Mamata stresses on digitising Bengali film archive

Kolkata, July 24 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday stressed on digitisation of film-related content for preservation of the legacy of Bengali cinema.

"From Tapan Sinha to Rithik Ghatak others... (content) should be digitised to protect archives," she said here at a programme to announce the Mahanayak Samman Awards, 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 said.A

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.