Praktan comes as ray of hope to single screen theatres

The housefull board hanging in front of a cinema���s entrance is almost an anomaly in case of Bengal���s single-screen theatres. The cash-strapped industry has failed to bring out the board for consecutive days in a long time. But, Nandita Roy and Shiboprosad Mukherjee���s Praktan is all set to break the jinx. The board is back in all its glory, and so is the audience.A week into the film���s release, Praktan has proved to be a ray of hope for single screens in Kolkata and its suburbs.
Said Star Theatre���s manager Ranjan Ganguly, ���The film ran to full houses starting Friday. We are expecting at least another week of bumper business.��� Proprietor of Priya Cinema, Arijit Dutta reiterates, ���We saw housefull shows on weekdays in December last year. But that was the Christmas week. We haven���t had weekday housefull shows this year apart from Praktan.��� In some cinemas, the opening was not as expected. Says Satadip Saha of Ajanta, ���We were a little disappointed when Friday did not get as good a response as expected. But, on the weekends, the sale shot up and the matinee and evening shows ran to full houses on both days. Though the figure dipped a little on Monday, it has been steady since.���

Surprisingly, the film has done extraordinary business is the suburbs such as Sodepur, Baruipur, Belghoria and Joynagar too. Santanu Roy Chowdhury, owner of Baruipur Show House, tells us, ���I own three halls. I was thinking of shutting down Rupmandir of Belghoria after 11 years of struggling with the lease. But Praktan has brought back the audience to my hall. I had decided to screen some other film in Bani, Jaynagar, but seeing Praktan���s success, I cancelled that and screened the Prosenjit-Rituparna starrer.���
Shiboprosad could not be happier. Adding to his film���s success is the fact that theatres on the verge of extinction have found a new lease of life. ���Everybody says we must do something for single-screen theatres. But not much has been done. Mitra���s owner told me that he was not being able to pay the electricity bills! So, it gives me immense satisfaction that my film has been of some help,��� he said.
The general opinion among exhibitors before the film���s release was that an urban film like Praktan will not be as successful in the suburbs. But Kalyan Singha Roy, owner of Rathindra Cinema, Sodepur decided to take the risk. And it has paid off big time, we hear.
Praktan, produced by Windows and presented by Atanu RayChaudhuri, is running successfully.