Tekkerhat's last cinema hall 'Sonali' survives on Tk 50,000 a month, with audiences only at Eid

Only one cinema hall now survives in Tekkerhat, Madaripur — 'Sonali'. Cinema halls once stood in almost every district and upazila of the country, but they have closed one after another; Tekkerhat now shows that same crisis in real terms.

The four-decade-old hall is barely running under the pressure of a shortage of quality films, an audience drought and rising costs.

Speaking on Friday afternoon, Sonali cinema hall owner Ruhul Khan said he wants to keep the hall running until 2027 and see how it goes. If the situation does not improve, he is also thinking of winding up the business after that.

Located beside the small port of Tekkerhat, Sonali has 600 seats. Established about 40 years ago, its monthly rent is Tk 15,000, while electricity bills, staff salaries and other expenses together come to about Tk 50,000 a month. Yet, outside the two Eids, that cost cannot be recovered most of the time.

Ruhul Khan said: "I have been the tenant owner of this hall for eight years. I have a lease until 2030. Many keep their halls open only for the two Eids, but mine stays open all year. Still, for want of good new films, this week I am showing Manna's 'Bomba Hamla'. Business has been in decline since Covid."

"To tell the truth, our backs are against the wall. If the government does not pay attention, cinema halls will disappear one by one," he said.

Even Eid no longer guarantees good business. According to Ruhul Khan, this year the hall lost money on both Eids with 'Prince' and 'Rockstar'. Earlier, however, 'Priyotama', 'Tufan', 'Barbad' and 'Tandab' had brought profits; besides Shakib Khan's films, 'Hawa' and 'Poran' also did fairly well, and before Covid 'Bhaijan Elo Re' and 'Password' did very good business. Since 'Tandab', he said, there has been virtually no business.

Ruhul Khan's connection with the hall is not only commercial: his father was also in the cinema hall business, and watching his father, he joined the trade as a child. "I got into this business as a child following my father. I am still running it out of that love. But how long can this go on? Still, I hope good days for cinema will return," he said.

His prescription for that return: if Shakib Khan made four films a year, the country's halls could largely recover. "If our superstar Shakib Khan makes four films a year — two at the two Eids and two outside Eid — the halls will survive. Eid-only cinema will not work. Alongside Shakib Khan's four films, another 80 to 100 films from others in a year could make the hall business viable," he said.

The hall owner also favoured importing Indian films and increasing joint-production films alongside regular domestic releases. The more choices audiences have, in his view, the more interest there will be in coming to the theatre.

There are complaints that producers do not provide proper accounts of income and expenditure even when single screens do business, and audiences and others object to hall environments. But Ruhul Khan claims the root of every problem is not the environment but the lack of quality films. "After Covid, whenever films like 'Priyotama', 'Barbad' and 'Tufan' became superhits, audiences made no complaints. We paid several lakh taka at a time as table money for two weeks, which cineplexes do not pay. If we get good films, we can fix the environment too," he said.

"We see no profit all year. So with the little profit at the two Eids, or the chance to offset losses, should we fix the hall's environment or keep the hall alive? That too has to be considered," he added.