Dubai: It’s that time of the year again when lovers of Bengali cinema in Dubai and the UAE get a chance to lap up some of the best current producations from the industry. The ‘Banga Prabashi Milap 2019,’ a film festival and cultural extravaganza scheduled to be held in Dubai on December 6-7, will showcase four such films at the Canadian University hall.
Headlining it will be ‘Gumnaami,’ the controversial film directed by Srijit Mukherjee on the mystery over the death (or disappearance) of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, arguably India’s tallest freedom fighter in the struggle for independence against the British rule. The film drew ire from some members of the Bose family, but went on sweep the box office collections on it’s release during the Durga Puja festival in October.
Prasenjit Chatterjee, the enduring star who played Netaji in the film, will be present during the screening of the film on October 6 while a number of other stars and directors from the industry will be also in attendance.
Two other films to the menu, ‘Satyanweshi Byomkesh’ and ‘Mitin Mashi’ are from the detective oeuvre of Bengali literature. Byomkesh, the Bengali bhadralok detective immortalized by novelist Saradindu Bandopadhyay, has been a favourite with Tollywood directors and the current one has Parambrata Chattopadhyay playing the lead role. ‘Mitin Mashi,’ a women detective created by Suchitra Bhattacharya, has been directed by Arindam Sil with Koel Mullick playing the role. The fourth film is ‘Mukhomukhi,’ starring Jishu Sengupta.
Anjan Dutta, veteran musician, director and actor and Rupam Islam – one of the Bengal band icons – will be performing at the Emirates International School audiotorium in Dubai on December 7. Tickets will be available on Platinumlist from November 15 onwards.
‘’ Like every year, our aim is to showcase a slice of Bengali culture and latest selection of films for the expat audience to bring back the nostalgia,’’ said Saptarshi Dutta, secretary of St. Xaviers Alumni, Dubai Chapter, organisers of the festival.
