India to make film on 1971 war jointly with Bangladesh

India and Bangladesh will jointly produce a documentary on the 1971 War of Independence of Bangladesh, the Information and Broadcasting ministry said today.

India will also facilitate the production of a "mega movie" by Bangladesh to mark the 100th birth anniversary of its Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020.

In a meeting between Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Bangladesh Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu here, India also informed that All India Radio would be launching an exclusive service for Bangladesh and Bengali diaspora titled "Akashvani Maitree" on August 23.

President Pranab Mukherjee would be launching the channel which would act as a "bridge of amity between the two countries", an official statement said.

In the context of production of the documentary on the 1971 War of Independence of Bangladesh, Naidu suggested that the archival material available with Films Division, DD and other media units of the government be optimally utilized, a statement released by the I&B ministry said.

This documentary proposed to be produced would commemorate the 50th year of Bangladesh Independence in 2021.

In the meeting, Naidu also said that information dissemination is critical to counter terrorism which is a common issue plaguing both India and Bangladesh.

"Timely and correct dissemination of information will prevent rumors and falsehood, while at the same time, build the spirit of cooperation and understanding between people," Naidu said.

During the discussions, India and Bangladesh agreed to work out a proposal for a joint audio-visual co-production agreement between the two countries.

It was also agreed to organize Film Festival of India in Bangladesh and a Bangladesh Film Festival in India. The Bangladesh Minister also agreed to the request of Naidu to provide the celluloid version of the Bengali film Devdas directed by Pramatesh Barua in 1935, the statement said.

Bangladesh had earlier provided the DVD version of the film to NFAI. Regarding the facilitation of Free Film Trade between the two countries, Naidu mentioned that Bangladesh could consider relaxing the legal provisions which restricted the number of Indian films in that country.

The Minister also offered to train young film makers and entrepreneurs from Bangladesh at the Indian Film and Training Institutes.

He also mentioned that collaborative measures would be initiated between NFDC and Bangladesh Film Development Corporation to promote joint-production of films and also between NFAI and Bangladesh Film Archives for digitisation and archiving.

The Ministers also agreed to promote capacity building and training workshops for media persons, exchange programme for officers associated with Information and Broadcasting and exchange of programs between DD and its counterpart in Bangladesh.