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Bringing culture in old Dhaka to life

Zahir Raihan Sanskritik Kendra opens Saturday

Ershad Kamol
At long last, the people of old Dhaka are going to have a boost in their cultural activities as the new auditorium built at Loharpool is opening on Saturday.
Zahir Raihan Sanskritik Kendra in Sutrapur (Ward 82) area will be inaugurated through a cultural function followed by a theatre festival the next day. The festival will be jointly organised by the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and the Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation (BGTF).
The four-storied cultural complex includes a theatre hall, a gallery, a dance and music training centre, library, and a health service centre.
"Centrally air-conditioned Zahir Raihan Sanskritik Kendra has been built on half an acre land. The theatre has all the modem light and sound facilities and it offers over 400 seats for the audience,” said Mujibur Rahman, an official of DCC Zone 1.
Upbeat cultural activists in old Dhaka termed the newly built complex as a 'fresh hope' as their activities were hampered over the years just because of venue crisis.
Delwar Hossain of Mohanagar 77, one of the six theatre troupes in old Dhaka, said, “Residents of the old Dhaka have no place for outdoor entertainment. I hough we have Lalkuthi Hall (North Brooke Hall), we don't consider
it as an ideal place for any cultural activities.
Lalkuthi Hall is a traditional theatre venue at Farashganj. Built in 1880, it was recently renovated but the experts do not find it suitable for modem theatre.
"We hope the newly built Zahir Raihan Sanskritik Kendra will be an ideal place to gear up our cultural activities," Delwar said.
The DCC has built the cultural complex to bring cultural activities to life in old Dhaka, said Mayor Sadeq Hossain
Khoka.
"It’s the duty of a city corporation to ensure scopes and venues for entertainment of the city dwellers. We planned to build the cultural centre at Loharpool around three years ago. I personally talked to the leaders of Bangladesh Group Theatre Federation (BGTF) to share ideas during its construction. I believe the auditorium will be able to satisfy the needs of the cultural groups."
“Eminent filmmaker Zahir Raihan represents the progres-
sive society of the country. He used to live at Kayet Tola in old Dhaka and that's why it has been named Zahir Raihan Sanskritik Kendra," the mayor said.
Welcoming the DCC endeavour, M Hamid, chairman of BGTF, said, “The DCC move is ^praiseworthy. We convey our special thanks to the Mayor. In fact, he did a great job for this will rejuvenate theatre activities in old Dhaka. We have six member troupes there but they are virtually inactive as they don't
get any infrastructural facilities. Now the modem venue will be an ideal spot for theatre activities and I hope it will help solve the venue crisis there."
Hamid said they requested the Mayor to open the hall through a nine-day theatre festival with a view to popularising the venue.
“We now plan to regularly stage popular plays at Zahir Raihan Sanskritik Kendra. It will help the theatre activities in two ways: decentralisation of the current Ramna area based theatre activities and creation of new audience in old Dhaka", Hamid said.
However, the theatre leaders believe that the city of millions needs more theatre venues, they say DCC should build new halls at least at Uttara and Mirpur.
Presidium member of BGTF Liquat Ali Lucky said, "It's really difficult for a person from Uttara or Mirpur to come to theatre in Ramna area. If the DCC builds auditoriums, resi-dents of those areas will make their own sources of entertainments. On the other hand, theatre troupes will also be able to stage shows for them."
According to the mayor, the DCC has a plan for a theatre hall at the Commercial Centre being built at the place of recently abolished Mirpur Town Hall at Mirpur 10. Besides, the city corporation arranged space for dance and mlisic training for the children at eight major community centres in the city, he said.