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Joymoti to be screened at Dhaka fest

By Staff reporter

GUWAHATI, Aug 30 � The 60-minute surviving version of Rupkonwar Jyotiprasad Agarwala�s Joymoti will be screened in Dhaka during the India-Bangladesh joint celebration of 100 years of Indian Cinema and Soumitra Chatterjee Film Retrospective, said Altaf Mazid, who is connected with this version of the film.

Prior to Dhaka, the surviving version had its international premiere in the film festival of �Bollywood and Beyond� of Stuttgart in 2006, and subsequently was screened in Asiaticafilmidale (Encounters with Asian Cinema) of Rome 2006, Munich Film Festival 2006, and Asian�s Cinefan of Delhi 2008.

The Indira Gandhi Culture Centre, Dhaka, in association with the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC), is organising the India-Bangladesh Joint Celebration of 100 years of Indian Cinema and Soumitra Chatterjee Film Retrospective from September 1 to 8 (excluding September 6) at the Main Auditorium of the Bangladesh National Museum, Dhaka. The programme is being supported by the Ministry for Cultural Affairs of the Government of the People�s Republic of Bangladesh and the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Informations Broadcasting of the Government of India.

Indian cinema turned 100 on April 21, 2012. Hundred years ago on May 3, 1913, the legendary Dada Saheb Phalke, the Father of Indian Cinema, released his epochal feature film Raja Harishchandra.

In this festival, 15 films from India and eight films from Bangladesh will be screened in the DVD format. The Soumitra retrospective will include the actor�s famous collaborations with Satyajit Ray such as �Apur Sansar,� �Ashani Sanket,� �Ghare Baire,� �Hirak Rajar Desh,� and �Sonar Kella.�

Joymoti was a historical figure, an Ahom princess in the 17th century, who embraced death to save husband Gadapani from the wrath of the incumbent king. The complete version of the film no longer exists. Fragments of an old print were found in a garage by Hridayananda Agarwala and they were later incorporated into a longer documentary. This reconstruction done by Altaf Mazid has used that surviving fragmented footage from that documentary.

Meanwhile, the Film Division of India has decided to screen Bhal Khabar (18 minutes, colour) on September 1 at 4pm at its Mumbai RR Theatre. This film is made by Altaf Mazid basing on an article of noted writer Saurav Kumar Chaliha (published in Amar Asom on 1.1.98). Chaliha also rendered his voice for the background narrative of the film.

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