Women in rural Bangladesh face numerous difficulties, starting from the prospect of child marriage, lack of access to healthcare facilities, to having no say in the financial matters of the household. They are reduced to being homemakers with no recognition for their hard work. Add to that a lack of training facilities to learn new skills condemning them to live a life of misery.To address the inequality that marginalised people face worldwide, Coca Cola’s primary international philanthropic organisation, The Coca Cola Foundation was launched in 1984 and to achieve sustainable development, Coca Cola Company announced 5by20 in 2010, a global initiative to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020.

In the city of Dhaka, one can find and be a part (with effort) of any niche club. Bangladesh Orchid Society is one such club that hosts an annual event that showcases orchids of different varieties.

With offices in Dhaka, Chattogram, Khulna and even Singapore and with their operations being spread across the country, Loop Freight is one of the fastest growing startups of Bangladesh. It is the first company ever to secure investment from Asian Development Bank in the country’s history and they take care of logistical operations for giants such as LG, Pran, Kohinoor Chemicals, RAK ceramics, etc.

In a country like Bangladesh, there’s either blistering heat or pouring rain. As for any other season, it’s a hit or miss. Autumn or late autumn brings a romantic feel to the air, just like spring. When the leaves turn yellow and red, it’s neither too hot nor too cold. On days like these, some of us want to curl up and read or watch something. Some of us may like to go out on long romantic walks, or just chill with friends with a cup of hot chocolate at your favourite coffee parlour. Many of us would still have to venture out to do our daily tasks or fulfil social duties. For either occasion, a spray of your favourite perfume would take you a long way. However, there are no “best” fragrances. What works for me, may not work for you, so take this list with a pinch of salt.

Dubai, which already boasts the world's tallest building -- the Burj Khalifa--is now expected to get a gigantic moon-shaped resort soon, reports NDTV.

Paying taxes is considered a civic duty and doing so, is a stringent requirement of the law of every country as well. In Bangladesh, the National Board of Revenue or NBR is the governing body that oversees the collection of taxes and revenues. Every year, 30 November is commemorated as National Income Tax Day and it also marks the last date by which you have to report your earnings to the NBR by submitting your tax return memos to them.

Have you stopped to realise how wonderful this year has been in the entertainment sphere of the country? Indeed, from music to movies, and from web series to vlogs, artists from a plethora of fields rose up to offer numerous splendid performances. It seems, arguably after quite some time, people have started to really talk about Bangla movies, series, etc., thanks to the Blender’s Choice-The Daily Star OTT & Digital Content Awards 2021

With global names like Netflix, HBO, Disney, and Amazon investing heavily in the concept, it is inevitable that local names like Chorki, Hoichoi, Binge, Bongo etc., will continue to flourish equally. As the ecosystem continues to grow, we have numerous questions that come into our minds, such as how much OTT has actually affected the overall entertainment industry, what its future outlook may be, and whether there will be any negative impact, as is usual with any swiftly expanding user platform.

The evening of 3 September 2022 witnessed an exclusive event as luminaries graced the Blender’s Choice-The Daily Star OTT & Digital Content Awards 2021 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center, Dhaka. Four amazing personalities, Sunerah Binte Kamal, Rafsan Sabab, Naziba Basher, and Yash Rohan were hosts of the evening. The team of emcees added elegance and humour to the occasion with their gorgeous outfits and clever conversations.      All their attires were from MEHER by Samina Sara, a high-end clothing label. Samina Sara put a lot of thought into designing the outfits for the hosts, and the inspiration behind each of these was beautifully executed.

With the rest of the entertainment world riding the high wave of OTT platforms responsible for enticing and nail-biting series, Bangla entertainment has its own colours to show and already holds an exciting place in the future. Directors, being the painter of this new era and the frontrunners of storytelling, have gone beyond the point of making a name for themselves. In other words, the new rave generated by Chorki and Hoichoi has opened doors for creators like Sukorno Shahed Dhiman and Ashfaque Nipun to make binge-worthy content which leaves their viewers and fans craving for more.

Digital content creators all around the world have been making vlogs ever since social media became popular. In Bangladesh, the current scenario is full of creators who are often placed under an umbrella term — influencers — putting up a wide array of content trying to catch the attention of netizens, one post at a time.

There comes a time when you come across a story that is riveting enough to leave you pondering how brutal life can be. Khachar Bhitor Ochin Pakhi is one such film that sends chills down the spine of viewers while staying true to its story and characters. Speaking of the characters, the protagonist of the story is played by Tama Mirza, a national award winner. Being a versatile artist from the get-go, Tama breaks down her process on how she knocked it out of the part through her character of Pakhi.

One of the most talented and beloved actors of this generation, Tasnia Farin, has been gracing us with her amazing and versatile works like the Zee5 show, ‘Ladies & Gentlemen,’ for which she won the award of Best Actor (Female) at the Blender’s Choice-The Daily Star OTT & Digital Content Awards 2021. We caught up with her to have an enchanting conversation about her expectations, struggles, and what’s in store for her in the future.

Chanchal Chowdhury's stellar performance in Taqdeer shows just how magnificent he can be in convincing the audience about his character. The result is a thoroughly gripping web series on the OTT platform, Hoichoi. This performance earned him the Best Actor (male) award in the popular category, in the Blender's Choice-The Daily Star OTT & Digital Content Awards 2021. 

Queen Elizabeth II was not quite the Queen of Hearts due to the royal lifestyle and protocols that she had to follow, which prohibited her from getting too close to society. Yet, it did not mean she was distant from her own in her personal life. Queen Elizabeth II had the utmost respect for her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip for which she was encouraged to pen a memorable speech on their 50th marriage anniversary, on November 20, 1997.

Have you stopped to realise how wonderful this year has been in the entertainment sphere of the country? From music to movies, and from web series to vlogs, artistes from a plethora of fields rose up to offer numerous splendid performances. It seems, arguably after quite some time, people have started to really talk about Bangla movies, series, etc. Meanwhile, another phenomenon which has been happening simultaneously is how, in recent times, we have embraced Bangla content in the digital media. All these set the stage for an award show, a gala event paying tribute to those who are pushing the envelope for Bangla content in the digital world. Therefore, the Blender’s Choice-The Daily Star OTT & Digital Content Awards 2021 came into being. The event was held on 3 September, 2022 at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC). And hence, featuring the event, Star Lifestyle presents this brief look into what your favourite artists featuring in all the content you are now raving about.

Children will test your patience in more ways than one, and on more days than one. They will squabble, irritate others, eat more sweets than necessary, get terrified of doctors and darkness, and so on and so forth. And for all these diverse problems under the sky, parents have but one solution: lecture. But is having a lecture for each incident all that handy? Research says, storytelling is a better option.

Imagine loving a baby to bits, being able to spoil them rotten but then having the liberty to hand their squalling faces to parents and breeze a carefree goodbye — sounds enviable? Because it is. Sometimes, it truly seems as if aunts have the best of both worlds. With all the fun but without the daily mundane responsibilities, aunts are the first links for children between family and the real world.

Pop icon Kim Kardashian posted before and after pictures of her contouring trick one decade ago, and the makeup world is still thanking her. The stage makeup technique has been a good friend to artists all over the world, and now, hairstylists have come up with hair contouring methods, which aim to define facial contours with tactically placed highlights and colouring techniques. What’s more, there’s one for each face shape so there’s room on the bandwagon for everyone.

The social scenario of our country offers a disturbingly grim picture to us and the number of sexual violence cases is on the rise. It is distressing and proves that we have not progressed much as a nation. To help women fight back, teach basic self-defence strategies and rewire their mindsets to end the cycle of abuse and trauma, the Warrior Women Bangladesh project began its journey in September 2017. The project took its shape under the guidance of Mashroof Hossain, a Bangladeshi police officer and Abdullah Mohammad Hossain, the chief instructor at KO Fight Studio and the country representative of World Karate Organization (WKO), Shinkyokushinkai Bangladesh.