“Khacha” in theatres in limited release from today

Impress Telefilm, in what can only be described as a rabbit-out-of-the-hat move, announced yesterday that their film “Khacha” is releasing today. The Akram Khan-directed film is based on a Hasan Azizul Haque short story of the same title has a powerhouse central cast including Azad Abul Kalam, Mamunur Rashid and Jaya Ahsan, and thus begs the question: Why is a film with so many high-profile names getting released in such neglected manner?

“Let's say I did a two-month extensive promotional campaign before releasing the film: press coverage, print and TV ads and whatnot. Will I be able to make money off this film? The answer is no; you know it and I know it too,” said a rather dejected Ibne Hasan Khan, director, sales & marketing at Impress Telefilm, Channel i. “These films, with 'artistic value', do not appeal to the mass audience, and our experience says it is futile to spend that money and resources behind it.” He also lamented the number of cinemas the film is releasing. “We are releasing it in six theatres; we asked another 150 theatres and they all rejected it. They said no one will watch this. The more theatres I will release it, the bigger my loss will be,” he added. But what appears to be the actual reason behind this hurried release is the upcoming wave of 'big' films set for October release: heavyweights like “Dhaka Attack” and “Doob” will be interjected by smaller but still promising films such as “Gohin Baluchor” and “Dulabhai Zindabad”, and getting any halls in the coming weeks could be difficult, or at least Impress Telefilm seems to think so.

“Khacha” was one of the recipients of the 2012-'13 National Film Grant (provided by the Ministry of Information) and began filming in late 2015 which took place in Narail, Munshiganj and Natore. The film was reportedly completed in October 2016, and after a long hiatus, received its censor certificate on August 31. Azad Abul Kalam co-wrote the screenplay with Akram Khan, along with playing the lead role of Ambujakkho. The film is set in the aftermath of the 1947 Partition, where a Hindu family attempts to sell its house in Bangladesh and tries to move to India, but to no avail. Along with Jaya, Kalam and Mamunur Rashid, other cast members include Chandni, Kayes Chowdhury, Arman Parvez Murad, Shahed Ali and veteran yesteryears film actress Rani Sarkar.

The Catch 22 of 'good cinema doesn't draw enough audience to make profit' and 'people don't go to halls because there are no good films in theatres' has been in the Bangladeshi film industry for a few years now, and seems to be getting more and more severe by the day. While that remains a bigger question for another day for a report to look into, “Khacha” will probably have the same fate of films like “Oggatonama” (2016) and “Jalaler Golpo” (2015) – films that won widespread international acclaim at film festivals yet almost no one got to see it in theatres. Those two films have a couple of more things in common: they were Bangladesh's submissions to the Oscars (in the foreign language film category), and they were both Impress Telefilm productions.

Let's hope “Khacha” doesn't fall in the same pitfall. For audiences in Dhaka, the film will play at the Star Cineplex. The other cinemas where “Khaca” will be playing are Chhayabani (Mymensingh), Liberty Cineplex (Khulna), Momtaz (Sirajganj), TK Cineplex (Serajdikhan) and Kollol Cinema Hall (Madhupur).