Sensing potential, film production houses rush to Bengal

Sensing potential, the film production houses are rushing to Bengal to explore new opportunities in films' business, opine experts who participated in a panel discussion organized on the occasion of 100 years of Indian Cinema in Kolkata recently.

A few recent films like Moner Manus (Dir. Gautam Ghosh), Autograph (Dir. Srijit Mukherjee), Gosain Baganer Bhut (Dir. Nitish Roy), Bhuter Bhabisyat (Dir. Anik Dutta), Chokher Bali, Dosar, Naukadubi ((Dir. Rituparno Ghosh), Chalo Let’s Go, have not only thrilled its viewers but also clicked box offices doing good business.

According to experts, the revival of Bengali cinema has forced film production houses to shift to Bengal, like the Sree Venkatesh Films, a leading Media and Entertainment company in the business of film productions, distribution.

Taking cue from these developments, the Managing Director of Zee entertainment, Sanjay Kutty, said, “Following our success in TV serial, we have produced many Marathi films. Now, we have decided to invest and produce Bengali films.”

“In post Satyajit Roy-Mrinal Sen-Rwittik Ghatak era, there was certainly a draught in Tollywood”, admits director Bappaditya Bandopadhyay, who directed several films including Elar Char.

Claiming that the draught is over, he said, “There is no division as art film or commercial film. It should be termed as ‘Good film’ or ‘Bad film”. The urban audience has replaced the rural counterpart in deciding the content of the movies.”

While director Srijit Mukherjee stressed on the contents of viewers liking, director Mainak Bhawmik values freedom of expression as “We can explore our voice more effectively”.

Popular playback singer Anupam Roy credited the directors for the resurgence of Bengali cinema. “If these talented directors had not join Tollywood, the industry would not have strike back, neither I would have been here today,” he said.

Actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay feels, “More matured audience has engineered a paradigm shift forcing the industry to go by their likings.” Another actor Jeet added, “A further betterment can only be achieved if there are new ideas flowing in, improved infrastructure and technology provided to the industry, bringing legislation to stop piracy.”

But Some say all is not well with the industry. The newer development has seen emergence of a few multiplexes in the city of Kolkata. On the other hand, film houses are changing character as market, office complexes, badly affecting the entire industry.

Arijit Dutta, Managing Director of distribution house Priya Entertainment could not conceal his pain. “A good number of cinema-halls have shut their gates in suburban town and rural Bengal. The present number of halls has reduced to about 350 from odd 950 within a decade. This trend is working as a killer for Tollywood,” he said.

Echoing him, script-writer N K Salil added, “As a result, the films are not able to have longer lives and leaving the space for newer films.”