A dispute has erupted between cinema owners and feature filmmakers over a recent change in the country’s import policy which allows Indian films to be imported in Bangladesh.
Section 49 (C) of the latest import policy 2012–2015 states that films from South Asian Free Trade Area member countries can be imported as long as their number does not exceed the number of films that are exported from Bangladesh.
This revision ends the ban on the import of Indian and other sub-continental films into the local market which was imposed after the independence of the country to nurture the local industry.
With eight Dhallywood films having sought — or in the process of seeking — permission for exhibition from the censor board in Kolkata, film importers/exporters have told New Age that they are planning to import eight Indian films.
Sudipta Kumar Das, the vice-president of the Bangladesh Motion Picture Exhibitors’ Association and spokesperson of Khan Brothers, a newly formed export-import company, told New Age, ‘Cinema owners are incurring huge business losses as not many good films are produced in the country. We want to do business throughout the year.’
In the past few years, the number of cinemas has decreased by a half from more than 1,200.
‘Initially, Kolkata-made films will be imported,’ he said. ‘We are also contacting Bollywood producers.’
People involved in the Dhaka-based film industry, fearing that such trade would only help to destroy the local industry whilst allowing Indian film producers to make a tidy profit, are, however, organising protests calling on the government to reverse the import policy.
In January 2010, similar protests had resulted in the current Awami League government taking a U turn six months after it had then relaxed the ban on film import. During the six-month window, in which imports were allowed, three Indian Bangla films obtained commercial release in Bangladesh cinemas.
‘We will stop this trade at any cost,’ Shahidul Islam Khokon, president of the Bangladesh Film Directors’ Association, told New Age.
‘It is not an anti-Indian stance. It is rather a question of the local film industry’s existence. The “conspirators” are taking such steps when the country’s film industry is resurrecting itself from the ruin. If such trade begins, it would be the last nail in the coffin for the country’s vulnerable film industry,’ Khokon added.
Explaining the cause of concern, seasoned actor-director Razzaq, who also has significant experience of working in Kolkata, said, ‘When Kolkata-made films are struggling in Paschimbanga due to the release of Bollywood films, how will it be possible for Bangladeshi films to get commercial access over there?’
‘At best [the Bangladesh films exported to Kolkata] will get an eye-wash screening at the state-run Nandan in Kolkata, which is not a profit-making exhibition hall. In exchange, however, Bollywood films will rule over the local cinemas in Bangladesh,’ he added.
An emotional Razzaq further said, ‘If the Awami League-led government wants to kill the local industry nurtured by Bangabandhu, what can be said?’
Former president of the Bangladesh Film Producers Distributors Association Sohel Rana, who is also a Dhallywood actor, further refutes the claim made by Bangladesh cinema owners and film importers that they were facing business losses. ‘All the films released this Eid made profit and many good films are in process,’ he said.
‘I don’t understand how these “neo-Awami Leaguers” dare to go against the spirit of Bangabandhu,’ he said.
Triggering off fears of an invasion of Indian films, after the information minister talked about the opening of the film market during his speech on National Film Day in April, several Indian newspapers recently ran reports stating that ‘a huge market for Indian films is going to be opened.’
The directors and actors of the Dhaka-based film industry suggest that the government should instead initiate joint-venture productions with India to share the huge market of more than 25 crore people of Bangladesh and Bangla-speaking states in India.
Whilst agreeing with this idea, the information minister, Hasanul Haque Inu, justified the new import policy arguing that it represented a success for Bangladeshi film industry.
‘We have not opened the local market to Indian films. Rather, against the export of local films, the same number of Indian films will get access and those films will have to follow the import rules of the commerce ministry and screening rules of the censor board.’
‘It will also open a new market for the local films. The Indian government and private exhibitors have assured us all support in helping the screening,’ the minister said.
Khan Brothers has already exported four films to newly formed Indian company JK Entertainment — Zakir Hossain Raju’s Ma Amar Swarga, Sohanur Rahman Sohan’s Ananta Bhalobasha, Azadi Hasnat Feorz’s Tumi Amar Maner Manush and FI Manik’s Hridayer Bandhan.
In the past week, the Indian company sought permission from the Indian censor board for their exhibition.
‘I fulfilled the procedures required for screening and expect a few of the films will get commercial release towards the end of this year in Paschimbanga,’ Sudipta Kumar told New Age.
Another newly formed export-import company, Upahar Cinema, is also ready to export four additional Dhallywood films — Amzad Hossain’s Praner Manush, Shahidul Islam Khokon’s Mukhoshdhari, Kazi Hayat’s Sramik Neta and Sheikh Nazrul’s Jyotsnar Prem — to the same Indian company.
Courtesy of New Age
