History of Bangladeshi Cinema


The Bangladeshi film industry, popularly known as Dallywood (a portmanteau of the words Dhaka and Hollywood), has been based in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, since 1956. As of 2004, it produced approximately 100 movies a year, with an average movie budget of about 6,500,000 Bangladeshi taka.[1]

On April 24, 1898, the Bengali weekly Dhaka Prakash reported that films were shown in Dhaka by the Bradford Bioscope Company, at the Crown Theatre, in Patuatuli, near Sadarghat. The show included news items and other short features. The first permanent cinema in Dhaka, named Picture House, began operation during 1913–1914. This cinema was renamed to New Picture House and then again to Shabistan. By 1947 there were around 80 cinemas in what is now Bangladesh.[2][3]

The first Bengali organization for producing and exhibiting films was the Royal Bioscope Company, established in 1898 in Calcutta by Hiralal Sen. Although feature films were made in Bengali as early as 1919 (Bilwa Mangal), most production was done in Calcutta. The Nawab family of Dhaka produced Sukumari (1928–1929) and The Last Kiss (1931

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