Desiring audiences: We will go to the cinema if…?

Beginning in the 1990s, Bangladeshi cinema began to lose its audiences significantly. This leads to the continual closure of cinema halls, one after another. Popular perception is that Bangladeshi audiences watch foreign films, Indian popular films in particular, and television programs using home-viewing facilities. Mainstream filmmakers and producers in Bangladesh argue that when audiences can almost effortlessly access similar contents at home and so they do not go to the theatres. This study, therefore, explores how the audiences decide about a film (irrespective of the origin of production) to watch, what satisfies their viewing, and their disinclination to watch cinema at the theatre in Bangladesh. A total of 100 regular movie-viewers participated in the survey interviews. The findings confirm that for most of the viewers, the trailer of a film, known or favorite actors and/or actresses, and cinema viewers or cinema-goers’ feedback are the three key sources based on which they decide whether to watch a film or not. Relying on these sources, they want confirmation that the film(s) they will watch must have all the necessary components contributing to their viewing satisfaction. The story itself, the craft of storytelling, performance, and dialogues through which characters of the story reach the audience, good making that creates reality, known (star) actors and actresses, and visual spectacle are found to be the primary elements that produce audiences viewing satisfaction. Though most respondents conditionally agreed that they prefer to watch films at theatres, films screened there are found unworthy of watching. Their leisureless lifestyle considerably contributed to this disinclination toward cinema-going.