Celebrating Life 2015: Festive Finale

Photos: Star File

Celebrating Life, an initiative by Standard Chartered Bangladesh and The Daily Star specialising in recognizing exceptional individuals in the fields of Lyrics, Photography, and Film, has rounded off its 2015 segment with an exceptional Gala event on 10th January, 2016.

For those who are unfamiliar with the history of Celebrating Life, a small history lesson is in order. This competition, since its inception in 2008, showcases the various aspects of life in Bangladesh through the entries in films, photographs and lyrics. This initiative is also an attempt to provide participants with a massive platform for creative expression. Since then, the contest has grown enormously in terms of number of participants, number of entries and has grown far more diverse, reaching hundreds of thousands of more people. The theme for Celebrating Life 2015 was “Celebrating The Heritage of Bangladesh”. The plan was that through the entries submitted, they would be able to bring forward the nation's rich and diverse culture to the masses.

The event was held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, right beside the DITF field, which contributed to the late start of the program. The exterior was decorated in a very tasteful manner and not going over the top and the same mantra was maintained for the gate. Once you went through gate, you were welcomed to a wonderful photo exhibition, reminding you that this festival is dedicated to celebrating the heritage of Bangladesh. Once you stepped into the auditorium, the grand centre stage came into full view. The decoration was simply brilliant. The design mirrored Rajshahi's famous Putia Rajbari landmark, and it genuinely made you think as if you were right there in the grounds watching the festivities unfold.

The event kicked off with hosts, Aupee Karim and Nawaf Naser, welcoming the guests present and giving a very brief description of Celebrating Life. After that, they invited the editor and publisher of The Daily Star, Mahfuz Anam, to the stage for the welcoming speech. After the speech, the guests were treated to the three documentaries meant to honour the three winners of the Lifetime Achievement Awards; Bobita, Alauddin Ali, and Afzal H Chowdhury. Following the screening, the three winners were invited onto the stage and their awards were handed over by CEO of Standard Chartered, Abrar A. Anwar, Mahfuz Anam, and Minister for Cultural Affairs Asaduzzaman Noor. After the awards, the winners gave brief speeches and exited the stage. Then the awards ceremony for the winners and Honourable Mentions for the different segments of this year's Celebrating Life began, with the entrants being called up one by one on stage to be handed the awards and then everyone posed for a photograph. After that, both Asaduzzaman Noor and Abrar A. Anwar gave brief speeches regarding the importance of culture, and hence, the value and importance of Celebrating Life and its mission and wished it and everyone else a bright future. After their speeches, performances by Syed Abdul Hadi and Sabina Yasmin commenced, which was greatly received by the entire audience. The concluding performance was done by Chirkutt, starting with the iconic song Dhono Dhanno Pushpe Bhora. They also performed a song based on the winning Lyrics for this year and with that, the event concluded.

With this conclusion, Celebrating Life 2015 bids farewell and with the New Year, you can expect a new Celebrating Life starting soon.