Art or Business Assignment PDF

Cinema: Art or Business
Index
No. Content Name Page Number
1. Abstract 01
2. Introduction 01-02
3. Research Questions 02
4. Literature Review 02-05
5. Conclusion 06
6. References 06

Abstract
This study aims to show the main purpose of the cinema industry of Bangladesh, is it actually
art or business or the proper combination of both. As cinema is the greatest media of a country,
it should be created with the proper representation of culture and art. However, the scenario is
different now in our recent film industry. In spite of having a golden era of black and white
cinemas, our present films and their portrayal of art in no comparison to them. Majority of our
movies have become meaningless entertainment. This paper explores how and where
commercialism is destroying the creativity and what are the actual reasons behind it.
Keywords: Art film, Commercial film, Business, Story, Production, Writers, Portrayal of
culture, Screenplay, History.

1. INTRODUCTION
We can say that cinema is mainly the art or technique of making motion pictures. It is now-a-
days the most influential form of the art and literature sector. It entertains with sentiments
through its images, tech through its characters, to learn, to forgive. The sentiments come from
the society. Thus, cinema represents society’s inhabitants, ideas, philosophy and cultures.
Bangladesh has a glorious past history of cinema. Before 1956, Bangla industry was a
very big industry merging with Kolkata. There were many successful artistic filmmakers such as
Satyajit Ray, Retwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen etc. After independence Bangladeshi movie makers
were showing interest in the rich culture of Bangla. As a result, they established Bangladesh Film
Development Corporation (BFDC), in 1957. Elsewhere, the West Bengal film industry was more
enthusiastic towards their Indian context (Yasmin, 2011, p. 175). However, the Bangla film
industry was unable to carry this.
Moreover, the main purpose of cinema is very unstable in the Bangla film industry. It
does not reflect the art precisely. One of the most amazing facts about cinema is it combines all
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forms of art and creates a single piece of craft. Bangladesh is a country of culture. Unfortunately,
today our films do not portray our culture, our beliefs and attitude. Satyajit Ray said about film
making “When I write an original story I write about people I know first-hand and situations I’m
familiar with. I don’t write stories about the nineteenth century.”(Ray, 1969). This is what we do
not see in modern movies. The scenario is different now, specially in the Bangla film industry
popularly known as Dhallywood. Commercialism is taking over the art and creating many
problems. Usually, a nation gets its international recognition through its culture. Cinema is the
best way to portray the culture of a nation. “Ultimately, the quality of a cinematic product must
depend on the artists and experts who collaborate on its production”(Simonton, 2009, p. 410)
which is not witnessed in our movies.
This research paper focuses on why our industry is incapable in production of artistic
movies as well as where creativity is confined to commercialism.