Filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury: Bengali film market not properly nurtured

Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury PicAniruddhas Twitter pageThe Bengali community lives across the globe and Bangla is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world but the market for its cinema has not been nurtured properly says National Award winning filmmaker Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury Chowdhury best known for Antaheen and Pink believes the screen density needs to be increased in small towns of West BengalI agree with the fact that every story has its certain reach but a good distribution system can make a difference Bengali is the sixth most spoken language in the world and our neighbouring country Bangladesh has a huge potential market along with other international markets where Bengalis are living Unfortunately the Bengali film market has not been nurtured properly yet the filmmaker told IANS on the sidelines of the Ficci Frames 2018 hereYes it is true that Hindi has a larger reach within the country but if we look at the European countries whether it is Hindi or Bengali for them it is an Indian film Therefore we Bengali filmmakers should have a proper agent who can position our films in the right market Though the film and cultural exchanges are happening between us and Bangladesh it is yet to happen on a much larger scale he addedComing from an ad film background Chowdhury made his debut in the Hindi film industry in 2016 with the muchcelebrated film Pink While his past Bengali movies Anuranan and Antaheen were critically acclaimed and won National Awards it took a Hindi film for Chowdhury to earn fame But he shrugged it offI really do not look at this negatively In that film Pink Amitabh Bachchan was one of the key actors The mileage that he can bring to a film who else can And because of the same reason the film got a good market and distribution he said of the movie which highlighted how a girls No means NoAsked if language creates a barrier in making regional films reach people and if dubbing is a potential solution to that Chowdhury said See we make a film with a certain nuance and if you are dubbing it in a different language certain elements get lost in translation Therefore I neither watch nor encourage dubbed films Subtitling is a good optionCiting an example of his debut film Anuranan he said If you compared the Hindi dubbed version of the film with its original Bengali one you can find the difference That is precisely the reason why we should watch the film with subtitles We do the same thing when we are watching a Korean or an Iranian film With the advent of digital platforms the footfalls at theatres are going down while films are reaching people through laptops iPads and smartphonesAccording to the filmmaker screen density and wellmaintained theatre halls are the two most important elements that should be taken into consideration I come from Asansol a small town in West Bengal When my relatives went to watch my first film Anuranan they came back from the theatre before the film finished because there were rats running under the seats and bad smell was coming from washroom If the authorityies are not maintaining the existing theatre halls or increasing the screen numbers considering our population how can we expect people to come to the theatre he questionedCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever