DHAKA, Jan 30, 2025 (BSS) - Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is well known as a film director, producer, screenwriter and theater director. Before becoming an adviser to the interim government, he successfully worked in various fields of art and culture. After taking the charge of cultural affairs adviser, he has taken various plans and initiatives in different ways.

In an interview with BSS Senior Reporter Selina Sheuly, the adviser shared various his plans to represent make Bangladesh in a new way to the world as well as initiatives to remove the flaws prevailing in different policies of the ministry and some narratives created by the Awami League regime to divide the nation.

 Full interview is given below:

 BSS: A controversy has arisen over the nominations for Bangla Academy Literary Award this year. Tell us something about this.

 Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: First of all, let me tell you about the award of Bangla Academy. I wrote about this award on my Facebook. It is better to clarify the matter. The cultural affairs ministry has no connection with this award.

Bangla Academy confers this award by following a literary award policy. We noticed a criticism has arisen following the announcement of the list of nominees for the award. Then we tried to examine the matter and found that the nomination process is very much faulty.

A literary award board comprising fellows of Bangla Academy is in charge to nominate the awardees and they hold highest authority to make the list of nominees by including their favorite individuals. Then a seven-member Bangla Academy Literary Award Committee comprising eminent litterateur, educationist, writer, researcher, director general of academy and two executive council members is formed to propose names from the nominees to the executive council to get its final approval.

The committee has to open the envelopes of the list of nominees given by the nomination board of fellows on the day of the meeting and it has to finalize the list on that meeting.

 The seven members of committee do not even know about the writings of the nominees. Even if they want, they don't get a chance to read the nominees' writings. The decision on the award has to be announced within half an hour to an hour. This is a strange rule. For example, I am sure that this time a member objected to this in the award committee meeting. He even asked for ten minutes to read any of the two books whose nomination creates debate but he couldn't even do so.

Another thing needs to be brought to your attention. Most of the fellows of the academy and the general members of the academy are part of a certain circle. Let me give you an example - an intellectual like Salimullah Khan's application for getting membership of Bangla Academy were rejected twice. The Bangla Academy has no communication with most of those whose work gave new thoughts, new languages, and new narratives. Because of this, it has been a stagnant institution for many years.

As a result, I think not only the award process, but the Bangla Academy itself should undergo radical reforms. 

After the mass uprising of 2024, there has been a demand for reform everywhere in our country. Why should Bangla Academy be outside the demand for reform? As a result, we have already taken initiatives from the ministry so that we can quickly form a committee to reform the academy. The committee will be responsible for expediting Bangla Academy as a vibrant institution so that it can accommodate new ideas. And to ensure this, if the constitution, award policy and everything else of Bangla Academy needs to be revised, then the new committee will do that. I think that as long as the interim government is in place, we want to complete this reform work before we leave so that this institution represents the people and reflects their opinion in its activities and it does not become an institution of a special coterie.
 
BSS: What are activities of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs to prepare for the upcoming Amar Ekushey Book Fair? What are the plans for depicting the July mass uprising at the book fair?
 
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: Amar Ekushey book fair is a big event for our culture. This year's book fair is the first one after July uprising. We want to bring a thematic change in the book fair as well as offering of tributes at the first hour of Amar Ekushey and Ekushey Padak ceremony. If we talk about colors in the theme, the entire book fair premises will be covered with red-black and white.

Besides, there is a deep connection between 1952 language movement and 2024 mass uprising. If I talk about some graffiti- it will be easier to understand. There are still some graffiti 'Kotha Ka' (Speak Up)', Awaz Utha' (Raise Voice), 'No Network', "Police er Thabai Bondho Mukh' in the walls and these can be found in similarity with 1952's language movement poems like "Ora Amar Mukher Bhasha Kaira Nite Chai "'They want to snatch away my mother tongue". 

The similarity you will find that the right to disagree is significant. We think that the language movement of 1952 was outwardly a demand for recognition of 'Bangla' as the state language, but there was much more in it. The biggest thing in mind was the freedom to disagree with the ruling party. So, a person has two mother tongues. One is the language spoken by one's ancestors and another one is the language of disagreement.

The same thing happened in 2024 mass uprising. 2024 movement apparently started with the demand for quotas in government jobs. I wrote on my Facebook that those who thought that this was just a movement for job are in a fool's paradise. This movement is basically a movement to not live as a third-class citizen in their own country. It's a movement to live with the dignity of a citizen, a movement to express their opinion and a movement to say, "King, I don't agree with your opinion." 

As a result, the biggest similarity between 2024 and 1952 is freedom of expression. If this is the case, there will be democracy in society. If this is the case, society will be inclusive. For this reason, we will have red of July uprising, black of 1952 and eternal white in all our decorations at the book fair. Among the pictures and graffiti in the fair, you will see depiction of 1952 and 2024 merging into one. 

BSS: With the recognition of the national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, the Remembrance Monsoon Revolution, the Youth Festival, the Nationwide Talent Search, the Digital Oral History Project, the Bangla Academy Creative Writing Workshop and Research Project, and the installation of a modern video projection system at the National Museum on priority basis, these are the seven initiatives that have been taken - tell us something about them. 

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: After these seven initiatives, some more new projects have come up. After joining the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, I saw that it is a neglected ministry! We started working in unison with all our departments and organizations so that a cultural revival can be created across the country. 

Let's start with the National Museum. Our National Museum is in a very bad condition. When we visit any country in the world, we visit the museum of that country. Going to a museum is a must-visit activity for any tourist. In the case of Bangladesh, it is seen that when those who come from outside visit our museum, they return disappointed because nothing is kept properly in the museum as reservation is not proper. The innovative thing about curation does not exist here. We also do not go to the National Museum. 

The National Museum remains not only as a stagnant institution, but it is also decaying. Hundreds of paintings by legendary painters Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin and Potua Quamrul Hassan are being destroyed in the basement. There is no system for preservation of the artworks. There is no system for arranging show on the paintings. There could be a traveling show all over the world with the rare paintings of the museum. Modern technology has arrived in various museums around the world. If we do not look at these technologies, we will not be able to make the museum attractive to the new generation. 

The National Museum is a major issue but minimum attention is there. We have determined that restoring and modernizing the museum is one of our important tasks. 

But who can be the visionary who can do the job? We are very happy that we have been able to get architect Marina Tabassum to agree to take on the responsibility of the chairman of the governing body of the National Museum. We all know about her work. She has been ranked among the 100 most influential people in the eyes of Time magazine in 2024. The work of the museum is long-term. She knows how to restore the museum to its normal state. She can bring about a visual change in the museum in the next three years. If she can, this will remain as a major reform work for us. 

BSS: Tell us something about the structure and construction style of the 'July Uprising Memorial Museum'. 

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: Since we are talking about museums, it is necessary to talk about the July Uprising Memorial Museum. This is one of our priority projects. It was previously Ganabhaban, the residence of the murderer. As you know, the interim government led by Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus took the initiative to convert it into a museum a few days after taking office. The responsibility for this now lies with the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. We want to do this work with everyone who is experienced and knowledgeable in this matter in Bangladesh. 

We have many other important projects. But the most important of them is the July Uprising Memorial Museum. The philosophy of this museum will be a little different. We want to make this museum in such a way that when a visitor enters through the first gate of the museum, we can take that visitor through the last 15 years of tyranny. Many types of installations and projections will be arranged in the main palace of Ganabhaban. Visitor will go through that 15-year journey of repression. At the end of the visit, the visitors will exit through the gate through which Sheikh Hasina fled.

We think this is important not only for Bangladesh but for the whole world as any ruler will think twice before being a fascist and considers its consequences. 

Apart from physical visit, the museum will also facilitate intenders to have a virtual visit from abroad. And we can say that the best minds of Bangladesh will work behind the thinking and creative work for this museum. 

BSS: You talked about your dreams about two tourist places one-Panam City at Sonargaon in Narayanganj and other one Cox's Bazar sea beach. What's the plan? 

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: Among the various dreams, we have two big dreams. We want to start it. Maybe we won't be able to finish it. Because it will take a lot of time to complete them. One is to turn Panam City into a cultural capital. When we go to developed countries of the world, we will see that their heritage sites have been renovated in such a way, resorts and restaurants have been built in a proper manner to facilitate people to visit heritage sites like museums. Through this, those sites remain alive because when people visit these places constantly, these remain alive.

We want to renovate Panama City to turn it into a cultural capital where people from Bangladesh and outside Bangladesh can visit the site by staying there and know the culture of Bangladesh so that they can get acquainted with our local crafts. We think that we can introduce Panama City as a significant cultural heritage site on the world map. 

Apart from this, there is another big dream to turn Cox's Bazar into a 'cultural hub'. You see, Cannes has been developed in the beach city where the Cannes Film Festival is held. There are various cultural activities there. You think of Venice. There are various types of cultural activities in beach-centered cities. There are art schools, film schools. This is done so that culture and tourism can be woven into the same garland and turned into a prominent site in the world. 

If you go to Cox's Bazar, you will see that there is nothing much to do after the evening. Some lonely dogs are walking along the beach. We want to make such arrangements so that Cox's Bazar becomes a hub of culture and art education. Programmes will be arranged on every day at ten spots on the beach. These programmes will not only be performed by artists from outside, but the students of those cultural institutions will also be able to participate in these beautiful cultural events. And they will be able to earn part-time income. If we can complete the planning for it in our time, then the government which will be elected in the next general elections will be able to implement it. If we can implement these two plans, it will be very good for our country. 

BSS: Some initiatives have been taken around the July Revolution. Youth Festival, Monsoon Revolution- tell us about these initiatives. 

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: We have taken many initiatives to keep the heat of the fire of July alive in us. Among them, film making workshops are being held in eight divisions under Remembering Monsoon Revolution programme. Some youths are conducting the workshops. These are Nuhash Humayun, Anam Biswas, Humaira Bilkis, Shankha Das Gupta, Shaheen Dil Riaz, Rabiul Alam Robi, Tasmiah Afrin Mou and Mohammad Tauqir Islam. They will not only conduct workshops, but will also train ten filmmakers each. 

Along with this, they will make 8 medium-length contents and these films will tell about our Bangladesh. They will show what Bangladesh is going through today. The government is not giving them any prescription for the programme as there is no government interference to the script. They are conscious filmmakers. They will independently make films keeping in mind what Bangladesh is. From this, there will be eight theater productions. 

We are archiving digital oral history. We cannot do everything in six months, some may take a year. 

BSS: You were saying that it is important to build a cultural bridge after the revolution. What is this cultural bridge? 

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: During the Awami League period, division has been created among people in the name of practicing domestic culture. 

How is the cultural excuse? I will give a few examples. In an interview on Ekattor Television, one of my favorite Rabindra Sangeet artistes said, "Why did so many burqas suddenly increase in Bangladesh? From where so many burqas are coming from? This is not the culture of Bangladesh. This is Islamic culture." 

But I think that this culture has been used as a political inhalation tool. It has been used as a tool to politically eliminate someone. In other words, when I joined, I saw the policy of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs where I found the ministry will work for the development and advancement of the culture of Bangladesh. You reconcile the two- the policy and my favorite Rabindra Sangeet artiste's comment. 

The artiste suddenly shared something which comes from India. They will not let the prayers, fasting, Shahi burqas and keeping moustache become part of our culture. So, you are sidelining them (who follows the culture). You are not sidelining them, you are dehumanizing them with the help of the media.

One of our writers commented that we have been producing these things for 15 years. The result of this production is that if anyone from the BNP-Jamaat can be disappeared, there is no problem, Ilias Ali has disappeared- no problem. Jamaat has disappeared - no problem. This is the cultural tool that you are using to generate political consent, in the name of Bengali culture.

Another group, like us, who have this consciousness, what should we do? They say that Pohela Boishakh is not our culture, I will not observe it. This is the same problem. The result of this is that one group wants to explore another group, the result of which is the political disaster of Bangladesh and it resulted in massive uprising of 2024.

What the Awami League is suffering today is the result of their political sin. Today, after the mass uprising, we have come to power with a new government, our job is to build a bridge so that we do not make the same mistake again. The brothers and sisters who have felt excluded for so long, should not make others feel excluded again.

 BSS: What kind of fundamental changes you want to bring in the cultural arena? 

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: It is very necessary to change the policy on culture. The allocation of business of our ministries is very unscientific.

 If we show the examples of countries in the world that are doing well culturally now, Korea, Italy, Iran or any country - except colonial countries - then we will see that the entire cultural industry is under one ministry.

 Cinema, OTT, theatre, music, art education, film school, theatre education and tourism is also at the same time under one ministry. This makes the policy making, regulation, and support system of the entire cultural industry much easier! Besides, the tourism industry can also work in a synchronized way. Culture and tourism often work together. Therefore, they should also be together.

Without this combined approach, it will be impossible to make policies according to the needs of the cultural industry and implement them. Our cultural industry is supposed to be looked after by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. But cinema is again under the Ministry of Information. OTT and TV channels are also under the Information Ministry. If everything is not in one place, then synchronization does not happen.

Meanwhile, I need to know what the policy should be for foreign TV and what benefits will those policies bring to the artistes I have in Bangladesh. Will any more policy support be needed to ensure its benefits? Will any strict rules be needed? It was supposed to be the ministry's duty to increase the work space for our artistes. Now our responsibility is to provide money from the Distressed Artists Fund if they face hardship due to lack of work.

BSS: Thank you for the interview.

 Mostofa Sarwar Farooki: Thank you too.