Film distributors and cinema owners in Bangladesh have retaliated against popular actor Shakib Khan, who led protests against the screening of Indian movies in the country, by slapping a ban on all the films that he appears in.
Khan was not alone in his protest. Many Bangladeshi film actors, directors and production workers participated in a campaign against Bollywood movies being shown for fear that it will collapse the already crippled local film industry. At the time of the protests, Indian actor Salman Khan’s “Wanted” movie was released for the first time in Bangladesh in 60 cinema theatres.
They ended their protest at the end of January after getting assurance from the government that no more Indian movies would be imported.
Distributors and cinema owners defended their decision to show Bollywood films, saying not enough people see Bengali movies while Indian movies draw a bigger crowd and keep them in business. The decline in Bangladesh’s homegrown film industry has prompted the closure of more than a thousand cinemas in the past decade. At one point, nearly 100 movies were made each year; now there are only 30-40. (Read a Global Voices report for more information)
Bangladesh has had a legal prohibition on Indian films dating back to a brief war between India and Pakistan in 1965, when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. The government briefly lifted the ban in 2010, caving to the demands of the struggling cinemas. But officials quickly reinstated it following furious protests by local actors and directors, who claimed the Bangladesh film industry was at risk from the imports.
To save the struggling movie industry and bring back audiences to the theatres, the government had again lifted the ban in 2015.
Meanwhile, Shakib Khan, the actor whose were banned in retaliation, wrote on Facebook:
Facebook user Kallol Mustafa thought that by importing Indian movies, the imperialisation of the Hindi language and Indian culture will be enforced:
Wahid Ibne Reza also protested the screening of Indian films:
Blogger Himu had a more logical approach to the problem — dubbing them in Bangla:
Journalist and blogger Rezaur Rahman Rizvi was in favour of not importing any foreign film. However, blogger Ekush Tapader opined that films from all over the world should be imported:
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