Curtains rise on Ganga-Jamuna Fest

The Ganga-Jamuna Theatre and Cultural Festival, one of the major theatre festivals of the country, opened at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (BSA) on September 4 evening  to a warm reception.

Two thespians of Indian and Bangladeshi theatre, Soumitra Chattopadhyay and Ferdousi Majumdar, inaugurated the festival by lighting candles at the National Theatre Hall auditorium in the presence of a houseful audience.

Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor attended the ceremony as chief guest, while Finance Minister AMA Muhit, Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran, BSA director general Liaquat Ali Lucky, BGTF president and secretary Jhuna Chowdhury and Hasan Arif were present at the ceremony as special guests.

At the inauguration ceremony, Soumitra Chattopadhyay said, "It always feels great to come to Bangladesh. I have never seen such a hospitable people as the Bangladeshis; whenever I came here, they welcomed me cordially. When I came to Bangladesh for the first time, I was astonished to see their similarity with the people of West Bengal; we speak the same language, eat similar food and share the same culture. I still cannot accept that despite so many similarities, we are divided by a border."

Following the inauguration ceremony, theatre troupe Sangstab from India staged their much-acclaimed play "Chharigonga" at the National Theatre Hall, while Prachyanat staged "Tragedy Palashbari" at the Experimental Hall.

 The National Theatre Hall brimmed over with an eager audience who had a rare opportunity to see a performance by Soumitra.

"Chharigonga", jointly written by Amitranjan Biswas and Soumitra Chattopadhyay, casts Soumitra along with another noted Indian actor Dwijen Bandopadhyay.

Today theatre troupe Uttaradhikar from Chittagong will stage "Sampan Naiya" while Shobdo Natyacharcha Kendra will stage "Informer" at the National Theatre Hall and Experimental Theatre Hall respectively.