“Development of Bangladesh Film Industry And its Present State”

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Report On

“Development of Bangladesh Film Industry and its Present State”

Prepared for

Submitted to: Professor Wg Cdr. Kazi Abdul Matin

Department of language

Submitted By

Group name: Sky Lark

Name ID ProgramMd. Nur Abu Nishat 14107003 BSMESaida khatun Choudhurani

13102605 BBA

Prianka Saha 13102462 BBASumaia Akter 13302139 BBAMoudud Ahmed Mridha 12202113 BBA

Date of Submission: 07.12.2015

Letter of Transmittal

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Date: December 02,2015

To

Pro. Wg Cdr. Kazi Abdul Matin

Department of language

IUBAT- International University of Business Agriculture and Technology

Uttara Model Town, Dhaka.

Sub: Report on “Development of Bangladesh Film Industry and its Present State”

Dear Sir,

It is great pleasure for US to submit our report on the topic of" Development of Bangladesh Film Industry and its Present State” .We have prepared this report , as partial fulfillment of the course ENG-250.To prepare this report ,we collected what we believe to be mo0st relevant information in terms of analytical as well as reliability. We have concentrated our best effort to achieve the objectives of the report and hope that may endeavor will serve this purpose. the practical knowledge and experience gathered during report preparation will immeasurably help in our future professional life. We request you to excuse me for any mistake that may occur in the report despite of my best effort.

We would really appreciate, f you enlighten us with your thoughts and views regarding the report. Also, if you wish to enquire about an aspect of our report, We would gladly answer your queries.

Thank You

Name ID Program SignatureMd. Nur Abu Nishat 14107003 BSMESaida khatun Choudhurani 13102605 BBAPrianka Saha 13102462 BBASumaia Akter 13302139 BBAMoudud Ahmed Mridha 12202113 BBA

letter of Authorization

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Md. Nur Abu Nishat

ID # 14107003

Prog. : BSME

Dear Student,

You will be happy to know that, a report on " Development of Bangladesh Film Industry and its Present State.”

Has been assigned to your group. You will have to submit your group report within the given deadline. I hope you will successfully complete the report on time. After successfully completion of the report you are requested to present in a PowerPoint slide presentation.

For any kind of needs don't hesitate to contact with him.

Thank You

Pro. Wg Cdr. Kazi Abdul Matin (Retd)

Department of language

Student Declaration Page-4

This is to inform you that, this report on has only been prepared for the fulfillment of the course Public Speaking ENG- 250.

It has not been for any other purpose ,reward, or presentation.

.

Md. Nur Abu Nishat

ID # 14107003

Program : BSME

On behalf of the group Sky Lark

Acknowledgement

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All praise to almighty Allah, our creator, our sustainer to whom all have to return. We bear the witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah merciful and benevolent.

We have done to try to our best report in this way and we would like to pay our gratitude and respect to some persons foe their immense help and enormous cooperation.

First of all we would like to pay my respected academic supervisor and advisor Pro. Wg Cdr. Kazi Abdul Matin (Retd) whom gave the opportunity of doing report on " Development of Bangladesh Film Industry and its Present State.” Than we would like to thanks respected Receptionist who provided much information, which was mandatory for doing this report. We would also like to give especial thanks to my group member.

Table of Content

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S/N

..................................Particular Page No

The Report Preparatory Part- Title Fry 01-Title Page 02-Letter of Transmittal 03-letter of Authorization 04-Student Declaration 05-Acknowledgement 06-Table of Content 07-Executive summary 08The Report Body PartIntroduction 09-11History 12-15Present Sate 15-29Methods 30-35Performance , income & Box office report

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Recommendation 42-43Conclusion 44The Report Supplementary partAppendix 45-47Bibliography, Works Cited & Reference 48-49

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Executive summary

The cinema of Bangladesh, also known as Dhallywood informally, has been a

significant film industry since the 80's. The word "Dhallywood" is a portmanteau of the

words Dhaka and Hollywood. Dhallywood is one of the major centers of film production in

South Asia. Film production reached its pinnacle in 1990. During the 1980s to the first half

of 90's, the Bangladeshi film industry produced some of the biggest films in Bangladeshi

cinema.[6] According to film pundits, the Bangladeshi film industry is growing at a very fast

pace in recent years. 2014 has proved to be an excellent year for the film industry, with

some of the movies being the highest grossing Bangladeshi films of all time. The

Bangladeshi film industry started its journey with the 1931 production of Last Kiss; the

earliest feature film ever made in what would become Bangladesh. However, the first ever

screening of films in Bangladesh started on 24 April 1898 by Bradford Bioscope Company

at the Crown theater near Dhaka harbour.  Commercially successful Bangladeshi films

include Tojammel Haq's The Gypsy Daughter, AJ Khan's The Face and the Mask,

Giashuddin Selim's Monpura, Ashiqur Rahman's Kistimaat, Iftakar

Chowdhury's Agnee and many more.

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FILM

Films are one of the most important sources of entertainments in almost every corner of the

world. It is the media that can sew people from the gloomy slums to the magnificent palaces

in the same rope. Due to an extensive margin and versatility films also resemble the culture

and daily life of common men largely than any other media and therefore films are

considered as important texts for so many academic disciplines such as, literature,

sociology, cultural studies, philosophy etc. Through a dialogue of an actor to a glittery

dress, a film has the ability to change a fashion, even to some extent a specific cultural

element. In a developed country like Bangladesh where the number of entertainments is

very few, films play a great role in shaping the lifestyle of mass public. The poor people

who work from hand to mouth to bring bread in the table construct their wild fantasy

through these films. It gives them a temporary pleasure of winning against the authority.

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Introduction Of Bangla cinema

Bangla cinema is the cinema produced by the cinema industry of Bangladesh now called

“Dhaliwood” (. Bangla cinema which started its journey from the 1950’s with the first talking

movie named “Mukh o Mukhosh (Bangla) or The Face and Mask (English)”, has a glorious past

that still echoes today. But the cinema industry has failed miserably to uphold the quality

standards of the industry that prevailed in the start. Where the Bangla cinema industry in the

black & white arena was magnified by the relentless work and contribution of talented

directors and actors, who gave in all their efforts to take Bangla cinema to greater heights

along with increasing expectations from the audiences, the cinema industry has gradually lost

its vigor and glamour to some evil spirits in the later years that followed. The black and white

arena that dated from the 1950’s to the 1980’s was the golden era of the Bangla cinema

industry as a lot of quality Bangla films were produced at that time creating a specific “classy”

audience class for the evergreen Bangla films of that time People from all spheres of life were

eager about these Bangla films and the passion they had for these films were to such an

extent that they did not hesitate in spending their hard earned pocket monies to have a look

at the Bangla films at that time in the theatres.

However, sadly and unfortunately, after the entrance of the Bangla cinema industry in the late

1990’s brought a downfall to the ever shining Bangla cinema industry. The Bangla films that

later started being made were inflicted with problems of various kinds including copying

tendencies of Hindi (Indian) movies, disastrous and copious movie music composition, “non-

Bangla” love elements and outlooks. As a result, the Bangla cinema became left out by

majority of the audiences because they accused these “so-called” Bangla cinemas as trash and

promoting an alien culture that is not Bangla culture at all.

Amid all these allegations, the Bangla cinema industry has survived and is still thriving to reach

at least a standard in line with its glorious history. The Bangla cinema has evolved over the last

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decade on different dimensions where the Bangla cinema was haunted by the once “so much

talked about” obscenity which later came down to an acceptable level due to tough drives

against the cinema industry to free it from all evil spirits. Now-a-days besides commercial

Bangla cinemas, some feature films are also being made which got more positive responses

from the audiences than commercial films. The commercial cinemas are now also changing to

meet up to the present day standards by using small scale innovations and new techniques.

But still the question pertains that is

“Does Bangla cinema portray Bangla culture in the present times?”

This research will try to find the answer to this particular question by adopting a quantitative

research approach. In this research by the term “Bangla cinema” we are referring to

commercial Bangla cinema produced from Bangladesh only not any Bangla feature film as the

feature films in Bengali are quite few in number and do not constitute a fully functional branch

of the cinema industry in Bangladesh. This research paper will try to analyze Bangla

commercial cinema on the basis of Bangla culture and see whether the commercial Bengali

cinema is in harmony with the actual spirit of Bangla culture and to substantiate the study a

few case studies of some recent Bangla cinema will also be presented.

This research paper employed the techniques of content analysis for discussions and

participant observation for case studies as methodology.

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History of Bangla Cinema

The cinema industry of Bangladesh dates as back as the late 1890’s. Bangladesh was then in

nexus with the greater Indian subcontinent and in tandem with Calcutta (the present West

Bengal). Sharing the same Bangla language, the first ever Bangla movies were made in Calcutta

which received great patronage from the then British occupiers of the Indian subcontinent.

The British rulers favored the development of Bangla cinema in Calcutta and gave financial

support both directly and indirectly. This allowed Calcutta to set itself up as a hub for Bangla

cinema in the later period. However, cinema arrived in Bangladesh (The then Banga which

later became East Pakistan in 1947 and Bangladesh in 1971) by the end of 1890’s. A

newspaper report of Dhaka Prakash in1898 stated that films were being screened in a theatre

called, The Crown Theatre in Dhaka where news and documentary video footages were

displayed. Later in the period of 1913-1914, the first cinema theatre, Picture House, started

functioning. After that cinema halls were gradually being built and the number of cinema halls

reached 80 by 1947 in the then Bangladesh where regular films were shown, most of them

being films made in Bangla from Calcutta.

Until 1956, the Bangla cinema industry was mostly silent, movies produced without any verbal

dialogues. The first ever cinema made in Bangladesh was Mukh o Mukhosh, which was the

also the first talkie of the Bangla cinema industry, debuted on August 03, 1956. The entire film

was shot in Dhaka with local Bangladeshi artists and a storyline that catered for the

Bangladeshi audience of that time, but the post production of the film was done in Lahore,

The then West Pakistan (the present Pakistan). Mukh o Mukhosh was the start of the Bangla

cinema industry from Bangladesh and the journey of Mukh o Mukhosh inspired many other

Bangla films produced later onwards.

After the partition of the Indian subcontinent by the British colonial rulers in 1947, the present

Bangladesh was conjoined with the present Pakistan as a combined single state divided into

two sections, East and West Pakistan. The West Pakistan was in power of Bangladesh after

1947 and the then West Pakistan government established the East Pakistan Film Development

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Corporation (EPFDC) in 1957, a year after the release of Mukh o Mukhosh with a view to help

the Bangla cinema flourish. EPFDC was later renamed as Bangladesh Film Development

Corporation (BDFDC) after it became independent from West Pakistan in 1971. Still now,

BDFDC exists as the focal point of the commercial Bangla cinema industry but in a very

unstable condition pounded by various problems, hence losing its potential day by day to

improve the local Bangla cinema industry. Along with BDFDC, a film archive was also set up for

conserving the much acclaimed Bangla cinema as a remark of a precious historical national

asset of the country for the times to come, as the cinema industry is a valuable asset for any

country.

The era of 1956 till 1990 of the Bangla cinema industry was completely black and white. After

1990, the Bangla cinema industry entered the colorful age and had undergone a massive

process of commercialization. Hence the Bangla cinema industry from 1990 onwards lost its

artistic element and was overridden with “very much” commercialistic elements which

constitute the famous model of social class difference (rich-poor)-cheesy romance-some erotic

dance numbers- hilarious fight scenes-happy ending that still govern most of the commercial

Bangla cinema of today.

Note: The history of Bangla cinema has been adapted from the following resources:

a) Banglapedia: Film, Feature http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/F_0076.HTM

b) Wikipedia: Cinema of Bangladesh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Bangladesh

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What Is ‘Bangla Cinema’?

Apparently ‘Bangla Cinema’ refers to the films produced Bangladesh but interestingly it is not

that transparent. ‘Bangla Cinema’ specifically indicates to the mainstream commercial films

that are produced and directed by the ‘illiterate’, ‘ordinary’ persons and the film stars are

completely mediocre, the story is based on the conflict between poor and rich, the targeted

audience is mainly the rickshaw pullers or the garments labourers and ultimately there is no

‘message’ or ‘artistic’ elements in the films. Needless to say the films that are abstract and

convey a message are not called as ‘Bangla Cinema’ though they are also produced in

Bangladesh. For example, ‘Matir Moyna’ or ‘Third Person Singular Number’ do not fill in to

that category of ‘Bangla Cinema’ since they have that artistic element and convey a message.

And as Raymond William defines popular culture as inferior kind of work, well liked by many

people and work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people, these commercial films

certainly can be tagged as popular culture (Storey 2). And therefore it can also be said that

these commercial films are one of the channels to visualize the people living in the lower part of

the society, but the question is whether it is the authentic presentation or not?

Why Cinema Is Important?

There are a couple of entertainment medias in Bangladesh. Apart from films we can name

radio, television, newspaper and magazines and nowadays social networking sites.

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However, radios and televisions are mainly based on drama serials, musical program and

package programmes like political talk shows, celebrity gossips etc. Except for the national

television channel all the channels in Bangladesh are commercial and run on TVC. As a

result their first priority becomes making profit and therefore their programmes are targeted

for the rich audience. The drama and other programs are mainly based on their lifestyle and

therefore remains the representation of the high class of the society. So the poor is clearly

neglected here since they do not bring profit. For the reason films become the only source

of entertainment that represent their life and on the other way it is also an easy way to

manipulate these minds ideologically by the bourgeois society. These cinemas therefore

work as ISA (Ideological State Apparatus) which actually is a key to hallucinate the poor

and keep them under domination.

Present State

During 1990s, Bangladeshi films started losing a large sector of audience because of lack of quality. The film directors started giving more attention to film's music, dance and other elements instead of story and screenplay. Some also began to add action and intense scenes. A few directors began to imitate and copy foreign films, mostly Indian films. Hence, the films could attract only the urban living small income people.

During 2000s, Bangladeshi films began doing poor business and initially, the numbers of films decreased. The term 'Bangla Cinema' became a matter of joke among the people. Though there always have been some independent film makers who attempt to make movies in a good manner, their work attract only a few audience.

After declining during most of the 2000s, the Bangladeshi film industry bounced back after 2009. With the help of the Bangladeshi Government and

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the emergence of giant production companies, the Bangladeshi film industry is growing at a fast pace. Since 2010, Bangladesh has developed several large production and distribution companies, such as Jaaz Multimedia and Tiger Media Limited and the films produced by them have been doing better business than the others for their large budget and glamorous appearance. But these films hardly catch the educated audience living in rural and urban areas.

The year 2014 proved to be the most profitable year, while 2015 is already the biggest, with some of Bangladesh’s biggest films lined up for release. Bollywood's Reliance Entertainment Limited has expressed their interest in producing Bangladeshi films. However, the Bangladesh Film Corporation didn't respond due to the ban on Indian films in Bangladesh.

The Economic Segment:

Though the study of Film as a discipline started around 1960s, the debate whether a movie is a piece of art or not began much earlier. A group of academicians favor the term “Film” over “Movie” and recognize it as a piece of Art. But a great number of practitioners and academicians regard it as a form of entertainment, pure and simple. Government may promote movies as a mass communication tool to communicate nationally important messages to its people. We will not take any extreme position to explain the phenomena of Film industry of Bangladesh. “Assumptions that fail to provide criteria for the analysis of messages, falling between the extremes of good and bad, beautiful and ugly and art and non-art must prove singularly unfit as basic assumptions for the analysis of films that so clearly fall between these extreme.” (Sol Worth 1971)

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টে�লি�লি�শন

On the other hand, the inherent issues like demand uncertainty, risk involvement and big investment movie turns to be a business. . From the perspective of the phenomenal decline of Hollywood in the late 1960s and early 1970s Fadiman (1973) contends that “Movie making is business which is at the same time an art and an industry.” While producing a movie, producers and directors have clear idea on what factor will be dominating in that movie. Even without negating any of these factors and making a balance among the factors a director can make an outstanding movie.

After the War of Independence of Bangladesh in 1971, most of the time we have seen one man show in the film Industry. Sometimes it is Nayok Raz Razzak, Sometimes it is Dashing Hero Jashim, then Romantic Hero Salman Shah and Lastly Super Star Manna. After the sudden death of Manna in 2008, whole film industry was jolted down. Shakib Khan came to the limelight and whole industry was directed centering him. Situations worsened as there was lack of variation in stories, lack of innovation in other areas of movie making. People started to forget about going Cinema Hall to watch movies as the number of movie-goers was decreasing slowly after the death of Salman Shah. The Cinema Halls were shut down one after another. At last, despite the strong protest from directors-producers-actors, Bangladesh Cinema Hall Owners Association imported Indian Bangla movie to exhibit in their dormitory. But this initiative went in vain also.

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Guerrilla

With the emergence of some brilliant young directors especially Mostofa Sarwar Farooki  ( director) , M. A. Jalil Ananta (Producer-Actor), Giasuddin Selim (Monpura), Nasiruddin Yousuff (Guerrilla), Redoan Rony (Chorabali) the film industry get back its life. Bangla movie experiences some benchmarks with completely different, wonderful stories, unprecedented cinematography and the phenomenal improvement in every technical side of movie making. Now time comes to arm the life of the film industry with “continuous re-engineering . It is a business term what Japanese calls Kaizen. From the capitalistic view, without the motivation of profit continuous development or re-engineering of something is impossible.

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Monpura

 We all know that a good producer is a good investor; a good director is a good manager and obviously a good marketer also. You need proper planning, managing whole shooting unit, finishing all activities within a definite period of time and within definite amount of budget, developing a control system to be a successful director. You have to act like a total businessman.

Another thing to consider is that “popularity in the past has been has been found to be no guarantee of success in the future. There is no simple, consistent relationship between film themes, costs of productions and box office receipts.”(Edmunds and Strick 1977).It is strategically sound to recognize the truth of movie business more elaborately. “The measure of success in movie making is attendance either in terms of the number of admissions, the dollar value of the rental fees which exhibitors return to the distributors. But more practically it is not the number of admission, not box office hit; it is the rentals which the distributor receives that are used in calculating the actual profit or loss.”(Jowett, Linton 1980)

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Chorabali

In the competitive market one must differentiate his/her movies in the market. But In which area you have to differentiate, in which area you have to compete is a matter of concern. “Each movie while produced is essentially a unique commodity. It needs high degree of product differentiation which results in promotional competition rather than admission price competition.” (Larmett et al, 1978).Product differentiation needs to be dealt with cultural sensitivity and the most important thing is to position in the audiences mind differently.

Understanding the phenomena of the film industry in a pragmatic way is significant to the people having stake in the industry. Contemplating the learning of modern management and implementing latest marketing strategies in producing movies can play an influential role to develop the film industry of Bangladesh.

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The Global Segment

Bangladeshi cinema-goers can now enjoy Indian films in cinema halls across the country, for the first time, as the Indian action crime thriller, Wanted, got clearance certificate from the Bangladesh film censor board yesterday. Saiful Islam Chowdhury, member of the censor board and president of Bangladesh Motion Picture Exhibitors Association, confirmed the development. Inn-win Enterprise has imported the film, under the Import Policy Order, 2012-15. Inn-win Enterprise proprietor Iftekhar Uddin Naushad told The Independent that screening each others’ movies should be allowed in both the countries, to save the cinema halls and the film industry in general.

“Many cinema halls are closing down. If this continues, it will be difficult to save the industry. That’s why we have to open up the market,” he added.About releasing Wanted, Naushad, also the proprietor of Madhumita Cinema Hall, said, “I’ve called upon the film producers' association, to release the film in 50-60 cinema halls across the country. Everything depends on the approval of the association.”

“Recreational programmes like music, drama, movies, documentaries, etc. can be exported in the form of audio and video cassettes, compact discs (CD), DVDs, etc., if there is no objection from the information ministry,” the order said.

Armed with this order, Bangladesh distributors imported Indian films such as Don 2, Three Idiots, and Taare Zameen Par. Of the films imported, Wanted got the clearance of the censor board for the first time, Saiful Islam Chowdhury said.

Two other films—Khoka Babu and Khoka 420—are in the pipeline for clearance of the censor board, he added.

Under the order, two organisations, Khan Brothers and Upahar Cinema, exported eight films Ananta Bhalabasha, Hridoyer Bondhan, Maa Amar Swarga, Tumi Amar Moner Manush, Mukhoshdhari, Sramik Neta, Praner

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Manush, and Josner Prem. Of these, Maa Amar Swarga and Tumi Amar Moner Manush got clearance from the Indian censor board.

JK Entertainment, a West Bengal-based distributor, distributes the films. It has filed an application with the authorities at West Bengal state-run Nandan cineplex, in Kolkata, to screen the films there, in December.

Under the Import Policy Order, 2012-15, import of cinematographic films from SAFTA countries will be equal in number, against export of films produced in Bangladesh.

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The Technological & Sociocultural Segment

“The technique of art is to make objects "unfamiliar", to make forms difficult, to increase the difficulty and length of perception because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged. Art is a way of experiencing the artfulness of an object: the object is not important.”

(Art as a Technique, Viktor Sklovosky)

As mentioned earlier the familiar portrayal of the liberation war of Bangladesh was not the central concern of Nasiruddin Yousuff and Rubayat Hossain’s recent films‘Guerrilla’ and ‘Meherjaan’. Rather these films attempt to open new perspectives from the typical representation of the liberation war where the dominant version has been always projected with passion and authenticity. Getting away from the earlier gender- biased projection of characters, these two film makers defamiliarize the typical representation of women by voicing it from the woman’s perspective and adopting a distinctive narratological process.

Viktor Sklovosky in his Art as a Technique expresses—

Anyone who knows Tolstoy can find several hundred passages in his work where his method of seeing things out of their normal context is so apparent. Tolstoy described the dogmas and rituals he attacked as if they were unfamiliar, substituting everyday meanings for the customarily religious meanings of the words common in church ritual. Many persons were painfully wounded; they considered it blasphemy to present as strange and monstrous what they accepted as sacred. Their reaction was due chiefly to the technique through which Tolstoy

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perceived and reported his environment. And after turning to what he had long avoided, Tolstoy found that his perceptions had unsettled his faith.

The technique of defamiliarization is nothing new. But in Bangladeshi context, Hossain applies this technique for the first time in ‘Meherjaan’ to encounter the grand narrative of the nation’s liberation war through her outlandish love-story and faces almost similar criticism that Tolstoy had faced then. As Pablo Casals said, “The love of one’scountry is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?”5 Having this notionin mind Hossain’s film “Meherjaan” breaks the border bringing the people together under the magic of love. “Meherjaan” portrays the emotional aspects of human psyche where people are in war fight and kill each other, but the only thing remains is the purity of love. Following the tagline of the film “Loving the other” Hossain creates a love story in the backdrop of the war, but there is little of war in it. She tries to provide a post-nationalist perspective of 1971, by valorizing the everyday politics of the villagers and also emphasizes on looking at the liberation through the eyes of the women who loves a Baloch Army, Washim, who rescues her from a rape attempt. Again this Washim rejects to support his own army when he realizes the shameless ferocities they are doing in Bangladesh. Interestingly, this film pronounces the necessity of loving the “other” in a rather more atypical way that projects all the sensual aspects of feminine love ignoring the horror of the war (upon which the story is supposedly based). Meherjaan, the protagonist of the film falls in love with an enemy soldier while living in the same home with her cousin Nila. Her character symbolizes the symbol of love, but in the wrong time of the history. She is educated, peaceful and against war. But despite being educated, she is totally unaware of the national demand of independence and the reasons behind that. This projection somehow might remind of a typical Indian films’ romance genre, where the war is

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between the families in the backdrop, and the lovers are courting aside. Criticisms aside, this surely is a new way of projecting the war in the cinema of Bangladesh.

Again, I find strong resemblances of Hollywood action films with that of ‘Guerilla’, where the heroine is to bring justice and is involved with serious action. The protagonist of ‘Guerilla’ disguises herself, provides grenades and explosives to co- fighters, deceives the high-ups of the army and sets a bomb there that explodes minutes after her departure. Even at the end of the film she manages to set the army camp on fire through her hand bomb. All this action pack thriller-drama has been technically done in a real Hollywood style. The violent portrayal of gruesome killing also reminds us of any Hollywood thriller film. Even the Bengali soundtrack in the film is also influenced by Western compositions. In total, this film, portraying the 1971 liberation war, is actually demonstrating a whole new

21st century stylish action thriller as a genre, which also is very new way of defining the liberation war on the celluloid in Bangladesh.

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The Political Segment

Bangladeshi movie actors and directors have gone on an indefinite strike protesting against a decision to screen Indian movies in local theatres. 

Shoots both at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (FDC) and elsewhere in the country have come to a halt since Thursday evening.

'Bangladesh Chalachitra Oikya Jote' (films unity) told bdnews24.com that the strike would continue until further announcement.

Leaders of the unity submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday afternoon opposing the import and screening of Indian films.

Prime minister’s Information Affairs Adviser Iqbal Sobhan received the memorandum.

A leader of the Oikya Jote and Bangladesh Film Directors Association’s Publicity Secretary, Ahmed Ali Mondal said, “In protest against the release of Indian movie ‘Wanted’, we have decided to suspend all movie-related activities.

"We are now waiting for the prime minister’s response. Our strike will continue until our demands are met.”

He said film stars including 'Shakib', 'Moushumi' and Amit Hasan along with crew members would visit theatres at 9am on Friday.

They would request the audience to boycott Bollywood movies at halls where ‘Wanted’ is expected to be released.

Bangladesh Film Directors Association, Film Artists Association and other organisations of the film industry have started the protest since Inwin

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Enterprise decided to imported four Hindi movies from India — 'Wanted', 'Don 2', 'Taare Zameen Par' and '3 Idiots'.

The Oikya Jote was formed after the Inwin announced the release of ‘Wanted’ in 80 theatres.

Leaders of the Oikya Jote said at a press conference at the FDC on Tuesday that they would prevent the screening of Hindi movies at any cost.

On the other hand, head of the Inwin Nawshad said they followed the SAFTA Agreement and the direction of the information ministry while importing the movies and hence there was no legal hurdle in releasing ‘Wanted.’

Meanwhile, on behalf of the Oikya Jote, Advocate Ekhlas Uddin Bhuiyan has sent a legal notice to the cabinet secretary, cultural affairs minister and secretary, chairman of the Censor Board, Dhaka deputy commissioner, IG of the police asking them not to allow screening of ‘Wanted’.

In the meantime, the Bangladesh Film Producers and Distributors Association has convened an emergency meeting on Saturday to take a decision on the import and screening of Indian films.

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The Demographic Segment

After the independence the decades of seventies and eighties witnessed the golden time of film industry. There were 1,200 cinema halls in the country and only in Dhaka city there were 44 cinema halls .Since 2001 this number started to reduce and at present there are 500 cinema halls and out of them 100 halls are seasonal which remain closed almost all the year round. They are opened just on some occasions. In Dhaka city there are only 33 cinema halls now and in Chittagong only three cinema halls are in operation. From the perspective of the phenomenal decline of Hollywood in the late 1960s and early 1970s Fadiman (1973) contends that "Movie making is business which is at the same time an art and an industry." While producing a movie, producers and directors have clear idea on what factors will be dominating in that movie. Even without negating any of these factors and making a balance among the factors a director can make an outstanding movie. Bangladeshi film industry witnessed one man show after 1971. Situation worsened as there was lack of variation in stories, lack of innovation in other areas of movie making. People started to forget going to cinema halls to watch movies as the number of movie-goers was decreasing slowly after the death of Salman Shah. The cinema halls were shut down one after another. At last, despite the strong protest from directors-producers-actors, Bangladesh Cinema Hall Owners Association imported Indian Bangla movies to exhibit those in their halls. But this initiative went in vain.

With the emergence of some brilliant young directors especially Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, M A Jalil Ananta who is both a producer and actor, Giasuddin Selim who produced Monpura, Nasiruddin Yousuff who created Guerrilla and  Redoan Rony who made Chorabali, the film industry has somehow saved its life. Bangla movie experiences some benchmarks with completely different, wonderful stories, unprecedented cinematography and the phenomenal improvement in every technical side of movie making. Now time has come to arm the life of the film industry with "continuous re-engineering. We all know that a good producer is a good investor; a good director is a good manager and obviously a good marketer also. In order to be a successful director  proper planning, managing

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whole shooting unit, finishing all activities within a definite period of time and within definite amount of budget, developing a control system are the prerequisites. Understanding the phenomena of the film industry in a pragmatic way is significant to the people having stakes in the industry. Contemplating the learning of modern management and implementing latest marketing strategies in producing movies can play an influential role to develop the film industry of Bangladesh.

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Digital Method of Making Digital Film

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Digital CameraDigital ProductionDigital CastingDigital Sound Systeem

After Digitalization Film Industry Using Digital Movie Camera

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Before Digitalization

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Before Digitalization Sound System

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After Digitalization Sound System

Digitalization stunt Page-34

Performance of Bangladesh Film Industry

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c

56%

19%

25%

1980-1999 2000-20142014-2015

Income Percentage Of Bangladesh Film Industry

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1980-1999 2000-2014 2014-2015

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

88%

35%

56%

Series 1

Box Office Report

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FILM RATING

FilmCritics

Audience

Love Marriage 31% 55%Agnee 2 58% 75%Podmo Patar Jol 71% 89%

Film Theaters

Box Office Collection

Critics Ratings

Audience Ratings

Agnee 2 104 ৳ 5,43,00,000  58%  75%

Padma Patar Jol 23 ৳ 12,90,000  77%  89%

Chuye Dile Mon 7   3,20,00,000 64%  87%

Dashboard 2014-2015

Top Earners

Film Cast Director Gross

Agnee Arefin Shuvo, Mahiya Mahi

Iftakar Chowdhury 120 million

Hero The SuperstarShakib Khan, Apu Biswas, Eamin Haque Bobby

Bodiul Alam 100.10 million

Romeo vs Juliet Mahiya Mahi, Ankush Hazra Ashok Pati 65.49 million

Kistimaat Arefin Shuvo, Achol Ashiqur 64.35 million

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Rahman

Most Welcome 2 Ananta Jalil, Afiea Nusrat Barsha Ananta Jalil 50.05 million

Ami Sudhu Cheyechi Tomay

Subhasree Ganguly, Ankush Hazra Ashok Pati 43.50 million

Rajotto : Deadly Journey of a Gangster

Shakib Khan, Eamin Haque Bobby

Iftakar Chowdhury 40.1 million

Chuye Dile Mon Arifin Shuvoo, Zakia Bari Momo

Shihab Shaheen 32.30 million

Warning Arifin Shuvoo, Mahiya Mahi Shafi Uddin 28.70 million

Tarkaata Arefin Shuvo, Mim Bidya Sinha Saha

M.M Kamal Raj 22.50 million

All Time Highest Grosser Cast Director Gross

Agnee Arefin Shuvo, Mahiya Mahi

Iftakar Chowdhury 120 million

Hero The Superstar

Shakib Khan, Apu Biswas, Eamin Haque Bobby Bodiul Alam 100.10 million

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Priya Amar Priya Shakib Khan Bodiul Alam 100 million

Nishwartha Bhalobasha Ananta Jalil Ananta Jalil 72 million

Most Welcome Ananta Jalil Anonno Mamun 70 million

Number One Shakib Khan Shakib Khan Bodiul Alam 70 million

Purnodoirgho Prem Kahini

Shakib Khan, Arefin Shuvo, Joya Ahsan Shafi Uddin 68 million

Romeo vs Juliet Mahiya Mahi, Ankush Hazra Ashok Pati 65.49 million

My Name Is Khan Shakib Khan Bodiul Alam 65 million

Kistimaat Arefin Shuvo, Achol Ashiqur Rahman 64.35 million

Most Welcome 2 Ananta Jalil Ananta Jalil 50.5 million

Full and Final Shakib Khan Malek Afsari 47 million

Ami Sudhu Cheyechi Tomay

Subhasree Ganguly, Ankush Hazra Ashok Pati 43.5 million

Rajotto Shakib Khan Iftakar Chowdhury 40.3 million

Bhalobasha Zindabad Arefin Shuvo Debashish

Biswas 38 million

Moner Majhe Tumi Riaz, Purnima Motiur

Rahman 35 million

Ami Sudhu Cheyechi Tomay

Subhasree Ganguly, Ankush Hazra Ashok Pati 33.2 million

Chuye Dile Mon Arifin Shuvoo, Zakia Bari Momo

Shihab Shaheen 32.30 million

Pora Mon Symon Sadik, Mahiya Mahi Zakir Hossain 30 million

Warning Arifin Shuvoo, Mahiya Mahi Shafi Uddin 28.70 million

Tarkaata Arefin Shuvo, Mim Bidya M M Kamal 22.5 million

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Sinha Saha Raj

* Running

Beder Meye Josna

Ilias Kanchan, Anju Ghosh

Tojammel Hoque Bokul 400 million

The Original “Beder Meye Josna” (The Gypsy Daughter); Released in 1989 is considered the highest grossing film of all time; According to reports, the film collected 400 million at Box Office (With Inflation), The film was later remade in West Bengal.

Recommendation

Bangladesh film industry must produce quality movies

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The picture shows M A Jalil Ananta (left), a brilliant young director, with his co-actress Borsha

Bengali cinema is passing through a tough and critical time. Cinema halls in the country have been reduced to half. Releasing new cinemas has also come down to half. The lack of patronization of government, non-government, influence of sky culture, unhealthy and dilapidated condition of cinema halls, not producing quality films, financial constraints, lack of modern technology, lack of filming education and training have been identified as the prime causes for miserable days of this industry. Films are not only a means of entertainment but also a great and very effective medium of education which many books cannot do. Next its prosperity goes with economic development as well.  

'Mukh and Mukhush,' the first film of the country, was released 58 years ago in 1956. Since then 2,905 films were released till 2013. Releasing films got increased and in 2005, some 100 films were released. From 2005 it started to witness a sluggish trend and in 2013, only 45 films were produced. The situation has got back to that of four decades ago. The same mundane formulaic stories had taken over the industry. A major breakthrough is required. Someone must break the norm and bring fresh outlook to films that will present a better quality of action; stunts and effects that would make the films stand out from the rest. Movies must be highly entertaining as well as educative; otherwise spectators would not come to the cinema halls. They will satisfy their needs by buying CDs and watching Bollywood movies. And this is what is actually going on now.

Developing a film institute is a crying need of this industry. The institute will produce talented directors, producers, actors and actresses. Sound, culture friendly, timely films can be produced which will exhibit relevant issues discussed at the present time. Films can be

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easily produced based on famous literary books of Bengali and English literature. Films can show the present day world politics, make the people know the rules of health and hygiene, teach traffic rules, crumbling religious faith of humans, teach us why girls' education is necessary, it can show us how rural and urban gap can be minimized. The entire gamut of human behavior, social, political and international issues can be featured through the films. These diversified issues will definitely draw spectators from various fields and backgrounds removing the insecurity of meeting financial loss. What do we see in our present day films? Just the same and known stories are used in a series of films. Even a simple and non-sensible man can also guess its course, turning point and ending very easily. Vulgarism and irrelevant entertaining scenes and similar kind of stories reign in the present day cinemas of Bangladesh which have lost the appeal of the audience almost totally. Twenty-first century films must be very promising, challenging, scientific, fully educative and critical thought provoking.

•Better cinema should be produced based on real life stories.

•Environment of cinema halls should be improved.

•Technical qualities of cinema should be of international standard.

•Titles and posters should be tasteful for everyone’s acceptance.

•Sufficient money should be invested in this sector.

•All kinds of corruption should be eliminated.

•Educated actors and actresses should be there.

•Directors and Producers should be adequate educated and cultured.

•More cinemas should be produced for the educated audiences.

•Censor Board should be watchful, tasteful and stricter.

Conclusion

The Film industry has for long been neglected from substantial Public or Private Sector Investment. The True Potential of this industry has long been

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misunderstood. Recent World Economy is undergoing a Recession and Stats suggest that “return upon investment “ in the film Industry is risk Free, More Secure and more Prospective than other Conventional forms of Investment.

Indeed film making is a risky business and very few in our country dare to denote a notion of

defamiliarization against the typically “familiar” projection, however it is a noteworthy change

in the context of our socio-cultural environment that the recent film-makers are daring to

“Think otherwise” and show different perspectives of the great history of our country. The

aspiration and the dare to “think otherwise” should stand strong. If so, then someday in near future

Bangladeshi film industry will be able to uphold the glorious national history of our country in

front of the world audience with larger definitions and interesting interpretations.

Appendix

Subject: “Development of Bangladesh Film Industry And its Present State”

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(The information collected from this questionnaire will be used for

research/academic purpose and will be kept secret)

. .

Name of respondent : . .

Location : . ..

Age: . .

Marital Status : Married Unmarried Divorced

Separated Other...........................

Educational Qualification:..........................................................

1. Do you watch Bangla cinema in cinema hall?

a. Yes b. No c.why? -

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2. Which things do you like or dislike most about Bangla cinema?

a. Story b. Music c. Characters d. Choreography

3. Which one makes you disliking Bangla cinema?

a. Environment of hall b. cinema itself

4. What is your opinion about Bangla cinema?

a. Vulgar b. Lower standard c. Copy from Hindi cinema

5. Which thing should be changed first?

a. Characters of cinema b. Cinema Hall c. Story/Theme of cinema

6. Do you watch Bangla cinema in television?

a. Yes b. No c.Why?

7. Do you think Hindi cinema is responsible for our disliking Bangla cinema?

a. Yes b. No c. Why?

8. Which classes of people go to cinema hall in Bangladesh?

a. Lower class b. Middle class c. Upper class

9. Which profession’s people usually go to cinema hall?

a. Day labourers b. Students c. Job holders d. Housewives

10. Do you think that cinema halls are gender friendly?

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a. Yes b. No

11. Which period’s cinema is better?

a. Before 1971 b. Upto 1990 c. 1990 to till now

12. What is your opinion about Bangla cinema’s title?

a. Under rated b. Appropriate c. Absurdd. Vulgar

13. Who should be changed first?

a. Audiences b. Directors c. Producers d. Actors/Actresses

Bibliography, Works Cited & Reference

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1. Karim Waheed, 2005, Celebrating 50 years of our cinema, The Daily Star, 12 August, viewed on 7

November 2010 on http://thedailystar.net/2005/08/12/d50812140197.htm

2. Tazeen M. Murshid, 1997, State, Nation, Identity: The quest for legitimacy in Bangladesh, South

Asia: journal of South Asian studies, Volume 20/Issue 2, Page 1-34

3. N. deVotta, 2001, The Utilization of Religio-Linguistic Identities by the Sinhalese and Bengalis:

Towards a General Explanation, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Volume 39/Issue 1,

Page 66-95

4. Tinaz Pavri, 2008, National Identity and Homeland in Bangladesh, Peace Review, Volume

20/Issue 1, Page 107-112

5. Zakir Hossain Raju, Bangladesh: Native Resistance and Nationalist Discourse, Page 120-132

6. Fahmidul Haq, 2007, Film of Bangladesh, Communication and Culture of Bangladesh, weblog

post, 8 November, viewed on 3 November 2010 on

http://fahmidulhaq.blogspot.com/2007/11/film-of-bangladesh.html

7. Fahmidul Haq, 2010, Cinemas of Bengal, Communication and Culture of Bangladesh, weblog

post, 23 April, viewed on 3 November 2010 on

http://fahmidulhaq.blogspot.com/2010/04/cinemas-of-bengals.html

8. Kajalie Shehreen Islam, 2007, Bangla cinema: An industry in decay, The Daily Star, 30 May,

viewed on 4 November 2010 on http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2008/05/05/cover.htm

9. Fahmidul Haq, 2007, Media Scenario and Pedagogy: Bangladesh Experience, Communication

and Culture of Bangladesh, weblog post, 7 November, viewed on 3 November 2010 on

http://fahmidulhaq.blogspot.com/2007/11/media-scenario-and-pedagogic-experience.html

10. Sohel Islam, What the film directors think, The Independent, viewed on 5 November 2010 on

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?

q=cache:PhAN7nlOnHIJ:www.bangladeshshowbiz.com/news/

film_director_says.htm+what+the+film+direcotrs+think+-

+weekend+independent&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&client=firefox-a

11. Jotsna Pervin, 2009, Socially conscious films of Bangladesh, Film of Bangladesh, weblog post, 25

December, viewed on 4 November 2010 on http://jbpv.wordpress.com/category/film-of-

bangladesh/

12. Zakir Raju, 2000, National cinema and the beginning of film history of Bangladesh, Screening the

Past, Issue 11, viewed on 3 November 2010 on

http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr1100/rzfr11d.htm

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13. Catherine Masud, 2004, Bangladesh National Cinema in the Age of Globalization, The Daily Star,

17 December, viewed on 4 November 2010 on

http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2004/12/03/cinema.htm

14. Helen Rowe, 2004, Bangladeshis reject “smutty” Bengali films, Things Asian, 22 April, viewed on

5 November 2010 on http://www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/2941

15. Shovon Chowdhury, 2008, Portraying women in Dhakai cinema, Ground Report, 27 April, viewed

on 4 November 2010 on http://www.groundreport.com/Arts_and_Culture/Portraing-in-Dhakai-

Cinema/2860036

16. Karim Waheed, 2006, The red and green silver screen, The Daily Star, 4 February, viewed on 8

November 2010 on http://www.thedailystar.net/suppliments/2006/15thanniv/celebrating_bd/

celeb_bd21.htm

17. Banglapedia: Film, Feature, viewed on 8 November 2010 on

http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/F_0076.HTM

18. Maher Sattar, 2010, Bangladeshis take culture seriously, Knowledge Must, weblog post, 15 May,

viewed on 8 November 2010 on http://blog.knowledge-must.com/archives/23-Bangladeshis-

Take-Culture-Seriously.html

19. Banglapedia: Folk Culture, viewed on 7 November 2010 on

http://www.banglapedia.org/httpdocs/HT/F_0117.HTM

20. Wikipedia: Cinema of Bangladesh, viewed on 7 November 2010 on

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Bangladesh

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