‘Poran’ brings back audiences to theatres

A group of ninth graders of a Dhaka school bunked their classes and went to the Madhumita Cinema Hall on Wednesday to watch the movie “Poran”.

“We have heard many good things about this movie on social media and are hyped to watch it. That’s why we are here,” said one of the students beamingly.

Like them, hundreds of people around the country have flocked the theatres to watch “Poran” since it was released earlier this month.

Ahead of the much-anticipated film “Hawa,” which hits the theatres on Friday, Poran has brought the audience back to the country’s cinema halls, filling the vacuum created by the absence of good films, said industry people.

Production house Live Technologies has said that Poran, starring Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, Sariful Razz and Yash Rohan in lead roles, has earned more than Tk 1 crore at the box office in the last 18 days.

On the first day of Eid-ul-Azha, Poran was released at 11 theatres. By the second week, the number of theatres went up fivefold as the audience’s demand grew. Yeaser Arafat, a director at Live Technologies, said the film is being screened at 55 cinema halls across the country at present.

“The numbers of theatres and shows have significantly increased for our movie. Theatre authorities have increased the number of shows as more and more people are showing interest to watch it,” he told The Business Post.

Thanking the audience, Arafat said they are excited and very happy with the audience’s decision to watch the film, directed by Raihan Rafi, and their positive reactions.

Iftekhar Uddin Nawshad, the owner of Madhumita Cinema Hall in Dhaka city, told The Business Post that Poran has attracted a massive amount of people to the theatre after a long time.

Cinema halls in general sell tickets worth Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000 per show on a slow day. The lack of audience led to nearly zero business and many cinema halls have been forced to shut down over the years around the country, he said.

But if movies like Poran keep coming regularly, the audience will return and cinema hall owners and workers will survive, hoped Iftekhar.

Both Poran and actor Ananta Jalil starrer “Din - The Day” are running at Star Cineplex in the city’s Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, apart from several Hollywood movies.

During a visit to this Star Cineplex branch on Tuesday evening, this correspondent saw long queues of people at the ticket counters wishing to buy tickets of Poran’s Wednesday shows. They only learned that most of the shows were sold out and only a few tickets for the 1:25pm show were left.

Nasrin Aktar, a BSMMU staff, was one of the unlucky ones who failed to get tickets after waiting a long time in the queues. On the other hand, many were seen leaving the premises happily after buying the tickets. Meanwhile, members of the audience that just finished watching Poran said they enjoyed the movie and applauded the film’s cast and crew.

This Cineplex branch is holding three to four shows of Poran every day, most of which are houseful, while “Din - The Day” has only two shows per day.

“We expected this hype and a high audience because of these two movies. However, Poran’s audience is much bigger than ‘Din - The Day’,” Star Cineplex’s Senior Manager (Media and Marketing) Mesbah Uddin Ahmed told The Business Post.

He said they will keep screening Poran as long as the audience demands.

According to many, Poran is like a mirror of society since the film’s story draws inspiration from a true story. The movie is not only about romance. It also shows betrayal, crimes, drugs and unethical political influences through many scenes and all of these mirrors the real situation of society.

“The whole story of the film and its emotional scenes touched me. It is the best movie I have seen in recent time,” said Asaduzzaman, a government official.

Talking to The Business Post, Poran’s director Raihan Rafi said many people will be able to connect with the movie since the story is based on the murder of Rifat Sharif in Barguna and his wife Ayesha Siddika Minni’s involvement in it.

“We started filming in September 2019. But production was halted for a long time because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, after we managed to finish filming, the producer thought Eid-ul-Azha would be a good time to release the movie,” he said. “And it paid off. We are very happy and excited.”

Yeaser Arafat said the movie’s budget was around Tk 83 lakh. “The film has made over Tk 1 crore in the last 18 days. Although there are different expenses to address, we think 20-25 per cent of the investment will be covered by this alone.”

“Currently, we are receiving proposals to release the movie in the United States, Canada and Australia. We are discussing the matter. We hope to make at least Tk 40-50 lakh more if Poran is released there,” he added.

Arafat also said that movies were made for cinema halls and their audience earlier. “But nowadays production houses move forward with three platforms in mind — cinema halls, OTT (Over-The-Top) platforms and social media (such as YouTube and Facebook), and television channels.

“At least 30 per cent of a film’s investment and profits come from the halls while 35 per cent each comes from OTT platforms and social media and television channels, respectively.

Due to this, the chances of incurring losses go down if one can produce a good movie,” he added.