Abstract
Is there a national cinema that truly be called 'Bangladeshi'? How has this film industry evolved and transformed since the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971? These are the key questions that this chapter aims to answer in a detailed manner. Therefore, it brings up both a genealogy and itinerary of five decades of film culture in Bangladesh. Here, in order to reply to the questions posed above, the chapter dissects the ways the cultural transformation of the national cinema called 'Bangladeshi cinema' that happened here in two interconnected circles (termed as 'Film One' and 'Film Two'). The first part locates the vernacularization of cinema in Bangladesh during the1970s-1990s. ‘Film Two’ then aspires to present the contemporary transformations of this film industry within a globalizing nation-space under rapid commercialization.
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Notes
- 1.
Kabir, Alamgir (1979), Film in Bangladesh, Dhaka: Bangla Academy.
- 2.
Calculated from the data presented in the annual reviews on Bangladesh’s film industry published in various Bangladeshi magazines and newspapers of this period. See Jai Jai Din 20.12 (December 30, 2003): 27, 19.12 (31 December 2002): 35, 14.13 (December 30, 1997): 29 and 13.13 (December 31, 1996): 39, Weekly 2000 4.33 (January 4, 2002): 78, Daily Banglabazar (December 30, 1999): 16 and Anandabhuban 3.16 (January 1, 1999): 17.
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Raju, Z.H. (2022). Film in Bangladesh: Cultural Transformation of a National Cinema within and beyond the Nation-state. In: Khondker, H., Muurlink, O., Bin Ali, A. (eds) The Emergence of Bangladesh. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5521-0_22
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