Three names have been proposed for directing a biopic on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Shyam Benegal, Kaushik Ganguly, Goutam Ghose are the names proposed by India, the country that would co-produce the film with Bangladesh. The joint production is eyeing March 17, 2020 as release date marking the birth centenary of Bangabandhu. The documentary on Liberation War will be released in 2021 the year in which Bangladesh will complete its half-centenary as an independent state.

It is expected that among the names of the three veteran directors the final candidate will be selected in a meeting between officials from Ministries of Information of Bangladesh and India. The meeting would be held later next month. Afterwards the production team would take up the task of selecting actors and artistes.

Last year in April during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India a MoU was signed for jointly making a biopic on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a documentary on the Liberation War of Bangladesh. In connection with that the present steps have been taken. On July 12 officials from Bangladesh and India met in New Delhi to move the production works forwards.

After that India decided to propose names of directors for Bangladesh to make the final decision. Amongst the proposed directors Shyam Benegal, the oldest of the three is recipient of Padma Shri, Dadasaheb Phalke Award and Padma Bhushan. He is known for a biopic on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose named "The Forgotten Hero." The other two directors Goutam Ghose and Kaushik Ganguly have both received India's National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali. The two have also contributed to joint-productions with Bangladesh before. Goutam Ghose's name is well known for the joint-production from 1993 "Padma Nadir Majhi" based on famed novelist Manik Bandopadhyay's novel with the same name. His last directed film "Shankhachil" released in 2016 was also a joint-production with Bangladesh. On the other hand Kaushik Ganguly's joint-production film Bisharjan released last year grabbed the Best Feature Film in Bengali for him in India. Bangladeshi actress Joya Ahsan acted in that film.

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