West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made it mandatory for the West Bengal cinemas to run a Bengali movie during the Primetime for a minimum of 120 days. The primetime is scheduled from noon till 9 PM.
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“The governor is hereby pleased to issue the following directive to all licensees of the state, except the licensees of the GTA areas, with immediate effect,” the notification read.
Welcoming the decision, film director Aniket Chattopadhyay thanked Mamata Banerjee for the initiative. “It is great news. Many thanks to the chief minister,” Chattopadhyay said.
However, Eastern India Motion Pictures Association expressed their concern for the cinema hall owners who have halls in areas with less Bengali speaking people. “There are certain cinema halls in localities like Burrabazar, Sealdah, Mitabruz, Esplanade and Park Street. There are very few viewers of Bengali movies in these localities,” said the association chairman, Ratan Saha.
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He also said that the same rule cannot be made applicable for multiplexes and single screen halls. “State government should have thought of such aspects before taking this decision,” Saha added.