There is a strong protest on importing and exhibiting Indian movies in cinema halls in Bangladesh. Artists, directors and producers of the Bangladesh film industry viewed the decision to import Indian movies, Hindi movie to be more precise, as self-destructing for the country. Few cinema halls, however, have started exhibiting imported Hindi movies amidst protests.
The protest and exhibition of Hindi movies pose two important questions. How justified is the decision to import Indian movies? And how valid is the protest by the Bangladesh film industry? The issue of importing Indian movies was mooted around five years ago. The idea was to revive the business of cinema halls across the country. Many cinema halls were shut down over the last two decades as viewers stopped going to the halls.
Although Bangladeshi movies are being regularly released in different halls, most of those are poorly made. One would be shocked to compare the quality of Bangladeshi movies made in the 60s, 70s and 80s with those made in the 90s and afterwards. The situation started to worsen in early '90s when vulgarism entered in a big way posing threat to creative movies.
Things, however, started to change as professional artists raised their voice against vulgarism and launched a drive for neat and creative productions. Directors and producers also started to divert their efforts on better movies. But, spectators are yet to come back to the halls in a big way.
Against the backdrop, the move to import and exhibit foreign movies, mostly Hindi and English, brings hope for the film distributors. Meanwhile, Bangladesh has signed the SAARC Agreement on Trade in Services (SATIS) at the sixteenth SAARC Summit held in 2010. SATIS provides for movie export to and import from other SAARC countries.
India is the biggest film producing country. In 2013 some 1,602 movies were made, followed by 754 in China, 554 in Japan and 476 in the United States. On the other hand, Bangladesh is ranked 12th in the list of top 20 movie making countries a year. On average, Bangladesh produces 90 movies per year while India produces 1200.
Importing movies from SAARC countries under SATIS doesn't mean that only Hindi movies from India would be imported. Urdu movies from Pakistan could also be imported and Bengali movies made in West Bengal as well. Initially, however, it is the Hindi movies that would be imported as it has already a good market in Bangladesh.
No one can deny the fact that a large number of Bangladeshi people are used to watching Hindi movies and Hindi TV serials or daily soaps thanks to satellite cable network. Although crude sex and violence in many of these Indian movies and programmes are aplenty, there is no effective move to contain those.
In this reality, cinema halls in the country could exhibit limited number of Hindi movies only. And it will definitely attract a number of movie lovers. Even those who don't have access to cable TV network will also enjoy the movies. This will also help revive the business of the cinema halls.
The protest from Bangladesh film industry needs to be analysed in this context. Apparently, it is a valid argument that Hindi movies will push Bangladeshi movies to the margins due to the former's huge popularity. That this will ultimately damage our own cultural identity, as argued by many, is also true to some extent. But the reality is that in the age of globalisation, it would be impossible to keep the window closed for unlimited period in the film sector. Like other products and services, film industry has to face competition with global or regional products, be it today or tomorrow.
For the last few years, young generation film makers have stepped into the industry in Bangladesh, experimenting with new ideas and making good movies. As a result, a new market segment is slowly growing. To allow this to flourish, some fiscal incentives and policy support are required for the local film industry. A long-term plan could also be devised, without stopping import of Indian movies. It is better to put a limit on import, not duty-free at all, for the time being.
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