Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday called for combined efforts to protect the country’s cinema halls, saying that the film industry and the artistes will survive, if the cinema halls survive. It is alarming for the Bangladeshi Film Industry as well as saddening for the movie lovers that the number of cinema halls in the country has dropped to merely 174 from 1,235 while the number of local films has also come down to around 35 to 40 a year.
Gone are the days when cinema halls were the only place where films were screened. It was the golden era of Bangla cinema when quality films were made and people used to go with full family members to watch those films. The quality of the films has gone down and people have started depending on satellite television channels and mobile phone sets for entertainment.
We need to ensure quality production and
spur competition among the film makers
Nowadays people can watch movies on hand-held services. Such a practice is injecting the sky culture among people of every walk of life in Bangladesh. Even though we are living in the era of digital film the trend of copying commercial films of other countries is dominating our film industry. The quality of our locally produced movies thus has gradually deteriorated over time.
Film is one of the most powerful media of communication which signifies a country’s cultural identity. But due to numerous factors, not only urban people but also the rural people prefer foreign movies rather than their own ones. We do not become surprised even when we see Hindi songs occupying our cultural programmes. It is more of a disgrace that there are some Bengali cultural activists who prefer Hindi songs to play on different cultural occasions.
Nothing is more upsetting to hear that Hindi songs are played during Pahela Baishakh celebration. Considering all these, reviving the cinema hall culture of Bangladesh comes up as a national priority and in this regard, we need to ensure quality production and spur competition among the film makers.