[🇧🇩] Bangladesh Film Industry

[Saif]

Apu, Shakib divorce in effect

Divorce petition of popular Dhallywood duo Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas came into effect on Monday as none of the actors attended on the final arbitration hearing date set by Dhaka North City Corporation for their mutual understanding within 90 days after getting divorce notice...

www.newagebd.net

Apu, Shakib divorce in effect

Divorce petition of popular Dhallywood duo Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas came into effect on Monday as none of the actors attended on the final arbitration hearing date set by Dhaka North City Corporation for their mutual understanding within 90 days after getting divorce notice.

DNCC got the copy of divorce notice sent by Shakib Khan appointed lawyer on December 12 and meanwhile set three hearing dates. ‘Since both parties remained absent from hearing, divorce will automatically be effective. Apu Biswas can go to court if she feels aggrieved’, said chief executive officer of DNCC zone 3 Hemayet Hossain.

Both Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas remained absent on the third date of arbitration on the divorce notice held at the office of executive officer of Dhaka North City Corporation’s Zone 3 in Mohakhali on Monday.

Earlier, Apu alone came on the first date of arbitration on January 15, while both of them were absent at the second date of arbitration on February 12.

Shakib Khan’s lawyer Sheikh Sirajul Islam said, ‘The divorce will be effective from today (Monday), as the 90 days have passed since the letter reached both Apu Biswas and the city corporation’.

Shakib Khan will give the dower (mahr) to Apu Biswas and provide means of support or livelihood for his son, added the lawyer.

Shakib Khan sent divorce letter on November 22 to Apu Biswas. In the divorce letter Shakib stated that Apu did not follow the ‘Islamic customs’ neither even followed the ‘duties of an ideal house wife’.

Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas could not be reached for comments.

Even after serving the divorce notice Shakib and Apu appeared together for filming of Panku Jamai in February this year. The duo has so far shared screen in over 70 films.

Apu Biswas disclosed her secret marriage of nine years with Shakib in a TV interview in last April where she said that she had converted from Hinduism to Islam just before their marriage on April 18, 2008 and took the Islamic name Apu Islam Khan.​

 

[Bilal9]

Apu, Shakib divorce in effect

Divorce petition of popular Dhallywood duo Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas came into effect on Monday as none of the actors attended on the final arbitration hearing date set by Dhaka North City Corporation for their mutual understanding within 90 days after getting divorce notice...

www.newagebd.net

Apu, Shakib divorce in effect

Divorce petition of popular Dhallywood duo Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas came into effect on Monday as none of the actors attended on the final arbitration hearing date set by Dhaka North City Corporation for their mutual understanding within 90 days after getting divorce notice.

DNCC got the copy of divorce notice sent by Shakib Khan appointed lawyer on December 12 and meanwhile set three hearing dates. ‘Since both parties remained absent from hearing, divorce will automatically be effective. Apu Biswas can go to court if she feels aggrieved’, said chief executive officer of DNCC zone 3 Hemayet Hossain.

Both Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas remained absent on the third date of arbitration on the divorce notice held at the office of executive officer of Dhaka North City Corporation’s Zone 3 in Mohakhali on Monday.

Earlier, Apu alone came on the first date of arbitration on January 15, while both of them were absent at the second date of arbitration on February 12.

Shakib Khan’s lawyer Sheikh Sirajul Islam said, ‘The divorce will be effective from today (Monday), as the 90 days have passed since the letter reached both Apu Biswas and the city corporation’.

Shakib Khan will give the dower (mahr) to Apu Biswas and provide means of support or livelihood for his son, added the lawyer.

Shakib Khan sent divorce letter on November 22 to Apu Biswas. In the divorce letter Shakib stated that Apu did not follow the ‘Islamic customs’ neither even followed the ‘duties of an ideal house wife’.

Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas could not be reached for comments.

Even after serving the divorce notice Shakib and Apu appeared together for filming of Panku Jamai in February this year. The duo has so far shared screen in over 70 films.

Apu Biswas disclosed her secret marriage of nine years with Shakib in a TV interview in last April where she said that she had converted from Hinduism to Islam just before their marriage on April 18, 2008 and took the Islamic name Apu Islam Khan.​

Apu was a Hindu, now she is a Muslim.

Maybe she will change her religion again, given the right circumstances.

This sort of thing by showbiz people, just to appease the public opinion - is unwarranted and hypocritical.

But given her station in life as a three dollar actress in third-rate Bengali films, what else can anyone expect?

 

[Saif]

Apu was a Hindu, now she is a Muslim.

Maybe she will change her religion again, given the right circumstances.

This sort of thing by showbiz people, just to appease the public opinion - is unwarranted and hypocritical.

But given her station in life as a three dollar actress in third-rate Bengali films, what else can anyone expect?

I blame Shakib Khan not Apu for the divorce. Shakib is a womanizer and goes to bed with every woman he comes across.

 

[Bilal9]

I blame Shakib Khan not Apu for the divorce. Shakib is a womanizer and goes to bed with every woman he comes across.

That is more of a macho positive reputation for heroes of Bangla vernacular films.

 

[Saif]

Certification of film ‘Contract Marriage’ suspended

The certification of the Bengali film 'Contract Marriage' has been suspended over allegations of contractual breach and irregularities. Model and actress Zeba Jannat alleged that she was verbally contracted to act in a single play and had participated in shooting of a few scenes. She later found

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Certification of film ‘Contract Marriage’ suspended

UNB

Published :
May 13, 2026 23:18
Updated :
May 13, 2026 23:18

The certification of the Bengali film 'Contract Marriage' has been suspended over allegations of contractual breach and irregularities.

Model and actress Zeba Jannat alleged that she was verbally contracted to act in a single play and had participated in shooting of a few scenes.

She later found that posters of the film 'Contract Marriage', featuring her still images, were circulating on social media.

The actress further alleged that footage shot for the play was later used in the film without her consent.

Renowned celerity couple Omar Sani and Moushumi also criticised the producer and director over the film in various media and online platforms, leading to negative public reaction.

In view of the allegations and related disputes, the Bangladesh Film Certification Board said in a press release on Wednesday that it suspended the certification of the film under Section 8 of the Bangladesh Film Certification Act, 2023.

The order takes immediate effect, and the film cannot be screened in any cinema hall or other platform in Bangladesh until further notice.​

 

[Saif]

Four Bangladeshi hopefuls fighting for their films in Cannes

These four directors aren’t here to walk the carpet; they are here to fight for the survival of their stories.

www.thedailystar.net

Four Bangladeshi hopefuls fighting for their films in Cannes
14 May 2026, 19:42 PM

Sadi Mohammad Shahnewaz

Cannes Docs 2026 filmmakers (L) S M Kamrul Ahsan, Kazi Arefin Ahmed, Citto Aanondi, and Sumon Delwar; Photos: Sowrav Das

Even though my column reads “Dhaka at the Palais”, this particular story is from Chattagram, particularly from Alliance Française Chittagong. Four filmmakers—Kazi Arefin Ahmed, Citto Aanondi, S M Kamrul Ahsan, and Sumon Delwar—are currently standing on the sun-drenched, caffeine-fueled precipice of the global documentary industry.

The Palais des Festivals is a place of brutal binaries. On one side of the red carpet, there is the performative glitz of the Official Selection. On the H4 hub of Cannes Docs, there is the grit of the Marché du Film. This is where the ‘real’ cinema is born, in fifteen-minute windows of desperate, high-stakes negotiation.

These four directors aren’t here to walk the carpet; they are here to fight for the survival of their stories.

The delegation arrived under the stewardship of Bruno Lacrampe, the chief of Alliance Française Chittagong. In a landscape as notoriously gatekept as Cannes, having a mentor who understands the French institutional machine is the difference between a project being seen and being buried.

The projects themselves represent a seismic shift in how Bangladesh tells its own story. There is no "poverty porn" or “woe is me” narrative here, just a sophisticated take on grief, taboo, and beyond.

Take Kazi Arefin Ahmed’s "Opekkha". Arefin has already proven his mettle with a short film on this same premise, earning the prestigious FIPRESCI award. “Honestly, my project scales a personal tragedy, the slow, agonising erasure of my grandmother’s memory via dementia, as her visa is rejected and she is unable to see her children.” That tragedy is molded into a feature-length documentary requires a different kind of endurance. It is a race against time, both narratively and literally. In the booths of the Marché, Arefin is pitching for the "bigger scale," looking for the international co-production that will allow this intimate family portrait to travel across borders his grandmother was denied. Arefin is irrevocably confident about his film’s personal nature resonating as a universal one.

Sumon Delwar’s "My Cousin" is a film that strikes at the heart of a silent crisis. By documenting his own cousin’s return to a village with an HIV-positive diagnosis, Delwar is stripping away the layers of social stigma and the "economic hero" narrative surrounding migrant workers. “The portrayal is raw, uncomfortable,” said Sumon, “but is completely necessary.

As a Bangladeshi filmmaker, this platform amplifies our chance to reach a global stage. As my film is 70 percent complete, I need funding for the post-production.”

The investigative weight of the delegation lies with S M Kamrul Ahsan’s "In Search of Her". “Following two Dutch adoptees back to the soil of Bangladesh, the project isn't just a quest for roots; it is an indictment of a hidden history of stolen children,” he said. It is the kind of transnational story that European broadcasters like ARTE are built for, linking the Global South to the West through an uncomfortable shared history.

Rounding out the quartet is Citto Aanondi’s "Blue-Collars from the Frontline". This is a multi-generational epic that reframes the "frontline" not as a battlefield of men, but as a field of survival anchored by three generations of women. It is cinematic anthropology at its most ambitious.

The path to these meetings hasn't been smooth. These cinemen were vying for "Sunny Side of the Doc" festival in La Rochelle, the documentary world’s version of a closing argument, being postponed or cancelled earlier this year. However, Alliance Française de Chittagong chief ensured their participation with a collaboration with Bisubo Art Organization and supported through the French PICC grant.

What I see in these four filmmakers is a gritty prowess—a refusal to let their stories be sidelined as mere "reports" from the Global South. They are talking to the world’s most influential producers on equal footing, armed with the vocabulary of international co-production and the backing of a French institutional bridge.

As the sun sets over the Croisette, the red carpet is being rolled out for a gala screening I will also attend. However, my heart also lies in the basement of the Riviera, where four voices from Bangladesh are currently convincing the world that our stories are worth more than a headline. They are fighting for the funding, for the distribution, and for the right to be seen. And if the energy in those meeting rooms is any indication, they aren't just fighting—they’re winning.
The author is the Entertainment Editor at The Daily Star.​