Thousands of people flocked to Dhaka theaters since Friday last week to see the blockbuster of Shah Rukh Khan, pathanthe first Bollywood film to be released in Bangladesh in over half a century.
The spy-action thriller broke box office records when it opened in India in January, and the star has a huge fan following around the world.
But Dhaka banned its neighbor’s films shortly after its independence in 1971, under pressure from local filmmakers, despite India supporting it in its independence war with Pakistan.
“I am very excited because for the first time a Hindi film is being released in Bangladesh,” he said. sazzad hossain, 18 years old, in a cinema in the capital. “We are all fans of Shah Rukh Khan. For the first time I will see Shah Rukh Khan on a giant screen.”
Cinemas in Bangladesh have gone into decline, with low-quality local films unable to match Bollywood’s glitz and glamor or attract audiences, and with the aging Shakib Khan as the only profitable star.
Some theaters have even turned to illegally showing pornography to try to stay viable, but more than a thousand have closed their doors in the last twenty years, many of them to be turned into shopping malls or apartments.
At the Modhumita Cinema Hall, once the most luxurious movie theater in Dhaka, heroin addicts this week sat in front of the posters of Jinna newly released Bangladeshi film.
“I haven’t seen such a poor audience in many years,” said a cinema employee. “Only a few rows have been filled. No one watches these arty local movies or poorly plotted ones.”
Cinemas used to be a mainstay of Bangladeshi social life. “This room was like a big gathering point for the Old Dhaka community,” he said. Pradip Narayan to the AFP at the Manoshi Complex, a century-old cinema converted into a market in 2017.
“Women used to come here at night to watch movies. Our mothers and sisters from neighboring areas came here, and when the show ended at midnight or 12:30 at night, it felt like a fair. A woman even gave birth to a child in this cinema. Such was the craze for cinema then.
Monopoly destroys business
The authorities tried to lift the ban on Indian films in 2015, when two Bollywood hits were shown: SE busca and the three idiotsbut protests from local movie stars forced theaters to suspend performances.
The government finally issued a decree last month allowing the import of 10 films a year from India or South Asian countries.
“In Pakistan the number of cinemas went down to 30-35 once. So they allowed to import Indian films in Hindi,” said the Information Minister, hasan mahmud. “Since then, the number of cinemas has increased to about 1,200 and the level of Pakistani films has also improved.”
pathan It opened in 41 theaters across the country and many shows in the capital were already sold out, the distributor said. Anonno Mamun. Allowing the screening of Bollywood films would be a “game changer”, he told the AFP. “Everyone here likes Hindi cinema. Many also like South Indian movies,” he added.
The owner of the Modhumita cinema, Mohammed Iftekharuddin, former president of the Bangladesh Film Exhibitors Association, hopes that business will turn around. “I think another 200-300 movie theaters will reopen after this. Monopoly destroys business. When there is competition, there will be business”, he affirmed.
But Bangladeshi filmmakers are alarmed at the prospect, with some threatening to protest by wearing white shrouds to symbolize the demise of the local industry. “Don’t they know about the Nepalese film industry?” asks the director Khijir Hayat Khan. “Don’t you see that the Mexican film industry was destroyed after opening the market (to Hollywood products)?”
However, there is undoubtedly an unsatisfied demand among the public. Raj Ahmeda 30-year-old forest department official, traveled 250 kilometers (155 miles) from Khulna in southern Bangladesh to see pathan, but could not get a ticket. “I feel very bad,” she said. “I had been waiting many days to see Shah Rukh Khan on the big screen.”
Source: AFP
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