Continued from vol 02, issue 02

It was once published in newspapers, people might remember, that if crying children are placed in front of a television, they will stop crying. Many doctors suggested parents to follow this rule. Whatever the scientific explanation might be, simply the reason behind this can be the change of pictures, combination of colors and musical harmony of sounds played in the television.

Kona Reza with her family

Many years ago, my younger brother Farhadur Reza Probal paid a visit to my house from Australia with his two little daughters. The younger daughter was only two at the time. Her mother used to turn the television on if she started crying. The whole day went smooth but problems arose during the late night because there were no programs on the television then. Bangladesh Television, the only channel in Bangladesh at that time, used to telecast programs from noon to midnight. Sometimes, it telecasted programs in the morning but that was rare.
Over the years, the scenario has changed and the viewers in Bangladesh can watch more than two hundred channels now. Needless to say that there are lots of Bangla channels now and each of them are available throughout the day. ATN Bangla is the first channel in Bangladesh which went online throughout the day; Mahfuzur Rahman is the pioneer of this channel.

Farhadur Reza Probal

Mahfuzur Rahman

Impress Telefilm Limited was associated with ATN Bangla's television programs in different ways. Actually, being the largest production house in the country, Impress Telefilm Limited used to provide large scale programs to Bangladesh Television and ATN Bangla. Kona Reza and Shahana Seraj earned huge popularity because, usually, they were mentioned as the producer in most of the programs. At one point, the television authority decided not to promote their names as producers. Impress Telefilm Limited also followed the same principle and decided to promote the company name during every promotion of programs. This is still the case and people can see the company name along with a theme song during every promotion of Impress Telefilm programs.

After twelve years of practicing this, the name Impress Telefilm Limited has reached millions of viewers through television screens, movies, CDs and DVDs. At one time, it was said that every Bangali used to keep a book of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay or a recipe book of Siddiqa Kabir. Through the years, this scenario has changed and it can be said that people now keep a CD of Impress Telefilm production in their house. Besides, it is already known that the Bangla channels have reached millions of immigrant people living in six continents.

Shykh & Shahana Seraj

Unlike the terrestrial television channels, the satellite channels have not improved much in our country. Yet, the satellite channels have created a new trend among the Bangla speaking viewers. They tried to represent their cultural identity through diversified programs all year round. Television channels have a responsibility to the nation and a soft-corner for fellow citizens. This is the basic philosophy which 'Channel i' follows in planning its programs.

Individually, 'Channel i' was airing more programs than the amount jointly produced by Bangladesh Television, ATN Bangla and Impress Telefilm Limited. In fact, it was an easy task for Impress Telefilm Limited to produce a special program or a weekly drama for Bangladesh. Many other producers started producing programs for ATN Bangla then. ATN Bangla used to telecast Bangladeshi producers programs along with movies and television serials from India. Bangladesh Television also started telecasting Indian serials dubbed in Bangla. 'Feluda Series' by Satyajit Ray was a very popular television program at that time. Impress Telefilm brought the drama series from Calcutta to be telecast in Bangladesh Television. ATN Bangla also bought the copyright of this program from Bombay and announced to telecast in their channel.

The writer is Managing Director,
Channel i
Translated by Mohammad Zahidul Islam