Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – Central News Hub

Violence Grips Bangladesh

As many as 4 lakh protesters were on the streets of Dhaka, though the exact numbers were yet to be ascertained….reports Asian Lite News

With Sheikh Hasina reportedly resigning as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and fleeing the country amid an unprecedented protest led by the students, jubilant crowds were seen waving flags on the streets of Dhaka, even as scores of agitators stormed ‘Ganabandhan’, the official residence of the PM.

A section of the crowd also vandalised a statue of former Bangladesh President and the country’s independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka.

According to the local media, as many as 4 lakh protesters were on the streets of Dhaka, though the exact numbers were yet to be ascertained.

Earlier in an address to the nation, Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman announced that Sheikh Hasina has resigned as the Prime Minister, and an interim government will be formed soon to run the country,

General Waker-Uz-Zaman also urged the citizens to keep their trust in the Bangladesh Army, asserting that the defence forces will ensure peace in the coming days.

The Army chief also said that he will be meeting President Mohammed Shahabuddin soon.

The developments followed after over 100 people were killed and more than 1,000 injured in the clashes that took place between police and protesters on Sunday.

“With yesterday’s count, the death toll in anti-government protests crossed 300 in just three weeks, making it the bloodiest period in the history of Bangladesh’s civil movement,” Bangladesh’s leading daily ‘The Daily Star’ reported.

The student-led non-cooperation movement put immense pressure on the government led by Prime Minister Hasina over the past many weeks.

The students had been protesting against a 30 per cent reservation in government jobs for relatives of freedom fighters who wrested independence for Bangladesh from Pakistan in a bloody civil war in 1971 in which, according to Dhaka officials, 3 million people were killed in the genocide by Pakistani troops and their supporters.

After the Supreme Court slashed the reservations to 5 per cent, student leaders put the protests on hold but the demonstrations flared up because the students said the government ignored their call to release all their leaders, making the resignation of Hasina their primary demand.

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‘Mujib: The making of a nation’

He further added, “Perhaps that was one of the challenges yet exciting elements for a filmmaker to encapsulate different elements of his life into a film.”…reports Asian Lite News

Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who has directed the biographical Bengali film ‘Mujib’ based on the life of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman – the founding father of Bangladesh, says it was quite an interesting task for him as a filmmaker to encapsulate the multiple layers of Mujib’s life into a film.

The film ‘Mujib: The Making of a Nation’ is produced by the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) and India’s National Film Development Corporation (NFDC).

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Bangabandhu, was the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh, leader of the Bangladesh Awami League who was also the central figure of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

In conversation, Benegal shared how he became part of the film as director.

Benegal told: “It was a part of the cultural treaty between two countries, India and Bangladesh, where a film on Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was offered to be made by our Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi to Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina. She happily agreed. They suggested a couple of names of filmmakers to helm the film and one of the suggestions was that of my name.

“When I was asked if I would like to make a film on Bangabandhu, I jumped at the idea because I believe that he was one of the exciting personalities of that time in our subcontinent. If we look at his journey, the story is really extraordinary, very powerful and deeply tragic at the same time.”

He further added, “Perhaps that was one of the challenges yet exciting elements for a filmmaker to encapsulate different elements of his life into a film.”

Extensive research has been done on Mujib as part of pre-production and Benegal shared how, through multiple conversations with Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Rahman and the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh, he got a picture of Mujib about his family life.

“We had few dinner meetings in which she would talk about Mujib like the way a daughter talks about her father. There are several references that we have on the charismatic personality he was as a leader of a nation but I have got a great deal of understanding on how he was at home, with his family, his special bonding with his daughter. It really helped all of us to get a mental picture of the personality,” shared.

The script of the film has been written by veteran screenplay writer Shama Zaidi along with Atul Tiwari. According to them even though Hasina has gone through the script she did not make any aesthetic changes and only made a few, for the accuracy of information.

Asked about what he discovered about Mujib, through the journey of the film, Benegal said, “I think he really was a very passionate man and he gathered all his strength from the love of his country, I mean he was the founder of a nation. We can see how the love that he got from people, resulted in the formation of a new country.”

“But his weakness was also that he loved that country too much, he trusted some people, too much. So, eventually what happened to him, was a result of some of those people who betrayed his trust. They conspired against him…it’s like a Shakespearean character existed in reality, isn’t it ?” smiled the veteran actor.

The protagonist of the film is portrayed by Bangladeshi actor Arifin Shuvoo.

The film ‘Mujib: The Making of a Nation’ is likely to release at the end of this year.

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