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It was 1962 or 1963. One day, movie lover Md Siraj Uddin, a businessman by profession, went to a cinema hall in Dhaka to watch a film with a group of friends.
To their surprise, only two of them were able to get tickets as the hall authority stopped sales due to overcrowding on top of a houseful screening.
A hurting Siraj made a promise to himself that day — he will build a cinema hall where movie lovers will not face such hassle.
It’s been almost 55 years since Siraj Uddin took that decision and bravely went against the tide to build Modhumita Cinema Hall at Motijheel.
For the past five decades, this theatre has entertained the people of Dhaka city to the fullest extent. Many Dhakaites have numerous fond memories of Madhumita, one of the oldest cinema halls in Dhaka (even in the country).
Watching a movie at a cinema hall for the first time with a loved one or watching a movie over and over again with friends are just two examples of those memories involving Madhumita for many.
Madhumita has seen good and bad times during this long journey and is still poised to stand tall for many decades in future, said Md Iftekharuddin Naushad, one of the sons of Siraj and the current owners of the hall, while talking to The Business Post.
“Lower and middle-income families cannot always afford to watch movies at places like Star Cineplex or Blockbuster Cinemas because tickets there can be out of their reach. That’s why they prefer the cinema halls where tickets cost less,” said Naushad, who serves as the managing director.
Cinema halls like Madhumita offer this facility to the common people to help them enjoy some time off from their busy lives, he added.
He said Madhumita has always screened movies with a reputation since its establishment. “We never promoted or screened films that contain scenes unsuitable for the whole family. We have also worked in cinema development.”
How Madhumita came to being
Naushad said his father Siraj Uddin was a very passionate man. “He decided to build a cinema hall because someone refused to sell him tickets as expected.”
At the time, Siraj knew many movie lovers and filmmakers. He talked to them about his dream and started looking for a suitable piece of land to build his cinema hall.
Soon after, he learned that Brojen Das wants to sell a piece of land in the Motijheel area that he was awarded by the then-Pakistan president after he crossed the English Channel. Siraj approached him and brought it.
As the hall was built, Siraj published an advertisement in different daily newspapers asking people to suggest names for the theatre. He received a massive response. Of all the names, he chose Madhumita for his cinema hall.
“My father had given free movie tickets for a month and Tk 5,000 each to three-four people for suggesting this name,” Naushad said.
Madhumita was inaugurated on December 1, 1967. The Bangla film “Dak Babu” was the first movie to be screened here. The trailer for the 1963 Hollywood blockbuster “Cleopatra” was shown during intermission. That was the beginning, he added.
Overcoming challenges
Back in 1967, the transportation system in the Motijheel area was not good. Due to that, it was tough for people to come to Madhumita to watch movies after seeing or hearing advertisements about new movies in newspapers or radio.
This was one of the many challenges Siraj faced that forced him to wonder how the hall will keep operating. Madhumita, like the other cinema halls, was struggling to get the expected audience.
“To find a way out of the tough situation and increase audience, my father talked to a film distributor and reached an agreement. It was decided that the distributor will bring films and give them to Madhumita and another cinema hall only,” said Naushad.
That helped them capture a major portion of the market as much of the audience chose to come to their hall to watch the movies braving the transportation problem, he added. “At one point, we also started distributing films to cinema halls.”
After Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, his father Siraj started producing movies. “Utsarga,” “Jolkeli,” “Aadhare Alo,” “Dhanni Meye” and “Nokol Manush” were some of the films he produced, Naushad said. The last film his father produced was “Ek Mutho Vat.”
Siraj Uddin passed away on January 8, 1976. Afterwards, Naushad’s elder brother Salahuddin Farooq took over Madhumita and the production business. Naushad and his younger brother Jia Uddin Aslam were in London at the time.
After Farooq passed away in 1992, Naushad and Aslam took over the family business and have been running it until now.
Introducing Dolby sound system
Madhumita Cinema Hall was the first of its kind in Bangladesh to introduce the Dolby surround sound systems, Naushad said.
In 1990, he went to Pakistan for a business visit where he learned about the Dolby sound system while watching a movie at a local theatre.
Naushad fell in love with it and talked to that theatre’s management to get in touch with Dolby’s distributors to get the system for Madhumita.
About two-three years later, after Naushad managed to strike the deal, a team came and installed the sound system in Madhumita.
Currently, the cinema hall can seat around 1,200 people. Of them, 326 are dress circle seats, 599 seats in the rear stall and 276 seats in the middle stall. The ticket prices are Tk 150, Tk 100 and Tk 60, respectively.
Usually, the hall screens a movie four times a day. But this varies depending on the audience’s demand, Naushad said.
Tough times amid pandemic
Madhumita was closed for 15 months after Covid-19 made landfall in Bangladesh and the country underwent consecutive lockdowns as the situation went from bad to worse, Naushad said.
“Sadly, we were forced to lay off many employees to reduce costs. At one point, we even thought about shutting the hall down,” he said.
Even after the Covid situation improved and life returned to normal again, the movie theatre is not making as much money as it used to before the pandemic.
“We still have to pay around Tk 3-3.5 lakh every month for the electricity bill. Now, the cost of diesel which we use to run the generator is also high,” he lamented.
“We use the rent we get from the tenants of the Madhumita building to meet all the expenses, but we are not making any profit,” he said.
“But we are standing fast and working hard to keep the hall running. My father’s memory and emotion are all over the place. We cannot let it go,” Naushad added.
Future plans
Naushad said they have some plans to keep up with the times and compete with the modern cineplexes or multiplexes.
“We will soon upgrade Madhumita’s sound system. We have already bought the 7.1 surround sound system. It will be installed soon,” he said.
“We also plan to shift to Digital Cinema Package (DCP), which can also play 3D movies, in the theatre. But it is very expensive.
“Now we are considering the pros and cons of the decision to go ahead because it’s such a big investment and we don’t want anything to go wrong,” he said.
Naushad said the piece of land beside Madhumita that they own is big enough to easily build or house at least four cineplexes. “But it will require a lot of money. The construction work will also suspend Madhumita’s operations for at least three-four years. So, it’s a bit tricky to make moves in this regard.”
He said they do not want to take loans by putting the Madhumita building as collateral. “We don’t get to screen that many good Dhallywood movies nowadays. If we don’t make enough money, we won’t be able to make the repayment instalments.
“And if that happens, we will lose our cinema hall — a place that is at the centre of our lives — to the bank. That’s why we have no interest in taking any loans.”
“We want to screen quality Bangla movies that people will love and throng our cinema hall to watch. Not only Madhumita, but all the cinema halls of the country will also survive if the film industry manages to produce eight or 10 films like recent blockbusters Hawa and Paran,” added Naushad, expressing high hopes.
