Bangladesh Cultural Overview

Mother tongue or first language is perhaps the most favorite thing for any person. The question of language has resulted into many conflicts and discontentment. The prime example of such discontentment is the Language Movement of 1952 in Bangladesh. On the other hand we can not live in isolation. We have to be in contact with the speakers of other languages. Bangladesh is considered to be a monolingual country in which more than 98% of the population is speakers of Bangla language. However, there are more than ten languages in such a small country like Bangladesh. Monipuri, Urdu, Chakma, Santali, Garo, Rakhain, Tipra- are just some of the other languages present in Bangladesh.

Bangla Natok, also known as Bengali Drama, has been in practice for a long time now. Even before the independence of the country in 1970, various individuals and cultural organizations have been performing on Bangla Natok. Today the natoks are however not the same as it has been only 15 – 20 years ago.

Due to the advancement of technology, routine stage performance and practices by performers, instructional educations, and most important of all creativity of the writers and producers, Bengali drama improved by a long shot in the recent years.

We do not see the entire natok these days in a studio set. Lot of outdoor shootings, individual houses, even foreign trips are very much common in this industry now. This industry is not longer dominated by the government and its only one TV channel now. Over a dozed private TV channels and satellite stations are now broadcasting Bangla natoks all over the world.

Based in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, Bangla cinema is referred to as Dhallywood, from the words Dhaka and Hollywood.

As early as 1898, films were already shown in Dhaka at the Crown Theatre by the Bradford Bioscope Company. Established in 1898 in Calcutta by Hiralal Sen, the Royal Bioscope Company was the first Bengali organization to produce and exhibit films. Although the films were in Bengali, production work was mostly done in Calcutta. Notable early films made in Dhaka are Sukumari and the Last Kiss, produced by the Nawab family in 1928 and 1931, respectively.

The Picture House, which began operations in 1913, was the first permanent cinema in Dhaka. It was renamed New Picture House, and later on, Shabistan. The film industry grew at a rapid pace that in 1947, there were already around 80 cinemas in the area that is now Bangladesh.