Worthy of Recognition

Our country has some unusual characteristics if you take the time and think about it. We have frequent political violence that shakes the whole nation, crime rates, deteriorating roads and horrid traffic and many other issues. When we write about these and our readers read about it, they all end up thinking how do we even live here? But, strangely enough, our country has achieved a lot as well. Despite the political instability we endured in the beginning of this year, our GDP has gone up compared to last year, and that frankly, is astounding. Our cricket team has given an astounding performance in the ICC this year. 

Just as the political instability causes issues in other sectors, it causes problems in the world of showbiz as well. Fear of violence pushes dates for productions, thus breaking deadlines. But despite that, great productions still pops up, regardless of the medium. When Star Showbiz was established, we vowed to bring to our audiences not only the glamour of TV and Films, but also give recognition to outstanding productions; be it dance, music, theater etc. In the spirit of that vow we gave recognition to a play conducted under the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies of Dhaka University. This year, we feel proud to uphold yet another brilliant play from Dhaka University. The play is called Chompok Nogorer UpoKotha and is directed by Kazi Tamanna Haque Sigma, a professor in the Department of Theatre and Performance studies, and involves students who are currently in their second year of university. What's really astounding is that this is Sigma's debut as a director and she is a relatively new faculty member, but despite that, she has managed to hit a home run with this play. The story of their play is extracted from a much bigger and more diverse story. The play depicts a lot of issues currently debated in society such as equal rights for women and consequences of power struggles, which is a stroke of genius. We were very impressed with the work that the students and the department has created and our sincere appreciation to all those involved in this production and we hope that this momentum keeps on building and that they don't give up on theater. It's a hard field, but if done with dedication and passion, has great potential for the future.