka on February 13.
   Scripted and directed by Goutam Roy Choudhury, the play presented the deadly consequences of the atomic radiation in the region of Chhotanagpur in India.
   In the play, Dr Mitra, a government physician, finds that the people of the region have been suffering from critical skin diseases and other complicacies. He sends a bottle of water as sample to the researchers in Kolkata for examination.
   The researchers detect serious pollution in the water of a tiny tourist town Jadugora.
   The pollution is caused due to the waste materials piled years after years. The waste materials are coming out from the atomic plant which is installed for researching uranium in the area in 1960.
   Water of the river Subarnarekha has been polluted by the atomic radiation and the people of this region have been worst affected.
   People, who were unaware of the affect of the atomic radiation, become motivated by the local politicians.
   They refuse Dr Mitra's detection of atomic radiation in water and his call for the closing of the plant or to manage the atomic waste in more scientific way.
   Being motivated by the politicians, the villagers treat Dr Mitra as a deshadrohi or a traitor.
   They attack the physician's house and chant slogans demanding his death. The politicians term him as an agent of the Pakistan, which country does not want India's development in the atomic sector.
   The government also refuses Dr Mitra's demands and arrests him because of his 'disloyalty' to the government.
   Goutam has very successfully adapted the story and touched the hearts of the audience by upholding the danger of the atomic radiation.
   His urge against the unsafe atomic research has reflected the urge of the common people across the world.
   The members of Ritwik, such as Amal Bhattacharya as Dr Mitra; Rakhi Tapadar as Shampa, the wife of Dr Mitra; Shipra Sen as Sweta, the daughter of Dr Mitra; Joydev Tapadar as Rajendra Yadav, the publisher of the newspaper Ganamukh; Mohit Bandhu Adhikary as Nirmal, the editor of the paper; Tarun Sarkar as Chandan, the reporter, Biplab Dey as Sarbashishi, chairman and the brother of Dr Mitra and Pulak Guha as the police officer performed in the play.
   Sugata Sen worked as the set designer while Sudip Sanyal worked for lighting and Murari Roy Chowdhury for music.

A movie about police violence in Rio de Janeiro that Oscar contender 'There Will Be Blood' took two prizes, including best director for Paul Thomas Anderson. Sally Hawkins was named best actress for her part in British director Mike Leigh's 'Happy-Go-Lucky,' while Iran's Reza Naji took the best actor award for the lead role in 'The Song of Sparrows.'
   'Elite Squad,' which is directed by Jose Padilha and looks at the shady workings of Rio's Special Operations Police Battalion, faced an unsuccessful attempt by some officers to keep it out of theatres at the time of its release last year. It has since become a box-office hit in Brazil.
   It is not a documentary, but claims to tell the true stories of 12 former officers from the black-uniformed paramilitary unit whose very insignia - a dagger-impaled skull - strikes fear into residents of Rio's shanty towns. Human rights groups have claimed the squad, which battles with armed drug gangs, fires indiscriminately. 'The film already became a very big thing in Brazil, and this reward gives us the strength to go forward,' producer Marcos Prado said as he and Padilha accepted the Golden Bear statuette Saturday evening.
   The festival's jury grand prize, which comes with a runner-up Silver Bear, went to Oscar-winning US director Errol Morris' 'Standard Operating Procedure,' a documentary on the scandal over prisoner abuse at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
   'There Will Be Blood,' starring Daniel Day-Lewis as an obsessed turn-of-the-century oil man, had been many critics' favourite to win the top honours. It has eight Oscar nominations, including for best film and best actor.
   It still landed the best director prize for Anderson, who won the Golden Bear in 2000 for 'Magnolia,' and the award for an outstanding artistic contribution, which went to Jonny Greenwood's musical score.
   Hawkins won the best actress prize for playing a London teacher in 'Happy-Go-Lucky.' Leigh has said the movie is meant to celebrate the power of positive thinking, and Hawkins described it as 'extraordinary, beautiful and very special film.'
   Naji was honoured as best actor for playing a long-suffering father in director Majid Majidi's 'The Song of Sparrows.' Naji plays Karim, who loses his job on an ostrich farm and then falls into working as a motorcycle taxi driver in Tehran as he struggles to make ends meet.