The New Nation - Internet Edition

Festival: Borsha Utsab 1415

Artistes perform to celebrate Borsha Utsab 1415
organised by Udichi Shilpi Gosthi at Bakultala at the Fine
Arts Institute of Dhaka University on Sunday.

Entertainment Report

To welcome the monsoon, cultural organisation Udichi Shilpi Gosthi, organised 'Borsha Utsab 1415' on Sunday - welcoming the first day of 'Ashar' - at Bakultala at the Institute of Fine Arts of Dhaka University.

The programme started at 7: 00am in the morning. With a rendition of 'Raaga Mian ki Malhar,' artistes welcomed the season of rain. The programme also included songs, dance and poetry recitation.

Leading and promising artistes - Shahin Samad, Ferdous Ara, Lily Islam, Chandana Majumder, Sajed Akbar, Shafiul Alam Raja, Mamun Zahid Khan and others - rendered songs on rain at the programme.

Apart from Tamanna Rahman, artistes of Nrityam, Shukanya and Spondon staged colourful dance performances. Ahkam Ullah, Belayet Hossain and Maskurey Sattar recited poems. Alongside Udichi, artistes of Shurer Dhara, Dhrubotan, Bonhi Shikha, Sursaptak and Geetanjali participated at the programme.

The programme also included a discussion. Dr Nowazesh Ahmed, Mahmud Selim, Professor Kazi Madina and Jamshed Anwar Topon spoke at the discussion.

Celebrity News: Monalisa in drama

Monalisa

Entertainment Desk

Popular model cum actress Monalisa has finished a serial of 26 episodes 'Shesh Theke Suru' recently. The serial was directed and written by Arun Chouwdhury. Sharmily Ahmed, KS Firoj, Azad Mahmud, Apurbo, Emon and Nova performed in different roles. In the serial, Monalisa performed a special character. She said, "Acting is my hobby. So I do only selected works. If any character attracts me, then I do. I hope that every body will love the serial."

Bollywood: Revealed: How Vidya Balan and Shahid’s affair started

Vidhya Balan & Shahid Kapoor

Entertainment Desk

Post his break up with Bebo, Shahid is hitting the headlines yet once again. Thanks to his latest affair with Vidya Balan! Everyone is talking about it, but no one knows how it all started.

Contrary to many believes that it was Shahid who was on a rebound and found solace in Vidya's arms, it was Vidya who took initiative and got something flowing between them. It was on the sets of Kismat Konnection in Canada. They had never met each other or interacted before. Upon that, they were supposed to shoot an extra intimate romantic scene. Needless to say, both were nervous and not at ease at all. A birdie from the sets reveals, "Shahid is an introvert and takes time to open up to people. The unit was worried because Vidya and Shahid had never met each other before. Worst it was the first day of the shoot and the scene to be shot was a romantic one."

But then our Vidya is one hell of a girl. She decided that enough is enough and she is going to break the ice between the both.

"Vidya just walked up to Shahid. Autograph please," she said placing an autograph book before him. The move took Shahid by complete surprise and he broke into laughter. The scenario changed completely. The atmosphere suddenly seemed warm and friendly. And what's more the romantic scene was okayed in just one take," the source adds. Vidya confirmed the incident saying, "Shahid and I had not known each other. He stood aloof and so did I. I decided to break the ice and begged for his autograph. An embarrassed Shahid did not know where to look. We have turned good friends since then."

Exhibition: Calligraphy show begins at Shilpakala

Entertainment Report

The 10th calligraphy exhibition began at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the city on Sunday.

A 16-day exhibition features calligraphy art works made by 38 eminent and promising artists of the country.

Islamic Arts Organisation president Syed Mahmudul Hasan inaugurated the show jointly organised by the Shilpakala Academy and the Sahitya Sanskriti Kendra.

Director General of Shilpakala Academy Bhuyan Shafiqul Islam chaired the inaugural function.

Among others President of Sahitya Sanskriti Kendra Saifullah Mansur, artist Abdus Sattar, founding principal of Chittagong Art College Sabih-Ul-Alam and art critic Mohammad Ashraful Islam also spoke on the occasion. About the exhibition Abdus Sattar said, "The art-works at the show have featured flowers, natural sceneries, human faces alongside letters of different languages." The participating artists at the show are Abdus Sattar, Enayet Hossain, Sabih-Ul-Alam, AHM Bashir Ullah, Ahmed Nawaz, Mir Md Rezaul Karim, Rasa, Forej Ali, Ibrahim Mondol, Jahangir Hossain, Shahidullah F Bari, Aminul Islam Amin, MH Moniruzzaman, Mahbub Murshid, Nasir Uddin Ahmed Khan, Md Amirul Haque, Bashir Misbah, Mohammad Abdur Rahim, Ferdous Ara Ahmed, Mahmud Mustafa Al-Maruf, Eshaque Ahmed, Ferdousy Begum, Sharmila Quader, Zamel Hamidi, Md Abdullah, Morshadul Alom, Masum Billah, Md Kamal Ahmed, Azizur Rahman Talukder, Hasnain, Md Ataur Rahman, Jakir Hossain Jewel, Md Toowfiqur Rahman Tuhan, Baschu Dhor Pall, Md Mahfuzur Rahman Shimul, HM Abdullah Al-Mamun, Nahid Rokhsana, Ataullah, Mohammad Mohiuddin and Abu Darda.

The exhibition will remain open from 11:00am to 7:00pm on working days while it remains open from 3:00pm to 8:00pm on Fridays till June 30.

Hollywood :Julianne Moore knows how to make them suffer

New York, Agencies

Julianne Moore has made a specialty of suffering in silence, her pale skin pulling tight across her cheekbones to form a flawless mask, a shell of perfect beauty concealing a soul in deepest turmoil. Only in private moments, when no one but the audience is watching, do the cracks begin to show.

In her new film, 'Savage Grace,' which opened Friday in limited release, the mask doesn't crack so much as shatter. Moore plays Barbara Baekeland, a onetime actress who married the heir to the Bakelite plastic fortune. Her every gesture governed by calculation, Barbara is capable of playing the perfect high-society hostess. But when she feels threatened, the facade drops in an instant, revealing the raw and uncontrollable fury beneath.

Invented by Leo Baekeland in 1907, Bakelite was the first industrial plastic, used in a variety of products, including costume jewellery and land mines, and it made its inventor a wealthy man. But the idleness that came with inherited wealth took its toll on subsequent generations, including Baekeland's grandson, Brooks, Barbara's husband.

Set in Paris, London and Catalonia, 'Savage Grace' basks in the perfume of post-war decadence, but underneath is the sour smell of moral rot. "For all of us, there are boundaries in the way we behave with each other," Moore said, chewing the ice from her diet soda a few blocks from the West Village apartment she shares with her husband, director Bart Freundlich, and their two children. "The thing that was so shocking to me was that they just didn't abide by any of them, ever." She laughs. "Ever!"