Zee Bangla’s online talent mining platform Yes Bangla was launched yesterday (25 September) in the presence of Zee Bangla business head Samrat Ghosh, veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee and film star Prosenjit Chatterjee.
The platform, through an online portal, proposes to explore creative resources for the Bengali television and film industries.
The platform will open doors to talent across geographical barriers in the fields of acting and scriptwriting initially.
Along with chief mentors Soumitra Chatterjee and Prosenjit, National award-winning filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly, Abhijit Dasgupta, Arindam Ganguly, Shantilal Mukherjee, Shibasish Bandopadhyay and Kheyali Dastidar will be among the panellists selecting the aspirants.
"Since Bangla television and film are on the growth path, there is an impending need for new talent which will contribute to the growing demand of the industry and keep the momentum up," said Ghosh, who promised that the initiative taken up by Zee Bangla will not be confined to Zee productions.
Yes Bangla vows to work on three concepts of ‘Search’, ‘Select’ and ‘Shape’ to source these talents. Ghosh added that the selected participants will be financially aided as well and expressed his gratitude to the two stalwarts for being part of the initiative.
“The need for fresh talent has been felt for long, but no one was taking a strong initiative to resolve the vacuum," Soumitra Chatterjee said. "I feel this is an extremely necessary step. We know that 80% of the job opportunities and content creation of the entertainment industry comes from television, but we do not pay attention to its content and performances. I am happy that this venture of Yes Bangla will finally emphasize the aspect that we have so long been ignoring.”
The actor believes there is no dearth of talent, but it needs a platform to groom and explore itself. “I am so happy that the intention is not to monopolize the market; rather to serve the entire industry,” said the multi-faceted actor who feels workshops are essential for both newcomers and veterans.
“Fresh talents always go through a lot of uncertainties in terms of getting their first exposure. I feel Zee’s platform will help them in this regard. I feel grooming and placements are equally important,” said Prosenjit, who was certain the entire industry would step forward to support the initiative.
“I often get mails from Mumbai to attend seminars on acting and filmmaking, but I can’t make it to those. My request to the Zee team is that they make sure to call me to each workshop, not as a panellist but as a learner, because, as an actor, we need to take lessons everyday,” said the star-producer.
He echoed the veteran Soumitra's thoughts, saying, “We should not ignore that working for television too requires equal homework and experience.”