Pathaan and the Future of Our Cinema

Pathaan releasing in Bangladesh is a good thing for the country's film industry.

Restrictions on the import of Bollywood films to protect the local film industry hasn't worked so far. Especially over the last couple of decades, we haven't been able to make a high enough number of quality films every year that would attract middle-income, upper-middle income, and upper-income audiences to cinema halls. These are the audiences that mainly drive a film's business in theatres because they have a relatively higher disposable income. Eventually, the business of running cinema halls became almost impossible to sustain.

As a result, the country has seen a large number movie theatres shut down. The city of Tangail, for example, had as many as 51 cinema halls in the 1990s. Today, it has none. The last remaining hall was demolished earlier this month. The entire country has only around 150 cinema halls at present.

For a country that houses close to 170 million people and an emerging economy, this number is next to nothing.

On the other hand, Star Cineplex, the only notable multiplex in the country, has over the last few years expanded rapidly especially in Dhaka, as it has continuously released big-ticket Hollywood films that have attracted large crowds from the relatively affluent segments. I remember watching Top Gun 2 (twice) and Avatar 2 in packed halls only recently.

When a locally produced film manages to generate enough hype, people flock to theatres to watch them, too. For example, films like Hawa and Poran released last year have generated tremendous interest and viewing demand in the country. I remember thoroughly enjoying watching Aynabaji in a theatre a few years back. The movie ran houseful shows for weeks. These films have benefited financially by getting releases in the large number of multiplex screens as well as some surviving single screens. Their respective businesses would doubtless have been much higher had there been more screens available. Problem is, the number of such well-made and well-marketed movies are too few, and their releases too far apart, which aren't enough to sustain a cinema hall owner's business.

High business potential of a greater number of movies will encourage a larger number of businessmen to invest in films and film theatres. Higher number of screens will enhance the business potential of films, which will encourage producers to invest more in making better quality films that attract maximum possible number of audiences across segments. The promise of a secure career in a growing industry will encourage talented youngsters to be a part of it in various capacities, e.g. as actors, directors, screenwriters, music directors, animators, etc. The long term survival of our film industry, which has been suffering from an existential threat for years now, depends on this.

India itself presents an excellent example in this regard. Devdas featuring SRK released in only 325 screens back in 2002, generating lifetime gross revenues of approx. INR 68 crores in India. Two decades later, Pathaan was released in over 5,000 screens, and so far has grossed approx. INR 600 crores in India alone. The exponential growth in business of Bollywood films is evident from these numbers. This has attracted a growing number of talent to get involved in the industry in various capacities.

The Hindi film industry too, face challenges. They, however, do not back down from the challenges. They did not back down when Hollywood and South Indian films threatened to leave them behind in terms of business on their own turf. Rather, they focused more than ever on making movies that attract higher footfalls in multiplexes as well as single screens. And when a Hindi movie does manage to generate enough hype and then delivers quality content, they do levels of business that would have been unimaginable even a decade back, let alone a couple of decades when Devdas was released.

I think allowing the release of a limited number of Bollywood films in Bangladesh every year (e.g. ten) - something that is being considered as far as I know - will benefit the business of films in the country. Films featuring the Khans, for example, will attract large crowds in the local theatres - both single-screen theatres and cineplexes. This will help cinema hall owners to sustain, and will encourage greater investment in new, state-of-the-art cinema halls. The prospect of greater business should, at least on paper, encourage local filmmakers to produce higher-quality films to keep up with the competition and to reach the untapped but growing middle-income to upper-income segments - who can give them greater business - with a higher number of the films they make.

Bangladesh, much like India, has a growing number of non-residents living abroad. They miss home and crave well-made Bangladeshi content. For reference, Pathaan so far has grossed around $45 million outside India, which again would have been unimaginable a couple of decades back, when Devdas made around $6.5 million overseas.

As per a recent report, the OTT platform Hoichoi has around 500,000 subscribers in Bangladesh. As per another report, Netflix had roughly 200,000 Bangladeshi subscribers in 2019. This clearly indicates that Bangladeshis are willing to spend money to watch well-made content. Our film industry has so far failed to tap into this potential, which has resulted in the number of screens falling drastically over the years. Allowing the release of a limited number of Bollywood films every year will greatly help to solve this problem at least in the short run. It will help the cinema hall owners to survive before they consider expansion, which will eventually benefit our local filmmakers, artists, and film-related professionals, too.

Image source: YRF Official Facebook Page (The image has been slightly edited i.e. cropped)