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- Bengali Beauty (Bengali: বাঙালি বিউটি) is a Bangladeshi period romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Rahsaan Noor. It stars Noor as a brash radio deejay and Mumtaheena Toya as a demure medical student, who fall in love in Dhaka during a politically turbulent 1975. Sarah Alam and Ashfique Rizwan make their feature film debuts in supporting roles. After being offered a film set during the Bangladesh famine of 1974 and told that the early years after the Bangladesh Liberation War had never been explored in film before, Noor instead became creatively curious to explore the political turmoil in the aftermath of the famine. The inspiration to write the script for Bengali Beauty came to him after one day hearing Can't Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Vallie. To research for the film, Noor sourced stories from his family and family friends about what it was like growing up in post-Independent Bangladesh, including a series of interviews with his aunt, actress Mita Rahman, who used to be a DJ for the popular World Music program on Bangladesh Betar. Filming took place in Dhaka in May 2017, with the film's music and score being composed by Rusho Mahtab. Initially scheduled to release in Bangladesh on 9 February 2018, Bengali Beauty was banned by the Bangladesh Film Censor Board and became the center of controversy. However, the film went on to release in the United States on 16 February 2018, and received widespread critical acclaim with praise directed at Noor's screenplay and direction, the performances of Noor, Alam, and Rizwan, the score, musical numbers, cinematography, and production design. In June 2018, the Bangladesh Appeal Board overturned the Censor Board's ban, and the film released in Bangladesh on 12 October 2018. Bengali Beauty then released in the United Kingdom on 23 November 2018 and in China on 3 May 2019. The film was a record-breaking commercial success, grossing $21.4 million worldwide on a production budget of $60,000, while becoming the 1st Bengali language film ever to release in China, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The film also started the trend of movies depicting historical events from recent Bangladeshi history, including the 15 August 1975 Bangladesh coup d'état and assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. (en)
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