Modhumita is a

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

located in

Motijheel Motijheel ( bn, মতিঝিল) is a ''thana'' (administrative division) of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is at the heart of the city (the General Post Office is considered the zero point of Dhaka). Motijheel is the major business and commercial hub ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

. Modhumita Movies, one of the oldest movie theaters in the country, was closed on 17 March 2020 for

COVID-19 epidemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, but reopened on 15 October 2021.

History

The movie theater was founded by Siraj Uddin. He was a businessman from Dhaka, who had chemical factory. In 1967, the Bengali-language Indian film ''

Mahanagar ''Mahanagar'' () is a 1963 Indian Bengali-language drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Starring Madhabi Mukherjee in the leading role and based on the short story ''Abataranika'' by Narendranath Mitra, it tells the story of a housew ...

'' was screened in Balaka cinema hall in the city. Film freak Siraj desired to watch the film but failed to collect its ticket and stubbornly planned to build a movie theater. For the proposed name of the movie theater, he published an advertisement in ''

The Daily Ittefaq ''The Daily Ittefaq'' ( bn, দৈনিক ইত্তেফাক, translit. ''Doinik Ittefak'') is a Bengali-language daily newspaper. Founded in 1953, it is the oldest newspaper, and one of the most circulated newspapers in Bangladesh. This ...

''. Many people sent names to him after seeing the advertisement. Among those names, he preferred the name "Modhumita" and offered a reward of and a show ticket of the movie theater to whoever suggested this name.

Abdul Jabbar Khan Justice Abdul Jabbar Khan (30 June 1902 – 23 April 1984) was the 6th Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan. He was preceded by Fazlul Qadir Chaudhry. Early life He was born on 1 January 1902 in Baher char, Barisal. He graduated ...

, the 6th Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, inaugurated the movie theater on 1 December 1967. The first film shown in Modhumita was ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. ...

'', a 1963 American epic

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...

. Then the movie theater was equipped with

magnetic sound A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying motion picture film by projecting it onto a screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras. Mode ...

facility. The movie theater used fragrances from Otis Perfume House in Mitford, Dhaka. In 1981, the first International Film Festival in Bangladesh was inaugurated in this movie theater. The movie theater closed on 17 March 2020 due to the government-imposed lockdown due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. As a result, the current owner of the movie theater, Iftekhar Uddin Naushad, faced monetary losses. However, he did not want to reopen Modhumita as he didn’t find anyone who wanted to release expansive films in such a situation. He decided to reopen the movie theater on 25 June 2021 and announced that Modhumita would screen ''

Nabab LLB ''Nabab LLB'' is a Bangladeshi legal drama film. The film directed, story and screenplay by Anonno Mamun, and produced by Azmat Hossain under the banner of Celebrity Production. It is a court room drama based on rape and violence against wome ...

'' on that day but backed out from the decision for restrictions from the government. The movie theater was finally reopened on 15 October 2021 by showing the Bengali-language Indian film '' Baazi''.

Features

This movie theater has only one screen with 1000 seats. Here the seating system is divided into three parts. They are respectively known as dress circle, rear circle and middle circle. The movie theater has air conditioning, parking, toilets with

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression (data), audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995 in film, ...

sound system. Modhumita has four shows daily. There is a facility to show

3D films 3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality * Three-dimensional space ** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data ** 3D film, a ...

References

{{Commons Motijheel Thana Cinemas in Dhaka 1967 establishments in Pakistan