Entertainment Report :
Sheikh Hasina resigned from the post of the Prime Minister on August 5 in the face of anti-discrimination movement of the students. The people of the country got excited after hearing the news of the fall of the Awami League government.
On this occasion, the miscreants ran riot in different parts of the country. Musician Rahul Ananda’s house was set on fire, attacks were also carried out on cinema halls.
Two cineplexes of the country – Star Cineplex at Bangabandhu Hi-Tech Park in Rajshahi and Roots CineClub in Sirajganj were also vandalised.
The Rajshahi branch of Star Cineplex, located in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Hi-Tech Park, has been vandalised by unknown assailants on August 7.
The news was confirmed by the Chairman of Star Cineplex, former MP Mahboob Rahman Ruhel.
“The entire establishment has been vandalised,” said Ruhel.
He also said, “The assailants wanted to set fire to the building, but the caretaker begged and convinced them not to do so.”
Although it is not known how much financial loss has been caused by the attack on Star Cineplex, Samina Islam, owner of Roots CineClub, said that their loss is about Tk 2 crore.
Samina Islam informed about the incident of the attack and said, “On the night of August 5, a group of people came and started pelting stones first. Once they broke the gate and came in and looted and vandalised. They took everything. The things that they could not take, it was broken. In total, about Tk 2 crores were lost. I can’t say how to overcome this loss.”
Regarding the re-opening of the cinema hall, Samina Islam told this correspondent, “I’m not thinking about it now. I am very worried about the violence that is happening across the country. My father’s house caught fire. The four-story house has been gutted by fire. I don’t think about thje cinema hall in such a situation, I want to live for now.”
Meanwhile, Mezbah Uddin Ahmed, Senior Marketing Officer of Star Cineplex said, “Many places have been attacked. Miscreants attacked Bangabandhu Hi-Tech Park in Rajshahi. At that time, they vandalised the Star Cineplex.”
Mezbah Uddin Ahmed also said, “The amount of financial loss in the attack cannot be said right now. Considering the overall situation of the country, all branches of Star Cineplex are closed now. Cinema halls will be opened soon if the situation is normal. At that time, the Cineplex of Rajshahi branch of Star Cineplex will be repaired.”
The country’s cinema business has been in recession for a long time. The number of closures has been increasing for a decade. The number of movie theaters has come down to less than 100.
In such a situation, the incident of vandalism of the cinema hall is considered as a bad sign for the film industry, according to the film industry.
Directors Debashish Biswas, Noim Imtiaz Neyamul, Joyonto Rozario, Antu Azad, Alok Hasan and many others expressed their anger by vandalising the cinema halls.
Meanwhile, sharing some pictures of the vandalized Star Cineplex, director and film distributor Anonno Mamun wrote on Facebook, “When our country’s films started to turn around, it hit so hard. Today, new audiences have started coming to watch movies because of Cineplex. We dream of making big budget movies. Rajshahi’s Hi-Tech Park was looted, Cineplex was broken and destroyed. I heard that Sirajganj’s Roots CineClub has also been looted. I request everyone, if you want to save movies, you have to save Cineplex.”
Star Cineplex is the biggest multiplex chain in Bangladesh. The Rajshahi outlet was opened on January 13, 2022.