Cinema: A Study on Art, Business, and Bangladeshi Film Industry

This essay delves into the Bangladeshi film industry, exploring the central question of whether it prioritizes art or business. It examines the historical context, contrasting the golden era with the current state, and investigates the impact of commercialism on creativity. The study poses research questions concerning story authenticity, production limitations, and the constraints faced by writers. The literature review analyzes issues such as the decline in authentic storytelling, production challenges including poor equipment and limited knowledge, and the scarcity of skilled screenwriters. The essay also discusses the industry's lack of exploration of unconventional ideas and its tendency to copy from other film industries. The conclusion emphasizes the need for the industry to balance art and business, address shortcomings, and promote a more culturally rich and creative cinematic output. The essay uses references to support its arguments.

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
Page | 01
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.

1.1 Research Questions
The researchers have tried to find the answers of the following questions through the
study.
a) Why do most of our cinemas not carry authentic stories?
b) What are the production limitations?
c) What are the restrictions our writers are facing?
d) Why do the industries show less interest in exploring unconventional ideas,
experimenting or making atypical films?

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Authentic stories issue
Bangla contemporary films are disappointing their viewers through their stories. Some
Page | 02
viewers think the stories are uncivil, some think these are duplicate and many of them think these
are silly and insignificant. But the past scenario was different. People used to embrace the
thoughts. Now, they consider that the stories have lost their individuality. (Yasmin, 2011, p. 181-
182) According to researchers, in the past, Bangla movies were closed to people's emotions.
They could connect with the stories. However, now people are moving towards Bollywood,
Hollywood and so on because they don't feel the same. They still want the artistic and realistic
Bangla contemporary movies like before.
The main attraction of any movie is its dialogue, story, and language. Though some
movies like Hajar Bochor Dhore, Guerilla, Chorabali, Aynabaji have won people’s hearts, most
of the movies are very disheartening. (Easmin, Hossain & Mandal, 2018, p.136). In the opinion
of the researchers, movies must connect with their audience through their stories. Once Bangla
cinemas used to tell people’s stories, dig out the truth, portray the cruelty of life. However, we do
not find it because making profit has become the purpose of present movies. Our movie creators
tend to do more business than creating an art film with a realistic story. Here the pie chart given
below represents the same scenario:

(Yasmin, 2011, p.
178) Page | 03
2.2 Production limitations
The mainstream film is facing challenges because of production limitations. The production we
have for our filmmaking is very poor. Producers are not concerned about artistic movies. They
make movies with inappropriate scenes and costumes which audiences don't buy. Most of the
directors of Bangla movies are not even capable enough for production of a movie.
They merely have any knowledge about cinematography. Then comes the casting, the actor
actresses we have in the industry have next to nothing institutional knowledge about acting. Last
but not least, the equipment we use for the production of a movie is very backdated. (Easmin,
Hossain & Mandal, 2018, p.136)
Researchers think that, vast majority of films are made with inconsistent scenes,
unsuitable costumes, unrealistic surroundings and poor equipment. At the same time, the people
related to this industry have a very poor institutional knowledge about the industry. Industries
can do their business through an art film. If an art film becomes commercial, it is not a problem;
the problem is where commercialism hinders the creativity of making art film.
2.3 Constraints of writers
In the Bangla film industry, there is a major scarcity of screenplay writers. The writers we
have are not that much updated with proper knowledge of technology. Even they do not seem to
be bothered regarding this matter since they already have been dominating this sector.
Sometimes directors write stories on their own. (Yasmin, 2011, p.190). We have young talents
but they are not getting proper recognition. Rather, they are being discouraged from coming into

this industry because of the lengthy procedures. As a result, our industry is getting deprived from
new talents and creativity. (Yasmin, 2011, p.189)
According to researchers, every screenplay begins with an idea and the screenwriters
establish the idea through their writing. However, our Bangladeshi writers are bound to write
conventional stories according to directors' demands. Despite this, they do not get proper time to
write scripts. One writer gets 1-2months for a film. This is a very short time for writers to show
their creativity.
Page | 04
2.4 Less exploration and experiment of unconventional ideas Our cinema industry
has started losing its identity slowly by copying from other films of Bollywood, Tollywood and
Kollywood. It decreases the quality of our movies. Producers also do not think about society and
their acceptance. Besides, Bangla movies are very similar to each other. It seems one movie is
copied from another one. That is why the directors and producers should work on the variation of
movies (Easmin, Hossain & Mandal, 2018, p.136)."To make profit hall-owners and distributors
want only commercial films which will bear songs, dances, fighting etc."(Yasmin, 2011, p. 189).
According to the researchers, the figure given below says the same facts:
(Yasmin,
2011, p.182)
Researchers think that the ideas of creating movies are upgrading and changing time to
time. However, Bangla movies are very monotonous and the industries don't seem interested in
experimenting. Our industry just produces movies for making money. We barely find movies

which everyone loves and recommends to others. Unfortunately, our audiences get only 2 or 3
out of the box thinking movies in a decade.
Page | 05

CONCLUSION
Based on the above discussion, it can be said Bangla film industry is now much behind
than its standard. Though cinema is a combination of art and industry, the art is seen rarely in our
movies. The business heads of our movie industry are not concerned about art or creativity,
though the past history tells a different story. Consequently, the culture we are showing everyone
through our cinemas is undoubtedly wrong. Thus ,being strictly commercial in a creative industry
is bringing no good. Moreover, we are giving chance to others to portray our culture negatively
in their movies too, for example Extraction. As we don't want it to happen again, necessary steps
should be taken as soon as possible and we all also should talk about the serious issues of the
film industry and cinematography.

References
Yasmin, S. (2011), Contemporary Bangladeshi Commercial Cinema: A Perspective from Young
Generation of Bangladesh, ASA University Review, 5, 175-194. Retrieved from
http://www.asaub.edu.bd/data/asaubreview/v5n1sl11.pdf
Easmin, F. Hossain, A. & Mandal, A.K. (2018), Determinants of Watching a Film: A Case Study
on Dhallywood Film Industry, Bangladesh, Asian Business Review, 8, 131-138. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327887145
Simonton, D.K. (2009), Cinematic Success Criteria and Their Predictors: The Art and Business
of the Film Industry, Psychology & Marketing, 26(5), 400-420. doi: 10.1002/mar.20280
Page | 06