Future of Bangla films fast fading
The release of local films in Dhaka has dropped to half over the last three years. The Dhallywood film industry is facing a tough time. With the fall in film production, theatres are facing closure one after the other.
According to the owners of the cinema halls, ‘The number of theatres has fallen from 1200 to 300.’ Among the 300 theatres, around 100 are open only during the festivals.’
In 2015, a total of 67 local movies were released. This fell to to 56 and 33 in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Throughout 2018 nine Tollywood movies of India’s Bangla film industry made their way to Bangladeshi theatres. These included ‘Inspector Notty K’, ‘Chalbaaj’, and ‘Villain’ among others. Two films, ‘Shopnojal’ and ‘Noor Jahan’ were made in collaboration between Dhallywood and Tollywood. Three more local films may be releases by the end of this year, said the film producers association.
‘Super Hero’, ‘Debi’, ‘Ekti Cinemar Golpo’, ‘Porimon 2’ are the blockbuster hits of this year.
‘The future of the Bangladeshi film industry and cinema halls will be at stake if the prevailing scenario continues. Moreover, we have no new movies in hand,’ said the industry insiders.
As regards Bangla movies, the president of Bangladesh Film Exhibitors’ Association said, ‘Hardly any quality film is made now. Good and experienced directors are stepping back due to the lack of good scripts. Producers are also wrapping up after incurring losses. However, the people working in this film industry are victims of groupings.’ He further added, ‘People will come to theatres if the movies are good and well made. ‘Debi’ and other movies like ‘Porimon 2’, ‘Dohon’ went well. People of the industry have to be open and flexible.’
According to the vice-president of Bangladesh Film Directors Association Montazur Rahman Akbar, ‘After ‘Shikari’ and ‘Nabab’, the viewers’ taste has changed. They wait for high budget and high-end films. They are no more ready to compromise with the quality and story.’
‘Poor standard of the directors is one of the major reasons behind the current predicament of our film industry’, he added.
Jazz Multimedia used to produce around eight to nine local and joint-venture films every year. Under the strict new law, the production house stopped making joint venture movies.
Abdul Aziz, the chairman of Jazz Multimedia said, ‘Most of the local halls might shut down by next year due to the lack of good movies. Cineplexes may survive owing to some international films.’