Bangladesh lifts ban on Indian films

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh has lifted a four-decade ban on Indian films in a bid to boost attendances at cinemas, a government minister said Saturday, drawing loud complaints from local actors and directors.

Films produced by India’s huge entertainment industry known as Bollywood, centred in Mumbai, have been banned from cinemas in Bangladesh since the country’s independence in 1972 in a bid to protect the local movie industry.

“We lifted the ban to boost the cinema industry,” Bangladesh Commerce Minister Faruk Khan told AFP. Cinema hall owners, who have been clamouring to be allowed to show Indian films, said they expected to start showing Indian films shortly.

Kazi Firoz Rashid, president of Bangladesh Cinema Halls Owners Association, said the government’s decision was “the best thing to have happened” to the country’s cinemas.

Dhaka, Sunday, AFP