Live Reports

[Continued From Last Issue]
Various items would be recorded in the field with the students. All of the preparation for the show was done. At that time the class hour for Shahin School lasted from 8 A.M in the morning till 2 P.M in the afternoon. The program was expected to be finished up by 2 P.M.  But by the time it reached 2 P.M, not even half of the show was completed. It was not possible to shoot the episode next day with the humongous OV van. It had to be completed by that day. So Belal Baig decided to continue down with the shooting. At that time there were no mobile phones, so when it reached 3 PM there was a long queue of guardians standing in front of the school gate. None of the students were able to go home at that day, but it didn't matter much to the guardians as they were very much happy with their children participating in the program. Television was such an integral part of our life back then that the guardians instead of complaining about the waiting were more interested to help out the crew members with the program.

When the whole hijacked plane from Japan was telecasted in Bangladesh television, the Japan television crews were very much surprised by the work of Bangladesh television news members. They couldn't believe as to how they were able to capture the whole kidnapping plane incident with the aid of a big OV van.

They were amazed as to how they were able to capture the whole scenario with such heavy equipment such as cameras and lines. But the surprise that the Japan crew member got by the works of Bangladeshi news assemble was nothing against the surprise that was awaiting the news members of Bangladesh Television. The Japan crew members upon reaching their country send out 2 small OV vans for the Bangladeshi news assemble. The cars which were in the shape of a Jeep consisted of all the equipment needed to shoot a scene. Compared to the huge OV van that was used earlier, these two cars looked like 2 small matchbox. As these two cars were smaller in size, new name was added among the television members. The name was ENG VAN. ENG stands for Electronic News Gathering. But nowadays the electronic news gathering procedure is changing. After SNG procedure news channels are using internet to air news. 

But one thing remains true for television, showcasing of the famous drama “Mukhra Romoni Boshikoron” which was produced in the small DIT auditorium. When compared to the wonderful dramas created by the DIT auditorium, one won't be able to guess how many dramas were they gifted by the large auditorium in Rampura? The same question also comes up in our mind when we think about the huge outdoor OV van.

One of the noteworthy incidents with the huge OV van car involved the broadcasting of news after the country was liberated. At that time the roads were completely ruined, and the news team had to capture the tribute program for Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in Kolkata with the big OV van. The size of the van was huge and the equipment inside was also heavier. Television crews in short used to call them “Doshtoni”. In 1973 the day before 16th December all of the highest members of television were present in front of the presidential guest house Korotowa with the big OV van. At that time Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was supposed to give a speech on Victory day. Before the speech giving ceremony a new trend started to roll around in television it was called autocue. In the first autocue when Alam Rashid would read the news in English or when Sarker Kabir Uddin would read out the news in Bangla, people used to believe that they have memorized the whole news. This kind of autocue was bought in the presidential guest house residing in Baily road for the Victory day celebrations. At that time Autocue used to be known as Teleprompter. Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman gave the speech on Victory by looking at the Auto prompter. 

In terms of the television fraternity, the people that were present there included personalities such as Jamil Chowdhury, Monirul Alam, and Mustafa Monowar. When the news members of TV heard the speech, they believed that the words that were used against the criminals were not suitable for the head of government to use or it was not appropriate for airing in the television. At first the government officials were annoyed by this piece of information and they asked the television crew not to interfere. But still the television members tried to gain Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's attention on this. When Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman heard what the Television news members had to say he decided to give the upper hand to the news members as to what should be done about the speech. Bangabondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman believed that as the news will be showcased in television it is better to make them decide what to do. 

The writer is Managing Director,
Channel i
Translated by Imtiaz Salim