Naveen Islam Toree

Few novels haunt popular culture the way “Wuthering Heights” does. Every generation believes it can tame Emily Brontë’s storm — and every generation is reminded that the storm refuses to be contained. The 2026 adaptation arrives not as a literary revival, but as a cultural battleground. Months before its release, debates around casting, tone, and directorial intent had already polarised audiences. But perhaps controversy is the most faithful tribute to Brontë’s unruly classic.

Produced by Shondaland, the series has built its reputation on lush, slow-burn romances set against the glittering Regency era. This time, however, the narrative leans unmistakably towards a fairytale — one strikingly similar to “Cinderella”. Benedict and Sophie’s story unfolds with all the familiar ingredients: disguise, longing, secrecy and the ache of forbidden love.

The Dhaka International Mobile Film Festival (DIMFF) 2026 kicked off on Saturday (January 31) with a clear message: mobile filmmaking is no longer a novelty, but a legitimate and growing cinematic practice with global reach.

From youthful longing to philosophical maturity, Rabindranath Tagore’s creative life unfolded as a continuous journey rather than something stagnant. That journey took centre stage at “Jatrapather Anandagan”, a thoughtfully curated cultural programme held on Friday (January 30) evening at Bengal Shilpalay in Dhanmondi.

The book was launched today evening at the Crowne Plaza Ballroom in Gulshan-2, Dhaka, at an event organised by Archiconnect and attended by architects, academics, planners, students, cultural figures and members of the media, marking a significant moment for contemporary architectural discourse in Bangladesh.

In a city where conversations around gender and representation are frequent, moments of genuine re-calibration remain rare. “The Other Voice” arrives at Bengal Shilpalay on January 28 not as a slogan-driven exhibition, but as a visual argument—one that insists women’s artistic practices in Bangladesh cannot be reduced to footnotes, themes, or exceptions.

Published by Unicorn and distributed locally by University Press Limited, the book resists the narrow frames through which Bangladesh has often been viewed since its independence in 1971. International narratives have long leaned on images of poverty, disaster, and despair. Grey’s work proposes something far more radical: a Bangladesh alive with texture, dignity, contradiction, and irrepressible energy.

Rupert Grey, a descendant of Charles Grey and best known professionally as a leading libel and copyright lawyer stood against this statement. “If Bangladesh is a basket case,” Grey tells The Daily Star, “then it is so in the best possible way.” For him, the term collapses under the sheer vitality of the country. A single square metre of a Bangladeshi street, he argues, holds more energy than entire neighbourhoods in London. Where life in England often unfolds in rigid routines, Bangladesh thrives in spontaneity—where a hanging lighter at a tea stall can become a moment of shared choreography.