Will Bangladeshi audiences flock to theatres to watch Jawan?

Shah Rukh Khan's second action movie of this year, 'Jawan' is coming to the theatres of Bangladesh, and the movie industry is abuzz with discussions surrounding it. 

The government and the movie industry came to an understanding earlier this year, after years of resistance from local artists, to allow a maximum of 10 Hindi movies to be released in Bangladeshi theatres in a year. As part of that, 'Jawan' will be the third Hindi movie to be released in Bangladeshi theatres, on 7 September, the same day as its world premiere. 

Earlier, 'Pathaan' and 'Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan' were released in Bangladesh, however, they did not perform as well as expected.  

"Although Pathaan did some business, Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan flat-lined at halls and theatres. Both the movies were released long after their global release and audiences had already watched them through different platforms. But since Jawan will be released in Bangladesh on the same day as its global release, how well it does remains to be seen," said movie producer Khourshed Alam. 

The Atlee Kumar-directed 'Jawan' has been submitted to the Censor Board on 3 September, confirmed Anonno Mamun, the spokesperson of Action Cut Entertainment, the movie's distributor in Bangladesh.

Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Sanya Malhotra, Priyamani, Sunil Grover and many others have acted in the movie. Deepika Padukone will also make a cameo appearance there. 

The movie is being booked ahead of release in the US box office as well, besides India. The news of its release on 7 September in Bangladesh has booking agents very excited.  

"We're waiting for a massive hit! The eagerness I'm observing from theatre owners tells me Jawan will not only exceed the combined result of the previous two movies, it will set new records of its own," said Anonno Mamun.

Miya Alauddin, the senior vice president of Bangladesh Chalachitra Pradarshak Samiti, said, "There is high demand for good content in Bangladesh, which is why we wanted to import foreign movies in the first place. The first two imported movies weren't very successful. We need to wait to find out if the release of Jawan will change that." 

Ilias Kanchan, the president of the Chalachitra Shilpi Samiti, believes imported movies have fallen short of expectations so far and local films have performed much better in comparison.

"I want to thank those audiences who remained true to our movies, heritage, culture and played a role in safeguarding our own movie industry. I would really like to find out what value the new movies will add," he said.

Kazi Hayat, the president of the Bangladesh Parichalak Samiti, does not support the commercial screening of Hindi movies in Bangladesh.

Hayat said, "Our locals don't understand Hindi. So they wouldn't like to watch Hindi movies in theatres either. I also don't think Hindi movies have added anything of note to our movie industry as of yet."