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Bangladesh High Court Has Banned Bollywood Movies And Songs

With the BJP government in India  has been on a banning spree, it seems that the neighbouring countries are also taking inspiration from them. Following the porn ban in India, reportedly, Bangladesh has banned Bollywood movies! This has come as a shock to most of us as Bangladesh has apparently banned Bollywood movie releases as well as Bollywood music.

A Bangladesh High Court has banned the use of Indian film songs as ringtones. The court has issued a ruling that bars the use of songs from sub-continental movies as ringtones and caller tunes on mobile phones.

Bangladesh Bans Use Of Bollywood Songs As Mobile Ringtones:

Court has mobile phone operators have been told not use these songs as value added services (VAS). The order came after a writ petition from the President of the Bangladesh Music Industry Owners Association Arifur Rahman and General Secretary, SK Shahed Ali.

Essentially, this is a ban on the import of Indian content. “Import policy bars the import of Indian or sub-continental films to Bangladesh. That is why songs of those (films) can’t be used as welcome tune or ringtone,” said Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury, the lawyer representing Rahman and Ali.

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A few months back the popular actor Shakib Khan had lead a protest to ban Bollywood films in Bangladesh, he had been supported by film actors, directors and production workers who had participated in the campaign against Bollywood movies, claiming that they would cause the collapse of the already-crippled local film industry.

#WhyBanBollywood Trending on Twitter:

Bangladesh had previously banned the import of Indian films in a bid to boost its local film industry. However, the ban was revoked in 2013. As a part of its new import policy films from South Asian Free Trade members can be imported. However, the number of films imported should not exceed the number of films exported from Bangladesh.

There hasn’t been any official statements made as yet but the news has been doing rounds on micro-blogging site Twitter and #WhyBanBollywood has been trending after the news broke out!

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Do you support the Bangladeshi government’s ban on Bollywood movies or are you of the opinion that this is sheer stupidity? Is this a solution to promote the local music? What is the reason behind this? Tell us your views in the comment section below.