Recently, the production house Chorki organized a special screening of its film Utshob for entertainment journalists. Despite being formally invited, the attending journalists were not allotted any seats inside the cinema hall on the scheduled day. Feeling humiliated, they had to leave the venue. The Bangladesh Cine Journalists’ Association (Bachsas) considers such treatment by Chorki to be a clear insult and disrespect to the entire entertainment journalism community.
Bachsas strongly condemns and protests against this uncivil, indecorous, and discourteous behavior displayed by Chorki. On Friday, June 20, Bachsas President Kamrul Hasan Darpan and General Secretary Rahat Saiful issued a statement on behalf of the Executive Committee expressing their outrage over the appalling and deplorable conduct of the production house.
In an official press release, they stated: “Since the inception of the country’s cinema, film journalists have been working tirelessly for the development, growth, and promotion of cinema. Bachsas has built bridges within the cultural arena, including film. We are observing with concern that, in recent times, certain film production companies, producers, directors, and artists have exhibited disrespectful and coercive behavior towards entertainment journalists. Such conduct hampers journalists’ ability to work freely and independently, which is utterly unacceptable.
We believe that filmmakers, producers, artists, technicians, and journalists must work as complementary forces for the advancement of the country’s cultural development. In this context, mutual cooperation and respectful conduct are essential. We sincerely hope that Chorki will refrain from repeating such offensive and dishonorable behavior towards journalists in the future. We expect cooperative and courteous behavior from all stakeholders.”!
