In the mid 1950s, Dhaka, known as ‘Dacca’ at that time, was just a small provincial town with about 3,00,000 inhabitants. Dhanmondi at that time just started to grow; Maulvi Abdus Sobhan's family had some habitation in Sobhanbagh, Dhaka Stadium was being constructed to host cricket matches and New Market was starting to become a busy shopping area. Dhaka residents loved cinema since the time it was introduced. Baliadi Siddiki family owned Nishat Cinema Hall and held a mega event when the film ‘Aan’ by Mehboob Khan was released in 1952. Elephants were used by the hall owner to distribute leaflets and to spray colour water. There was another prominent hall named Britannia near Rex Restaurant at Gulistan but was closed down in the late 1950s. Gulistan Cinema Hall, city’s first modernity landmark, came up in 1952. Amber, started with Raj Kapoor and Nargis, was the first film the hall showed. Mukul which later became 'Azad 'used to show Bengali films from Kolkat
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