Nowadays, joint-venture cinema is a buzzword in the Dhaka film society although except India no other countries have ever made any movie with Dhaka jointly.
When the film market of Bangladesh has gone down, the joint-venture film has made the market alive again with cinema hall owners getting interested in screening movies again.
As many as 1,035 cinema halls have already been shut down. Now, only 400 halls are running in the country. Most of the cinema halls outside Dhaka are screening B-grade movies.
But there is huge demand for Bangla movies involving Bangladeshi actors. Earlier, some Indian Bangla movies were released in Bangladesh but the viewers did not respond positively while joint-venture movies involving local actors became popular.
There is allegation that the joint-venture movies do not follow the rules and regulations. As per Joint-Venture Film Production Rules (2012) amendment, artistes will be cast equally from both the countries.
Unfortunately newly released movie on Eid Nabab cast most of the artistes from India.
The actors from Bangladesh are only Shakib Khan and Amit Hasan while from India Subhasree Ganguly, Rajatava Dutta, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Kharaj Mukherjee, Aparajita Adhya, Kamal Patekar and Meghla.
Former popular romantic actor Faruk told The Daily Observer on Saturday, the film market had been mobilized fictitiously. It will not sustain. Moreover, they are making the cinemas avoiding joint-venture film production rules.
Local artistes are ignored here while they should be equal in number.
Some businessmen are making such movies to withdraw money from the market. Bangladesh film industry is not the beneficiary from the venture.
Only one or two artistes are being cast from Bangladesh in the joint venture movies.
Additionally, location also should be selected in both the countries equally. But nowadays those movies are being made defying those rules.
"I am not against the joint-venture movies. But all rules should be followed. Earlier, the movies were made following the rules such as Padma Nodir Majhee. Most of the artistes in that movie were cast from Bangladesh. Only one popular actor Rupa Ganguly was from India and others were unknown. So I have no objection to those joint-venture movies, said former hero Alomgir.
An official of Jaaz Multimedia, a joint venture film making house, told this correspondent that casting actors and actress is a cost worthy matter.
"And that is why we cast artistes from the convenient country to cut the cost. When we shoot in India we cast Indian artistes. Moreover, investment is not also the same. Always we cannot cast most of the artistes from Bangladesh. The Censor Board has approved the film Nabab and Boss-2 after scrutinising the controversial issues," he said.
Shaban Mahmud, a member of the Censor Board of Bangladesh Film Development Corporation, (FDC) told this correspondent: "We did not find any irregularities in the films. All the members watched the joint-venture movies. Some small problems were found which could be ignored considering viewers' demand."
Joint-venture cinema will make the market lively. For the betterment of our cinema and cinema hall such movies should be encouraged, he added.
During this Eid some three movies were released. Of them, two were joint-venture movies and one is locally funded.
Boss-2, a joint venture movie, was released in 110 cinema halls and Nabab, also a joint-venture movie, was released in 130 halls and only one locally made cinema Rajniti was released in 40 halls and at the Blockbuster Hall in Dhaka.
Shadin Amin, a regular cinemagoer said in front of Modhumita Cinema hall: "I watched Nabab and I felt like watching an Indian cinema where our Shakib Khan played a role. It was done in completely Kolkata style and fashion as well. I did not find Bangladeshi test in this movie."
Animesh Aich, a prominent film maker of the country said: "I am not against the Joint-venture movie. Sometimes such kind of movies play a key role in expanding the market but In Kolkata, joint-venture cinema is not popular. They like to enjoy their own actors. That is why Boss-2 is lagging behind Nabab in popularity."
At present a movement is going on against the joint-venture cinema in the film industry.
Protestors said due to irregularities and defiance of film rules the local cinema is being hampered.
