Tazin Ahmed and Richi Solaiman in the tele-film

The premier show of tele-film Utsho was held at the Central Public Library auditorium recently. The film is an initiative to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS and the screening was sponsored by UNAIDS in collaboration with Grameenphone.
UNAIDS' mission is to lead, strengthen and support an extended response to HIV and AIDS that includes preventing transmission of HIV, providing care and support to those already living with the virus, reducing the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV and alleviating the impact of the epidemic.
The tele-film is directed by Tony Michael, and is his first work. Intekhab Dinar, Richi Solaiman and Tazin Ahmed have played the central roles.
The film follows Anis (Intekhab Dinar) who donates blood for his friend but the doctors refrain from injecting the blood to the patient as HIV is detected in Anis' blood. To reconfirm Anis goes to a doctor (Tazin Ahmed) and gets another blood test. When his wife, Mili (Richi), finds out that Anis is HIV positive, she leave him, thinking that he must have cheated on her by having illicit relationships with other women. This devastates Anis, as now he has no one to provide moral support. He tries to trace the source of the disease but fails. At one point he recalls that while he was a student of university, someone once gave him blood to save his life. Anis is convinced that the donor must have been HIV positive. Meanwhile Mili is also tested HIV positive. In the end the two decide to support each other.
The film tries to generate awareness on transmission of HIV through unsafe blood transfusion. The film also focuses on the importance of the support and care an individual living with HIV/AIDS needs.
Talking about the film, Tony says, “Documentaries, films and TV plays can play a major role in generating awareness and that has been the key message in my film.” “With no known cure yet, 'awareness' is the only effective means to fight HIV/AIDS,” he adds.
AIDS or 'acquired immune deficiency syndrome' is a collection of symptoms and infections resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). With each day more and more people around the globe are getting infected by this deadly disease. An estimated 33.2 million people are now living with AIDS worldwide.
Advisor to the Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Water Resources and Religious Affairs, Major General (Retd) Dr. ASM Matiur Rahman was the chief guest at the launch of the film.
Dan Odallo, UNAIDS Country Coordinator; Arthur Erken, representative, UNFPA; Bibi Russell and others were present at the occasion.