Home ›› 04 May 2023 ›› Show Biz
On the occasion of Satyajit Ray’s birthday, on May 2, the tribute film ‘Dear Satyajit’ (Priyo Satyajit) directed by Proshoon Rahman had its national premiere at the auditorium of the Bangladesh Film Archive on Tuesday.
At the event, Feroz Khan performed music of legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray using sitar. Mohammad Faruk accompanied him throughout the performance on tabla.
After the performance, the director took the stage and talked about the film. “For the last two years, there were many occasions like, the golden jubilee of our independence, the celebration of Mujib centenary, and so on. Meanwhile, there was the occasion of Satyajit Ray’s 100th birth anniversary, which we couldn’t celebrate because of the pandemic. We wanted to release the film on that occasion, though. We wanted to give a tribute to the legendary filmmaker, and for that, we made the film ‘Dear Satyajit’,” said Prashoon Rahman.
“Netflix released something to tribute to Satyajit, ‘Aparajita’ released in Kolkata as a tribute, and here from Bangladesh, this film is a way of which we wanted to pay tribute,” he added.
After the screening, there was a cake-cutting ceremony to celebrate the birth anniversary of Satyajit Ray. There, actor Ahmed Rubel, who played the main role in the film, said, “I really liked the story of the film as I found the script unique. I never thought the story could be represented in such a way. Thus, I acted in the film with much interest. The film and all our efforts will be paid off if the audience likes it. Hope all our audiences will keep supporting our film industry.”
According to the director, the makers are planning to release the film soon for a short time. Later, it might be released on an OTT platform, as the makers think that the audience for such a film is very niche.
The film started with a young filmmaker (Moutushi Biswas), who wants to make a documentary on Asif (Ahmed Rubel), a senior filmmaker, who has been influenced by Satyajit Ray throughout his life and then decided to step out of the shadow of Satyajit Ray. The film aims to tell the story of the unfulfilled dream of a Bengali filmmaker who constantly tried to reach the artistic quality and standard of his idol. It eventually becomes a tribute to the master filmmaker itself, commemorating his birth centenary celebration. The film also depicts some similar scenes from ‘The Apu Trilogy’.
‘Dear Satyajit’ has been well-received in international film festivals, including its international premiere at the South Asian Film Festival in Vancouver, Canada, in November 2022, followed by screenings at the Florence International Film Festival in Italy and the Kerala International Film Festival in India. Actor Ahmed Rubel won the Best Actor award in the Feature Film category at the 15th Jaipur International Film Festival 2023 (JIFF) for his performance in the film. The film also won awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound and Edit under the same category.
