Shyam Benegal to complete Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's biopic 'Bangabandhu' soon

The ongoing pandemic and cyclones have delayed the film that was planned to celebrate the centenary celebrations of Bangladesh’s first President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal will complete Mujibur Rahman’s biopic by the third quarter of this year. ‘Bangabandhu’ is an Indo-Bangladeshi language biographical film that was slated for release on the 100th birth anniversary of Mujibur Rehman, but it has been slightly delayed due to Covid-19 lockdowns and weather anomalies.
Speaking about the film, Shyam Benegal said, “We had two cyclones and Covid in between but I spoke to both the Indian and Bangladesh governments and they have asked me not to worry about all of it so we will make the film anyway.Had these problems not cropped up I would’ve finished the film one and a half year back. But nonetheless about 80 per cent of the film is done.”

Most of the Dhaka portions of the film have been shot in Film City. Benegal said, “The flights were stopping in between and there was a threat of lockdown but we were lucky enough to shoot most of the segments in Film City.”
Benegal is now waiting for the first half of the monsoon to get over before the shoot can resume. He adds, “Now there is a lockdown in Bangladesh and most of my actors are from Dhaka. Things are working in such a strange way every time I plan to shoot, something crops up and I have to cancel it. It has been like that from the beginning as far as this project is concerned”.
India’s National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and Bangladesh Film Development had signed an MoU to jointly produce the biopic of Bangladesh’s first President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The plan was to release the film in March 2021 on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Bangabandhu.