Month: March 2022

Chief of Army Staff General SM Shafiudin Ahmed has said that Bangladesh Army has been working in unison with friendly countries to ensure regional peace and stability besides making effective contribution to the establishment of world peace .

The United States and the Bangladesh Army have always been working as close partners in this endeavor, he said.

The Army chief was addressing as the chief guest in the concluding ceremony of ‘ Exercise Tiger Lightning-3’ held at Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training (BIPSOT) in Rajendrapur Cantonment on Thursday. The excercise was jointly organized by US Pacific Army Command and Bangladesh Army .

He hoped that the “Exercise Tiger Lightning” would help in further expanding the existing good relations and future cooperation between the two armies.

He thanked Bipost and all concerned, including the U.S. Pacific Army Command and the Oregon National Guard, for conducting the exercise smoothly and efficiently.

The main objective of the exercise was to further strengthen mutual understanding and harmony by exchanging experiences between the armies of the two friendly countries.

In the exercise, practical training was organized to make participants proficient in formulating effective plans and strategies in UN peacekeeping missions for dealing with contemporary challenging situations.

The closing ceremony was attended by British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Robert Chatterton Dickson, Deputy Chief of Mission to the United States Helen G. Lavev and Deputy Commanding General of the United States Pacific Army Command Major General Reginald G.A. Neal and they delivered thier valuable remarks as special guests.

At the closing ceremony, Commandant Bipost Major General ASM Ridwanur Rahman greeted the guests and participants in the exercise. Also present on the occasion were senior officers of Army, Navy and Air Force and Bangladesh Police.

Exercise Tiger Lightning-3 was started on 06 March. The exercise was organized by Bipsot under the overall supervision of the Army Military Training Directorate. A total of 116 people, including 34 members of the US Pacific Army Command and 82 members of the Bangladesh Army, participated in the exercise.

In 2017 and 2021, Tiger Lightning 1 and 2 were organized in the United States.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Muhammad Imran inaugurated a Bangabandhu Corner at the Lovely Professional University (LPU) in India’s Punjab Thursday.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the establishment of the Bangabandhu Corner and collaboration in academic exchanges was signed between the university and the high commission.

Referring to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as a legendary world leader, LPU Chancellor Ashok Kumar Mittal hoped that the corner would provide all the students at LPU with the opportunity to learn about Bangabandhu and the history of Bangladesh.

Muhammad Imran said researchers can use the books at the Bangabandhu Corner as useful references.

This corner will enable the students, researchers and faculties to understand Bangabandhu’s vision and in the process, understand Bangladesh, he added.

The Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi took this initiative to mark the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence, and the 50th year of diplomatic ties with India.

The high commissioner was welcomed by the Bangladeshi students studying at Lovely University.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Following the legacy of superhero fever in international films, the Telugu film RRR movie takes the audience to the highest peak of entertainment. This movie not only became a box office hit, but also left Bahubali behind. Not to mention, the Telugu film titled RRR appeared as a symbol of the progressive nature of Indian cinema. Released on March 25, 2022, the excellent performance of the movie shocked the film-enthusiasts. Thanks to the RRR-crew, the cinema has gone far beyond its targeted destination, even though the production has been delayed several times. Let’s take a closer look at the interesting facts and features of the RRR movie.

RRR Plot: A Tale of Two Revolutionaries

This historical film depicts the context of British India in the 1920s. According to the storyline, during the reign of the British government, Rama Raju, – a devoted Indian police officer, took charge of capturing Komaram Bheem, – a formidable tribal leader. The story advanced through different incidents, and some clamor of inevitable clashes began to ring. In this film the dimensions of conflicts kept changing and those were full of twists. Above all, the mighty expeditions of the two Indian revolutionaries take precedence.

SS Rajamouli (Srisaila Sri Rajamouli) wrote the screenplay of this epic action drama with the story of KV Vijayendra Prasad (Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad). The dialogues of this film were written by Sai Madhav Burra. The overall creative teamwork helped to boost the performances of the actors.

How Did RRR Get in Shape

Although the production of the RRR film was announced to start in March 2018, the work of film photography started in November 2018. SS Rajamouli led the RRR team from the beginning. The film was shot extensively in various locations including Hyderabad, Ukraine, and Bulgaria.

MM Keeravani (Marakathamani Keeravani) was in charge of the soundtrack and background score of the film. Senthil Kumar did excellent cinematography and A Srikar Prasad (Akkineni Srikar Prasad) was responsible for editing the film. India’s renowned VFX designer V Srinivas Mohan (Vadlamudi Srinivas Mohan) made it to deliver eye-catching visual effects.

The dubbing process began in April 2020 amidst pandemic. For the first time in the history of Indian cinema, Rama Rao and Charan dubbed their part from their respective homes. It took October 2021 to complete all the dubbing work. The film has been dubbed in five languages, including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi.

RRR’s journey began with a total budget of 5500 million rupees (USD. 72 million). When the final copy of the film was ready by the end of November 2021, it was submitted to CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification). On December 9, 2021, the film received clearance from the censor board. The movie finally got a chance to be released in the theater on March 25, 2022.

RRR Film Stars

Initially, RRR was an acronym for director S. S. Rajamouli. This film starred Ram Charan and Rama Rao, the heroes of successful South Indian films.

Rajamouli finalized the cast in March 2019, where the appearance of Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt for the first time in Telugu cinema was a real surprise. Devgan is seen in flashbacks as a Guru of Komaram Bhim and Aluri Sitaram Raju. Shriya Saran has acted opposite Devgan. Alia was paired opposite Charan in the role of Sita.

British actress Olivia Morris has paired up with Rama Rao. Tamil actor Samuthirakani, who plays Ram’s father’s friend, is seen in charge of the arms shipment. Ray Stevenson, the famous Hollywood actor, played Scott, the main antagonist character in the movie, and Irish star Alison Dudy was seen with him as Lady Scott.

The young actors in the film, including Chakri, Varun Buddhadev, and Spondon Chaturvedi, were also well acclaimed by the audience. Other side characters include Rahul Ramakrishna, Chhatrapati Shekhar, and Rajiv Kanakala.

Parade of RRR Towards the Release

Although originally scheduled for release on July 30, 2020, the release was delayed due to some production work. Later it was further delayed by the COVID-19 epidemic. D V V Danayya (Dasari Veera Venkata Danayya), the producer of RRR, finalized the release date of 25 March 2022.

It was decided to release the film in Telugu with dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and foreign languages. The film was set to be screened on more than 21 IMAX screens in India and over 100 IMAX theaters abroad. It won’t be overwhelming to say that RRR created a new history for an Indian film. What’s more? RRR is the first Indian film to be released in foreign theaters like Dolby Cinema. The film is also set to premiere in the United States in large-format resolution DCP Cinemark XD.

In May 2021, the Indian OTT platform ZEE5 acquired digital ownership of the film for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada versions of the film RRR. On the other hand, Hindi, English, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Korean editions will be broadcast under the banner of Netflix.

Only the Hindi version of the satellite is owned by Zee Network. Star India Network, on the other hand, has acquired satellite rights to the Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and Tamil versions of the film.

Impact of RRR: Epic Indian Picture in Motion

RRR has a 9.1 rating from 36,000 IMDb users so far. On RottenTomatoes, this action drama got a rating of 85% on the Tomatometer and 95% on the audience score till date. The film grossed Rs. 240 million worldwide on its first day, setting a record for the highest gross on the first day by an Indian film. This record was previously held by Rajamouli’s movie Bahubali 2. After two days of airing, the movie grossed Rs 3710 million worldwide.

By the end of the first week after its release, the movie’s grosses worldwide stood at 4500 to 4850 million rupees. However, RRR has not been able to outperform Bahubali 2 in terms of weekend revenues.

The Hindi version of RRR collected Rs 745 million over the weekend, which is close to the record of the film Suryavanshi after the Corona epidemic.

Summing Up

The Telugu film RRR has flawlessly aligned itself with the aspirations of the Indian action movie audience. The tide of this frenzy has forced traditional filmmakers to break down and rebuild their ways of filmmaking. Besides keeping pace with the attitude of the international trend of cinema, the domestic films in India are uncompromisingly pursuing top-notch performances in storytelling, movie editing, and VFX.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

To mark the 31st anniversary of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a tree plantation campaign with the slogan ‘Go Green, Protect the Planet’ was held on Thursday at Bangladesh Korea Technical Training Centre (BKTTC), Mirpur.

Young-Ah Doh, Country Director, KOICA Bangladesh Office, Md. Mahbubur Rashid Talukder, Director, Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training, Md. Lutfar Rahman, Principal, BKTTC and Executive Committee of KOICA Bangladesh Alumni Association (KBAA) joined the programme.

As a part of the voluntary programme for social responsibility, to increase mass awareness about tree plantation, more than 100 teachers and students of BKTTC enthusiastically joined the plantation programme.

The objective was to engage the youth who will play a leading role in conserving the environment and raise awareness of an environment- friendly surrounding necessary for a better world.

KOICA’s Country Director hoped that the green campaign will help elevate public awareness for the protection and prevention of further environmental degradation in Bangladesh.

A movement towards a deeper commitment to environmental protection needs to be increased not only nationally but also internationally.

BKTTC’s Principal expressed his deepest gratitude to KOICA for its support and committed to maintain and preserve the newly-planted trees the vicinity.

KOICA in line with its core values of 4Ps- People, Peace, Prosperity Planet- vowed to focus on eco-friendly projects under its official development assistance aligned with Korea’s Green New Deal agenda in the post-pandemic era.

The Government of Korea with the support of the Government of Bangladesh will continue working together to protect the environment of Bangladesh for the present and future generations.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Gonoforum President Dr Kamal Hossain on Thursday called upon the people to be vocal against misdeeds and immoral acts.

“The country is suffering a huge loss because of various immoral acts and misdeeds. Unite people and be vocal against such activities,” he said.

Dr Kamal was addressing virtually the founding anniversary and the first council of new political party, “Noitik Samaj”, at the Jatiya Press Club.

He said the country must be freed from immoral and evil activities. “We hope all of you will continue to work for establishing the rule of law, human security, and good governance in the country.”

Dr Kamal wished all-out success of the council of Noitik Samaj and urged the party leaders and activists to remain united to ‘restore’ people’s rights and democracy.

On March 30 last year, Maj Gen (retd) AMSA Amin floated “Noitik Samaj” with an aim to create righteous leadership and moral values in politics.

Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna said the current government is an immoral regime since it has ‘usurped’ power by force indulging in vote ‘robbery’. If you ask any person anywhere in Bangladesh, they will say this government is unscrupulous.”

He came down hard on the government for its failure to prevent the unusual and illogical hike in the prices of all essential commodities.

Manna said people are lining up behind the trucks selling the goods of TCB to buy the essential food items like rice, flour, oil and onion as they are struggling to cope with the skyrocketing prices of the commodities.

Stating that the country witnessed a big famine in 1974 during the rule of the Awami League, he said a similar situation has now been prevailing as the same party is now in power.

The Ngorik Oikya convener said an interim government will have to be formed after the fall of the Awami League regime for holding a neutral and credible election.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Fifteen hundred and forty-four more Rohingyas of 507 families, from the Ukhia Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar, have left for Bhasan Char in the 13th phase.

Superintendent of Police Naimul Haque, commander of APBN Battalion-14, confirmed this Wednesday.

The Rohingyas are scheduled to arrive at Bhasan Char Thursday.

He said 1,022 Rohingyas in the first phase and 522 in the second headed towards Bhasan Char island in Noakhali on the second day of the 13th phase.

Tuesday, 1,999 Rohingyas left Cox’s Bazar for Bhasan Char on 39 buses from Ukhia Degree College ground, said Additional Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammad Shamsud Douza Nayan.

So far, around 26,000 Rohingyas have been moved to Bhasan Char following the government’s decision to relocate 1 lakh Rohingyas to the island, he added.

Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char.

Most of them came on August 25, 2017, when the Myanmar military launched a brutal offensive targeting the Muslim ethnic minorities.

Source: United News of Bangladesh

Planning Minister M A Mannan on Thursday said the government agencies have to play their role in a friendly manner while providing services to businesspeople.

The minister said this in response to businesses’ demand to continue the policy of assistance for attracting more investment.

“The government should give more priority to the infrastructure sector. Government is committed to working hand in hand with the private sector in order to be competitive in the world,” Mannan said.

The planning minister took part in a pre-budget discussion jointly organized by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), Samakal and Chanel 24 at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) on Thursday.

The businesses stressed improving ease of doing business, policy reforms, continuation of policy assistance, required policy adoptation, tax simplification, reduction of corporate tax, boosting CMSMEs, incentives for export diversification, implementing a sustainable bond market and focusing on logistic industry.

The discussion focused on concerns that need to be addressed in the next budget to make it more business and revenue friendly.

DCCI President Rizwan Rahman proposed to reduce the corporate tax rate by 2.5% for both listed and non-listed companies in the next budget.

He also urged to reduce tax on income of corporate dividends from existing 20% to 10%. An integrated tax administration system is crucial for a simplified tax management system, he said.

In order to strengthen CMSMEs, he proposed to introduce turnover-based loans instead of collateral-based loans for the CMSME sector.

He later urged that increasing investment, employment generation, private sector participation in the industry development, widening tax and vat net, export diversification, infrastructure development and continuation of business-friendly environment should get more focus in the upcoming budget.

Syed Manzur Elahi, Chairman of Apex Group and Former Adviser to the Caretaker Government said, “We need to improve ease of doing business and reduce cost of doing business for a conducive trade and investment ecosystem in the country.”

Md. Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, MP, former President FBCCI said that CMSMEs are the backbone of the economy. The CMSMEs should have access to the fund of the stimulus.

He also echoed the proposal of reducing the corporate tax rate to be at par with the average of other regional countries.

Md. Jashim Uddin, president of FBCCI said that exporters should get incentives as logistics is a huge backlog for them.

He also called upon the NBR to consult with the private sector prior to changing any rules or SROs because sudden changes sometimes become a hassle for the business community.

He also said that we should facilitate sub-contracting to boost backward linkage industry.

Asif Ibrahim, Chairman, Chittagong Stock Exchange Ltd., Former Member of NBR Alamgir Hossain, Arif Khan, Vice Chairman of Shanta Asset Management Ltd., Naser Ezaz Bijoy, CEO of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, Dr. Md. Habibur Rahman, Chief Economist of Bangladesh Bank, Taskin Ahmed, Deputy Managing Director, Ifad Group, Mostafa Kamal, Chairman of Meghna Group of Industries, Shahidullah Azim, Vice President of BGMEA, Md. Saiful Islam, President, MCCI, Navidul Haque, Vice President, Bangladesh Independent power Producers Association, Mahbubul Anam, Managing Director, Expo Group, M A Zabbar, Vice President, Bangladesh Economic Zone Investors Association, Syed Ali Jowher Rizvi, Chairman, Alliance Holdings Ltd. also took part in the discussion.

Source: United News of Bangladesh