File picture of a GMDA demolition squad pulling down an under-construction petrol pump in front of Udeshna cinema hall

July 6: Hope flowed into the struggling Assamese film industry with Deuta Diya Bidaii, the multi-starrer Assamese film, continuing its run for the fourth consecutive week.

However, the prevailing festive mood is likely get a big jolt, for Udeshna, the theatre devoted exclusively for Assamese films, had its last screening today.

The theatre, located at Dispur, closed forever after the evening show of Deuta Diya Bidaii. The film is currently showing at two other theatres, Mayur Krishna and Vandana.

The disheartened owner of Udeshna, Ramesh Sharma, said: “We've been suffering losses for the past three years. Now we are left with no other option but to close the hall forever.” The cinema, having a capacity of 867 seats, had its first screening on October 2, 1987.

“It is a well-known fact that the entire film exhibition business in the state is undergoing a bad phase. Most of the halls hardly earn any profit,” Sharma said.“We did good business when the Assamese cinema was at its zenith. But with the downfall of Assamese cinema in recent years, we had to suffer losses. The saddest part is that the government never came forward to help us in our bad time,” he added.

Sharma was constructing a petrol pump on the premises but the government demolished it, declaring it illegal. However, Sharma claims that he had taken permission for it.

The entire film fraternity has experienced shock at the cinema’s closure.

Film critic Arun Lochan Das said, “The hall’s closure is surely a setback for the Assamese film industry as a whole. The hall is the only place where Assamese cinema was screened exclusively, giving the industry a chance to earn a profit.”

A recently released study on the feasibility and revival of film exhibition business in the state by the Assam Institute of Management (AIM) categorically stated that the entire film business in the state was in the doldrums. The survey touched all the 140 cinemas officially registered in the state. Only 50 per cent of these are currently functioning. The survey report also predicted that if the present condition prevailed, all the theatres in the state would have to close down.

The city has 15 halls at present. The prominent among these are Apsara, Anuradha, Pragjyoti, Meghdoot and Mayur Krishna. Two other halls where Assamese films get first preference are Vandana and Urvashi.

In the past six years, two other halls ? Rupayan and Anupama ? have also closed down because of losses.