Dear BCB,

First of all, congratulations on your success of bringing the ICC World Cup 2011 to our country. It will be a once in a lifetime experience for the cricket fans of Bangladesh. You know how we, the people of Bangladesh love cricket. Our devotion for the game will be proved once more from tomorrow, when the tickets for the matches will be available till the end of the tournament. Every person of this country will be praying for our team, wishing them success. Everyone will be praying for BCB also, for its success as organizer.

Along with eight matches of the World Cup, you have also earned the right to organize the opening ceremony. Let me congratulate you for that success once more. May be Bangladesh will be a host/co-host of another global event in near future, may be many inauguration ceremonies will be held in this soil. But, this ceremony is special because it is the first ever global event going to be launched from Bangladesh. I think Bangabandhu National Stadium was a great choice to hold this program. There’s no other arena in this country as big as this stadium in name and in fame to hold this grand event. You have perfectly planned and executed everything so far.

The motivation behind my writing this long mail is a concern, that is looming over the buoyant minds of the cricket fans of this country, like a patch of dark cloud in a perfectly blue sky. The concern is about the content/theme of the opening ceremony. You may have noticed that, nations take the opening ceremonies of global sports event like Olympic of world cups as a chance to display the things of their pride, the belongings they value most. The opening ceremonies are usually more of a short enjoyable documentary presented in a highly artistic and humble way about the achievements of the nation and the culture of the nation than an entertainment program. Of course opening ceremonies can be entertaining, but the themes of these ceremonies usually are tied with the national pride and identity of the host nations.

We are concerned to know that, the opening ceremony is going to be arranged by two event management companies, namely ATN event of Bangladesh and Wizcraft of India. I don’t doubt the selection of these companies or their capabilities to arrange the event. Wizcraft has arranged the commonwealth games opening ceremony, which was a high quality opening ceremony. But, what concerns me and a million of others, is the perceived content of the opening ceremony. It is claimed that they are hiring more than 50 Bolliwood stars to perform in the ceremony, and Bangladeshi artist will be under-represented in the ceremony. Of course, they can hire any artist to perform. But, from their choice of artists, it is easily reflected that the ceremony will be nothing more than the Bolliwood concerts these artists performs all the year around, around the world, to provide entertainment to the viewers.

I have the utmost confidence on the acumen of BCB, that it will have a keen eye on the content of the opening ceremony, that it will not let this grand ceremony to turn into a mere entertainment concert. My confidence on you also makes me feel that, the ceremony will represent the naturally developed mass culture of peoples of Bangladesh and peoples of the subcontinent, but not the cheaply manufactured culture of the entertainment industry.

My request to BCB will be, to straighten the issue in mass media, so that the confusion in the minds of the cricket fans of this country wears away, and we can focus on collecting tickets to support our beloved team Bangladesh. Wish your success as an organizer of this great event.

Thanks and Regards,
Md. Waheduzzaman Khan
[email protected]