All roads from Bengal will lead to Nashville this July. For the “music city of the USA” will roll out the red carpet for an entourage of Bengal’s representatives from the cauldrons of culture and commerce. The ambassadors of art, cinema, literature, dance and music have will pay a visit to the Tennessee capital and wave their scarves of rich traditions and centuries-old cultural heritage. “The feeling is exhilarating. Everything comes with a bonus of learning,” says Bangla musicband Fossil’s frontman Rupam Islam.
And not only Bengal, a bevy of renowned artistes from Bangladesh as well, is likely to pay a tribute to Bengal at the regional Bengali Conference 2010 in Nashville. Billed as the most exquisite festival of Bengali culture, it will witness a celebration of Bengali heritage and customs. To be hosted in the southern suburb of Nashville, USA, from July 16 till 18, it will see the participation of approximately 3,500 multi-cultural attendees, including 1,500 professionals with roots in Bengal.
Shedding light on the first ever “Ancholik Banga Sammelan 2010”, key organiser and theatre personality Ramaditya Ray says: “There are many NRBs (non-resident Bengalis) who are married to Americans and settled there. Either they are green-card holders or have taken US citizenship to reside there permanently. Strangely enough, these white men and women, who are supposed to be foreigners and expatriates in our eyes, at times take initiatives to lead from the front in decorating a venue for a stage showcase and even actively participate in the cultural programmes. They take part in Bengali plays and elocution. In fact, American-born Monica Cooley, a trained Indian classical dancer, will present Bharatnatyam recital.”
Incidentally from Bangladesh, reputed vocal artistes Altaaf Hussain and Shyama Rehman have been invited. This apart, a series of business forums will hog the spotlight on the weekend (July 17-18). The lifetime achievement award will be conferred upon Kalipradip Chowdhury of the KPC Group, which is his brainchild in the fields of healthcare, hospital, pharmaceuticals and engineering works. “At the talks table, a host of propositions to bolster and boost potentials of different arenas will top our agenda. There will be a couple of thrust areas that needs to be addressed vis-à-vis verbal communications. Be it trade and commerce, education, health or industries, the floor will be open to induct in a stream of possibilities,” says Ray.
A board of corporate delegates representing Techno India, Kotak Mahindra, HDFC, IDBI will be present at the conference. Debashis Chakraborty, a distinguished lecturer at Michigan University, will delineate a clear-cut picture of the contemporary Bengal’s business scenario. With Bollywood climbing up the popularity charts in the international market and causing a stir in both the UK and the US, Tollywood, too, is eyeing an outlet to showcase its fare. Usually, critically acclaimed movies either cater to a niche audience or remain confined to screenings within the prestigious filmfest circuit, thereby garnering accolades and laurels of excellence from a coterie of discreet patrons, critics and niche cinephiles.
“As an artist, I feel that we need to tap the correct sources to spread and solidify our network. Further, we can indulge in collaborative efforts to create and co-ordinate a stronghold in order to publicise and market our regional, but high-quality cinema in the western market. The movie marquee has its own lingo and class. It doesn’t need a national or a vernacular tag to prove its essence and relevance to a crosssection of audience. A film is a work of art after all. It’s an aesthetic material that can transcend beyond barriers and basements,” says Ray. With the recession-rut being categorically labelled as a western disturbance, now the top brass of non-resident business magnates seem hell bent on investing in the comparatively better- off Indian economy.
“Most NRB tycoons, including the honchos of the real-estate world, are now rather showing much proclivity in pooling in their resources to fund business enterprises back in the domestic market. The cost of living here is not that exorbitant. Moreover, skilled manual labour, battery of technical personnel, raw materials, freight charges for transporting goods are much cheaper as compared to manufacturing overseas. A team of five representatives from Leather Associates will also be there. This is only the first year in Nashville that we organise the conference. Our ultimate purpose is to make the Bengal-Nashville alliance a grand success,” he says.
As a case in point, there has been a notable shift in the entrepreneurs’ tendency to pump in their capital and oxygenate the oft-overlooked small-scale cottage industries on the home turf. A chamber of 15 representatives from the the Federation of Association of Cottage and Small Industries (FACSI), associated with the Prayag Group, will drive home their point and exchange notes at the conference hall. Besides, pharmaceutical bigwigs, like Abbott and Upjohn, will participate too.
With brain drain or outsourcing of the trained professionals from India becoming a matter of deep concern in the sphere of IT and BPO sectors, the series of meetings to be conducted would touch upon these important issues. Other than briefing business plans on the anvil for San Francisco, subjects like bio-technology and nanotechnology will also be conversed upon.
Interestingly, a gala Bilate Bangla Utsav (Bengali festival in foreign land) was hosted in London in March for the sixth time. “We are continuously striving for forging associations with foreign countries to better our future business stakes and gain a firmer footing on the global map with a visible escalation on the performance-metre,” says Ray, who has been affiliated to the Bengal group theatre for the past 17 years.
Acting being his ardent passion, he also doubles up as a general physician. While Ray, the impresario of the electrifying event, will leave on July 12, the rest of the bandwagon will set out on July 15. July 16 is the D-day when the spectacular event will kickstart. On the culture boulevard, the national award-winning Bengali movie Antaheen by Aniruddha Roychowdhury will be screened. Besides, Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife, Sandip Ray’s Hitlist and Suman Ghosh’s Dwando (The Conflict) will be screeened as part of the special focus.