A campaign to save Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen’s ancestral homes

Federation of Film Societies of India (FFSI) is set to initiate an international campaign for the restoration of the ancestral houses of the great masters Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen in Bangladesh. Following FFSI’s Central Executive Committee Meeting in Kolkata the decision was taken. FFSI will now campaign for preserving these three homes with immense historical significance to attract the attention of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage and UNESCO. Film activists of Dhaka had earlier launched an appeal to the Bangladesh government for immediate renovation and preservation of these heritage houses. Recently, after one of the rooms of Ghatak's ancestral home was demolished to make a bicycle garage, the film and cultural community of Bangladesh staged protests. Even human chains were formed in Rajshahi, Dhaka in December. Renowned film personalities of Bangladesh such as Tanvir Mokammel, Morshedul Islam, Nasiruddin Yusuf Bacchu, Shameem Akhtar and many others marched on the streets and signed a petition not justto save Ghatak's ancestral house but also to save those of Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen. Satyajit Ray's ancestral house is in Katiyadi in Kishoreganj, Ritwik Ghatak's is in Rajshahi and Mrinal Sen's one is in Jhiltuli, Faridpur.