Ambitious Jesus Music Video Starts out fundless

CALCUTTA, 23 March 2006 -- Though a month-long fund raising effort to raise Rs. 2,00,000  (Euro 4,000) did not materialise a single Rupee, the Salesian producer has already completed two days of outdoor shoot (18-19 March). Another five-day shoot remains for the first ever Music Video on the life of Jesus in the Bengali language.

    The Music Video will feature 11 songs from the millennium double album on Jesus' life to be sold at Rs.50 (one euro), a price affordable for common people.

    “You won't believe this… the two-day outdoor shoot on the banks of the Ganges with renowned folk artist Sonajit Mondol went off to a perfect finish. The weather conditions and the locale were excellent,” said Anup Kolay, the young cameraman who specializes in advertising films.  Three other artists and several models are lined up for this popular production, which could be an ideal evangelization tool amongst the 175 million Bengali language speakers in India and Bangladesh, the majority of whom are Hindus and Muslims.

    When the money began to trickle in, guess who contributed first? The Provincial of the Salesian Sisters in Kolkata followed by the Salesian Cooperators in Kolkata…

    We hope to raise the amount locally from people of good will who could partner this production in categories such as Patron (Rs.10, 000); Sponsors (Rs.5, 000) and Donors (Rs.2000). In return, the project partners would get advertising time and mention, as well as 50, 20 and 5 free copies respectively, of the VCD entitled Manobtrata Jishu (Jesus Saviour of Humanity). The first two categories would get 20 and 10 seconds of advertising time respectively.

    The production is scheduled for Easter 2006, which this year coincides with the Bengali New Year, an auspicious occasion to launch the Music Video.

GLOSSARY
Rs. 2,00,000: This is not an error.  India has a unique numbering system based on a 2 decimal rather than a 3 decimal grouping.  The figure here means 200,000 and could also be referred to as 2 lakh

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