Now-a-days every country is very much desperate about their economic expansion. To do this, various sectors are given priority by countries in the world. In our country, garments and textile, agriculture and export of many things including manpower, shrimps, frozen fish, pharmaceuticals, cement, jute etc are deemed to be the catalyst for rapid expansion of the economy. Often several sectors are given incentives to encourage and facilitate their businesses. But unfortunately as an industry film making has failed extensively to contribute to the expansion of economic growth. Even, it failed to attract the heed of the top brass of the government to prove itself as a factor of upsizing the economy.
We are very well informed about the film industry of the USA and India, popularly known as Hollywood and Bollywood respectively. Both the industries are successful in contributing to their own economies. Developing our own industry to that height is very difficult but not an impossible dream. Some of our films have gone to some prestigious platforms like 'Cannes' festival and 'Swiss' festival. But these events are not recurrent. In Bangladesh, traditional commercial movies are very poor in every category in respect to a good one. To be frank, the target customers of those films are the people of very lower class in society. There is nothing to learn, to enjoy, to be thrilled or even to watch with family. Myriad problems in the films include low class production, poor scripting, slipshod plot, substandard ideas, plagiarism, vapid acting and many others. It is not very long that our film industry was flooded with total insanity, nudity and vulgarity. But it is a good sign eventually that level of bareness in films is over. Still it needs a huge reform. Tactically, many film makers and most of the cast and crew are untaught in their field. However, a few creative, learned and cultured people still exist in our film arena but they are too little in number to dominate the sector. This learned and dedicated persons are out of fund and some cash-rich, dishonest and speculative quarters are abusing the industry with their fund. Now general people are not willing to visit the cinema halls for recreation and in good families, going to theatre halls is a taboo. But the cessation of going to cinema halls can hardly contribute to the economy. According to a BBC report, Bangladeshi film-making industry is worth $ 20 million and in recent years, the number of cinema halls in Bangladesh has reduced from about 1,500 to just over 600. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15178289)
By nature, humans cannot work for long without taking recreation and entertainment. Film is the most ancient and acceptable way to be entertained. But the traditional commercial Bangla movies have lost their appeal to satisfy the appetite of viewers' minds. Thus, the Bangladeshi movies have been compelled to sacrifice their market to Hindi and Kolkata's Bangla movies (A.K.A. Tallywood). Empirically, to many people it is a matter of puncture of prestige to watch Bangla films. Frankly speaking, I observed in many places that Kolkata heroes 'Dev' and 'Jeet' are very popular in Bangladesh and their movie songs as well. Culture of watching Hindi movies are common from the very past.
But it is a good sign that some Bangladeshi films like "Aha!", "Guerrilla", "Monpura", "Swopnodanay", "Moner Manush", "Matir Moina" and "Runway" had recently been acclaimed globally.In the age of satellite TV, it is even hard for a good film to take audiences in the theater halls while our commercial movies are still upholding their substandard quality. Sometimes the excellence of nation's culture is determined by their films since films express the nation's identity. If the aggression of Hindi films and production of substandard Bangla films continue to run, then we will lose our identity one day. The fettles of Bangla movies is now so vulnerable that some days ago The Bangladesh Motion Pictures Exhibitors Association urged the government to allow Bollywood movies to be screened in local cinemas to inject new blood into the business. The industry is on the brink of deterioration because of exorbitant increase in some protagonist's emolument, piracy, alleged non-collaboration from Bangladesh Film Development Corporation [BFDC] and alleged unfavourable behaviour of Bangladesh Film Censor Board.
Once, our film industry was very rich with creative people, exceptional thoughts and efficient technical minds. But we lost many veterans in our Liberation War which was deliberately done by the Pakistani perpetrators and their collaborators with a view to crippling the nation intellectually. We still could not fulfil their gap after 41 years of freedom. So it is not an easy task to revitalize this industry. To do this the government should take some needful steps to resuscitate the whole sector. The first step for the government could be to develop a long-run plan. The universities should launch separate departments on film, television and acting. Mechanical and technological matters are related with films. Hence, didactic courses should be commenced on those by government institutes. Scholarships should be provided to the students of films to earn the highest excellence in this sector. More governmental and private patronization is necessary for developing this industry. Film producers are eligible of receiving bank loans for funding films in India. But allegedly in Bangladesh, no banks have any policy of granting advances in this specific sector. Since film making has spillover effects in economy and stake of several industries (viz. audio, music channels) are related with film industry, specific laws should be passed to prevent piracy, plagiarism, and unfairness in film making. In many countries of Asia, the film exhibition business is stretched and evolved into a gainful concern on the ground of profitability, entertainment of viewers and improvement of social atmosphere. Ultimately, a rational approach to film industry is a must from the high-ups of government and from the society as well for the survival of Bangladeshi film and its contribution to economy.
This Article was published in The Financial Express, Saturday Features, (June 09, 2012)
