Mamata Banerjee plans to digitise Bengali film archives

“From Tapan Sinha to Rithwik Ghatak others... (content) should be digitised to protect archives,” Mamata Banerjee said, referring to the establishment of an archive, library and museum in a cinema centenary campus in Kolkata.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has stressed on digitisation of film-related content for preservation of the legacy of Bengali cinema.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee talks to the media at Kolkata airport on Monday on her way to Delhi to attend President's swearing-in ceremony. (PTI)

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and actor Prosenjit Chatterjee during a programme organised on the death anniversary of legendary actor Uttam Kumar in Kolkata on July 24. (IANS)

“From Tapan Sinha to Rithwik Ghatak others... (content) should be digitised to protect archives,” she said at a programme to announce the Mahanayak Samman Awards on Monday, referring to the establishment of an archive, library and museum in a cinema centenary campus in the city.

Banerjee said a film city is coming up in eight to nine months. “We have formed a committee for television industry as well as the film industry. Veteran actress Sabitri Chatterjee has been made the chairperson of the International Kolkata Film Festival Committee. A new studio will be set up for the shooting of telefilms. We have to attract filmmakers from outside to come to Bengal to make films. Bengal will also have to win Bollywood and Hollywood.”

“We will register 80,000 additional folk artistes under Lok Prasar Prakalpa, taking the total number of beneficiaries to 1.8 lakh,” she added.

Mamata Banerjee and Prosenjit Chatterjee during a programme organised on the death anniversary of legendary actor Uttam Kumar. (IANS)

Lauding the artistes of Bengal, she said: “As long you live, no one can touch culture, no one can touch harmony.”

The awards were instituted in 2012 in the memory of Bengali matinee idol Uttam Kumar who is revered in this part of India as ‘Mahanayak’ (Great hero).

The Lifetime Achievement award was conferred on actress Shakuntala Barua.

The other recipients in various categories include Prosenjit Chatterjee, Nusrat Jahan, Arindam Sil, Bickram Ghosh, Soumik Halder and Padmanabha Dasgupta.

Suparnokanti Karati for Bisarjan and Shiboprasad Mukhopadhyay for Praktan were also among the awardees for Best Film and Best Producer categories.

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