Bangladesh's official entry for Oscars, Hawa, releases on December 16

Bangladesh’s top-grosser film Hawa (Wind), will be released on December 16 in Kolkata and the rest of West Bengal, and across India on December 30. The film is directed by Mejbaur Rahman Sumon.

It has been nominated for the Best International Feature Film category at the 95th Academy Awards (Oscars), which will be held next year.

In anticipation of this major milestone, Ajoy Kumar Kundu, Executive Producer of Sun Music and Motion Pictures Ltd, said: "With this release, the proud product of some creative people of Bangladesh will be able to reach many more Bengali-speaking people all over the world. Bengali films have many audiences in our neighboring country. I think Hawa will play a vital role in increasing the demand for Bangladeshi films here and creating a strong market for them."

Sreyashii Sengupta, CEO (South-East Asia) of CEPL, which has acquired the distribution rights for Hawa in a number of countries, including India, said: "The release of Hawa will open new gateways for the Bangladesh-India media business. There is already an exchange of ideas on content; this will open up newer paths for collaboration. Language is no longer a barrier with a world keen on content and diverse stories for the big- screen experience. Hawa offers that. We see a robust partner in Reliance Entertainment in India to create a milestone in such a supportive and wide release."

Sumon, Sukorno Shahed Dhiman and Jaheen Faruque Amin have written the screenplay of Hawa, the story and dialogues are by Sumon, who works under the banner of Facecard Productions. Lead roles in the movie are played by Chanchal Chowdhury, Nazifa Tushi, Sariful Islam Razz, Sumon Anowar, Nasiruddin Khan and Shohel Mondol.