Bengali adaptation of Sesame Street to air in Bangladesh

[Arnab]

Bengali adaptation of Sesame Street to air in Bangladesh

Thu Feb 17,10:33 AM ET


DHAKA (AFP) - A Bengali version of the longrunning American children's programme Sesame Street will be broadcast from April featuring Muppet characters drawn from Bangladeshi folklore.


Set in the fictional Sisimpur village, the adaptation will feature four main characters: Halum, the caring tiger, Shiku, a clever but naive jackal and two children named Tuktuki and Ikri Mikri.


"Tigers and jackals are well known to all Bangladeshi children from traditional folk stories. We think they will love these characters," said Mostafa Monwar a puppeteer and artist who acted as the programme's creative adviser.


"The first few programmes have already been filmed and will be broadcast starting from April," he added.


Sesame Street, with its trademark life-size Muppet characters, was first broadcast in the US in 1969 and quickly became a household name.


Although some 30 countries worldwide have produced local versions of the pioneering American show, the Bangladeshi programme will be the first in south or southeast Asia.


The programmes are being been produced by Banglaeshi production company Nayantara with Sesame Workshop, a nonprofit educational organisation.


The project has received 6.2 million dollars' funding from USAID, the US government agency for international development. The first series will have 52 programmes and be broadcast on state-funded BTV.