WB-RESTORATION-FILMMAKERS

Film societies to launch campaign for restoring ancestral
houses of 3 auteurs in B'desh
    Kolkata, Feb 1 (PTI) The Federation of Film Societies
of India (FFSI) has decided to launch an international
campaign to restore the ancesstral houses of auteurs Satyajit
Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen in neighbouring Bangladesh,
a senior official said.
    The FFSI - the apex body of film-screening societies
in the country - is planning to renovate the properties of the
three icons, which are now lying in a dilapidated condition in
Bangladesh, as they have great historical significance, its
vice-president Premendra Majumder said.
    The matter will be brought to the notice of the Union
Ministry of Culture, Indian National Trust for Art and
Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and UNESCO, as the Bangladesh
government had been insisting that the properties be preserved
and maintained, he told PTI.
    Majumder said Ray's ancestral houses at Mashua and
Kishoreganj, about 115 km from Dhaka, is in a shambles and
film activists from Bangladesh had appealed to the Sheikh
Hasina government for its immediate renovation.
    Ghatak's ancestral house at Rajshahi, 245 km from
Dhaka, was leased out in 1987-88 by then Bangladesh government
for construction of a homeopathic college by razing down a
large part of the old structure, he said.
    In December last year, the remaining portion of the
building was demolished to build a cycle stand, following
which the entire film community in Bangladesh and Bengalis in
Toronto voiced protests, supported by eminent personalities
such as Tanvir Mokammel and Nasiruddin Yusuf Bachhu, he said.
    The Bangladeshi film fraternity then signed a
petition, urging the government to protect the ancestral
houses of Ghatak, Ray and Sen.
    Sen's ancestral house in Faridpur, 130 km from Dhaka,
now belongs to a private owner, who has partly demolished the
old structure.
    "Luckily, the original house in Faridpur, where his
family lived, still stands and can be renovated and
preserved," FFSI General Secretary Amitava Ghosh said.
    Ray's family has welcomed the move.
    "We will be happy if the properties are renovated and
preserved. It is a welcome step," Sandip Ray, son of the
Oscar-winning filmmaker, said. PTI SUS
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)