Several cinema halls abruptly ‘forced’ to shut down, complain hall owners

115 cinema halls across the country were to remain open during the Eid holidays. 'Shoubhaggo', a film produced by actor Dipjol, was the only film which was released during the holidays. Most cinema halls across the country screened previously released films.

The film, "Shoubhaggo", starring Dipjol, was released in several cinema halls in Dhaka and Khulna, with a good response from the audience. During the holidays, the government granted the halls permission to remain open, maintaining basic health safety guidelines.

However, several complaints have been raised against the administration recently, for abruptly shutting down cinema halls in several locations across the country. Renowned cinema halls including Ananda, Chitramahal in Dhaka, Modern in Dinjapur, Tamanna in Syedpur, Nandita in Sylhet were shut down by the administration on the very first day of the film's release.

"The film industry is already facing loss, during the Eid holidays there was an opportunity for the industry to survive," shares Mia Alauddin, senior vice-president of Film Exhibitors' Association. "The administration abruptly closed down several halls which were unfair and it should have been considered. We expect everyone's cooperation, we don't want the film industry to close down."

"When such unfortunate events occurred, I talked to several District Commissioners and they are not to be blamed," says Zayed Khan, General Secretary of Bangladesh Cholochitro Shilpi Samity. "They did so to help prevent the spread of COVID-19; according to them, amid lockdown, the hall owners failed to show the necessary papers and further suggested that the hall owners should have collected the papers from the Information Ministry to keep the halls open, to keep the industry alive."

"I released my film amid various risks during the Eid holidays," shares producer and actor Dipjol. "I wanted people to enjoy the film during the holidays; more people would have bought the tickets if the authorities allowed several halls to remain open."