Six collectors of historical documents, coins and stamps from Calcutta will exhibit their collections in Bangladesh depicting Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and filmmaker Satyajit Ray on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Mukti Juddha (freedom struggle).

The two-day-long exhibition organised by Rajshahi University in will be held on October 17 and 18.Sources said the exhibition will celebrate the birth centenaries of Rahman and Ray in conjunction with 50 years of Bangladesh’s freedom struggle.

The six collectors, Falguni Datta Roy, Ujjwal Sardar, Souvik Mukherjee, Anindya Kar, Moloy Sarkar and Sohan Chakraborty, are part of the Kolkata Kathakata platform. They will showcase hundreds of documents, newspapers, coins, photographs, autographs, film posters, lobby cards, booklets and other items.

“Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Satyajit Ray are icons for the Bengali community in our countries as well as for those living abroad. India was also an integral part of the freedom struggle of Bangladesh. We are happy that Bangladesh has given us scope to display our collections there on two icons as well as the Mukti Juddha,” said Ujjwal Sardar, one of the collectors, who will showcase advertisements, posters, paintings of Ray, letters from the freedom fighters of Bangladesh and pamphlets on Rahman.

The exhibition of the collectors from Calcutta is significant in the wake of a visit to India by Sheikh Hasina — Rahman’s daughter — last month. Sources said multiple universities in Bangladesh have held joint events, seminars, and lectures with Indian institutions for years as part of a cultural exchange programme between both countries.

The Bangladesh government had also set up Bangladesh Bhavana in Visva-Bharati with a view to improving cultural ties. Falguni Datta Roy, who will display newspapers published during Bangladesh’s freedom struggle, postal stamps with photographs of Rahman, along with a rare collection of old photographs of Rahman and Indira Gandhi.

“I witnessed the Mukti Juddha training when I was a student of class VIII. I saw how the people of our country and state took up multiple initiatives to help lakhs of refugees. I will take my best collection on the freedom struggle of Bangladesh to showcase in this exhibition. We hope people in Bangladesh love our collection,” said Datta Roy.

Other than Sardar and Datta Roy, collector Anindya Kar will showcase his collection of notes and coins issued by Bangladesh since its independence. Moloy Sarkar will showcase his collection of autographs from Mujibur Rahman and his daughter — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Souvik Mukherjee and Sohan Chakraborty will showcase documents on the Mukti Juddha.

“We are eagerly waiting to visit Bangladesh and to get a response from the people there on our collections,” said one of the collectors from Calcutta.