Three ministers inaugurate 'Notun Mukher Shondhane'

"Notun Mukher Shondhane," a premier talent pipeline of the Bangladeshi film industry, was inaugurated by Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor, and State Minister of Information Tarana Halim at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dhaka on Sunday.

The finance minister inaugurated the registration process and said that this talent hunt is a significant initiative to this country’s media industry.

Veteran actor Alamgir, Bangladesh Film Directors’ Association (BFDA) President Mushfiqur Rahman Gulzar, film actor Champa, Jaya Ahsan and Asian Television Chairman Harun-Ur-Rashid were also present at the launch.

Speaking at the launch, Alamgir asked the finance minister for a funding of Tk200 crore. He said: “We were informed by the finance minister that last year our national budget was Tk4.65 trillion. He amended the budget at least 12 or 13 times this year. I request him to grant the film sector a fund of Tk200 crore. We are hopeful that he would accede to our request.” 

Speaking at the event, Finance Minister Muhith said: “I applaud your initiative to search for new talent. Our cultural activities have transformed and reached great heights, but our film sector is far behind. Film-maker Tareque Masud tried to develop this sector. I made a legislation on his advice that many of you have not noticed. If anyone wishes to build cineplexes, we will issue loans on very flexible terms. But that area has not been explored yet.

“Search for new faces, introduce them to the seniors of the industry,” he added.

The organizers of the talent hunt announced that they would officially publish the registration process for the contest soon.

Initiated by Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) back in 1984, the contest discovered stars like Manna, Parveen Sultana Diti, Misha Sawdagar, Amit Hasan, Sohel Chowdhury, Amin Khan, and Sheli Quader (Manna’s wife), among others.

The contest however discontinued in 1990 leading to a gap of 27 years.