Bangladesh retains Bollywood ban after protests

Bangladesh's near-four-decade-old ban on movies from Bollywood has been reinstated after the commerce ministry's decision on Saturday to lift the injunction, in an effort to boost the country's struggling cinemas, was greeted with furious protests by local actors and directors. Films from India have been proscribed in Bangladesh since 1972, the year after the country's independence, to protect the local film-making industry. However, the number of cinemas has fallen from 1,600 a decade ago to 600 this year, a decline which cinema exhibitors attribute to poor-quality homegrown films failing to draw viewers. At the same time, Indian films are hugely popular in Bangladesh and locals can get their Bollywood fix on cable TV and through pirated copies which circulate widely. "Film enthusiasts can easily see good Indian films on cable television so why should we stop Indian films being screened in our cinemas?" Kazi Firoz Rashid, president of Bangladesh Cinema Halls Owners Association, told AFP. "By contrast, the standards, scripts and production of Bangladeshi films are so stale and poor they have trouble winning hearts or making enough money," he said. Local film-makers and performers made their chagrin known almost immediately after the announcement, holding demonstrations and warning that the move could wipe out 25,000 jobs. Actor and director Salahuddin Lavlo told the New Age newspaper: "This decision will create an unequal competition in the country's film industry as the budgets of Indian films are much bigger than that of ours." India's dream factory, centred on Mumbai, churns out about 1,000 new releases each year. He added: "The Indian film industry is so advanced that local films will not be able to compete with them." Yesterday, Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, stepped into the row and directed the commerce industry to scrap its decision. She also assured local film-makers that her government supported them, her spokesman Abul Kalam Azad told reporters.