Director announces ‘Shyama Kabya’ withdrawal from Cineplex, why?

Seasoned film director and scriptwriter, Badrul Anam Saud, who came to prominence with his debut feature film, "Gohin Baluchor", has decided to withdraw his much-anticipated film "Shyama Kabya" from Star Cineplex due to projection and irregular scheduling issues.

The Shohel Mondol and Neelanjona Neela starrer psychological thriller film was released in theaters across  Bangladesh on May 3. However, amidst Star Cineplex's alleged inclination towards showcasing foreign films over Bengali films, which has garnered severe criticism from the artiste community and audiences alike, the director asked for his film to be withdrawn from Star Cineplex.

Pointing out numerous discrepancies in Star Cineplex's undertaking of the government-funded film, director Badrul Anam Saud said through a Facebook post from his official account, "I want to withdraw my film 'Shyama Kabya' from Star Cineplex due to several reasons."

"Firstly, due to projection issues, the audience was given an inaccurate experience of the movie. As a result of which, I canceled an almost housefull show on the opening day. Admittedly, the projection issue was solved the next day with a change of halls," he said. 

"Secondly, once the show ran the very next day, we noted inappropriate timing of the interval. It was given in between a sequence. We question the integrity of the projectionist for this mishap as the show resumed within a sequence after the interval," the director continued.

"And last but not least, Rebecca Sultana, marketing manager of Star Cineplex presented some statistics about the sales after the very first day at 2:58pm on Friday. But the next day, we noted discrepancies within the same ticket sales stats. We pleaded that we did not want any morning shows. They were kind to listen to our requests on Saturday. Unfortunately, on Sunday we faced the same problem again when a couple of our shows were slotted in the morning," the director stated.

Concludingly, director Saud called out Rebecca Sultana and requested, "Ms Rebecca I would like to withdraw my film from Star Cineplex. Please don't project any of our shows," Saud concluded.

Opposing Saud's stance, Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, senior manager of Media and Marketing of Star Cineplex, said, "The withdrawal of the film has nothing to do with any of the issues Badrul Anam Saud has stated. As far as I know, seeing the poor turnover of audiences, the distributors have decided to opt for 'Kajol Rekha' instead of 'Shyama Kabya' for better profit. That is all I can say regarding the issue."

As of yet, this Suborna Mustafa-produced film's screening has officially been withdrawn from Star Cinplex's website.

Badrul Anam Saud's "Shyama Kabya" dominated at the Gange Sur Seine Film Festival in Paris, claiming awards in four categories. The government-granted film for the 2019-20 session has won the Special Jury Award, the Best Original Screenplay Award, the Best Picture Award, and the Best Editing Award. 

The film porrays the tale of a college teacher (Shohel Mondol) who had experienced a traumatic childhood incident and tends to seclude himself in his home, where he lives alone. However, his life takes a new turn when he falls in love with a beautiful girl (Neelanjona Neela) and marries her. Very soon, his introverted persona and secluded life changes with tension building in his marriage.

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Intekhab Dinar, and A K Azad Shetu, amongst others, who played significant roles in the film further pushed their concerns over the screening issues on the first day of release.