Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at ‘Mahanayak Samman, 2017’ at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata on Monday. Subham Dutta
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday spoke about the role of artists in society, saying their presence ensured “no one can disturb harmony in society”. Speaking at ‘Mahanayak Samman, 2017’ at Nazrul Mancha auditorium in Kolkata, Mamata said: “Without artists you cannot have culture, education or a civilised society. As long as artists are there, no one can degrade our society. As long as they live, no one can change our culture. As long as they live, no one can disturb harmony in society.”
The chief minister, while conferring awards upon several Bengali film personalities, announced that the new film city proposed by her government would be completed in the next eight to nine months. “We are setting up a film city, and a tender has been issue in this regard. The government has invested Rs 135 crore for this. We are trying our best to complete this film city within eight to nine months. This will add another feather to the cap of our film industry,” she said.
Mamata also stressed the need to digitise film-related content to preserve the legacy of Bengali cinema. “Films which were produced by the likes of Tapan Sinha, Rithik Ghatak and others should be digitised and preserved in archives. We are turning the Cinema Centenary Hall into an archive and a library where film contents will be preserved. It is our duty to protect the creation of our film industry,” she said.
‘Mahanayak Samman, 2017’ was instituted by the current regime in honour of Mahanayak Uttam Kumar. Awards were conferred on eminent personalities for their outstanding contribution to cinema, including a Lifetime Achievement award for actor Shakuntala Barua. Awards were also presented to Prosenjit Chatterjee, Nusrat Jahan, Arindam Sil, Bickram Ghosh, Soumik Halder and Padmanabha Dasgupta.
Suparnokanti Karati for Bisarjan and Shiboprasad Mukhopadhyay of Windows Productions for Praktan were among awardees for the Best Film and Best Producer categories. “Bengal cinema has a great place of distinction in the country and the world. We are all very proud of it,” the chief minister added.
