Film distributors in Bangladesh say they are now planning to release major Hollywood films at the same time as the rest of Asia, to help tackle the problem of video piracy.

James Cameron's epic, starring Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslett, has become the top-grossing film of all time in 50 countries, but it has made history in Bangladesh by being released at all.

All foreign films were banned in Bangladesh for five years after independence, so as to protect the growth of the local cinema industry. Even today, Indian and Pakistani films are not allowed to be shown in cinemas.

Bangladesh has one of the highest entertainment taxes in the world, which has meant there has been little investment in cinemas.

The film industry has been hit by the flourishing video business and pirate copies of major hits, smuggled in initially from Hong Kong and now from India. It is partly in an attempt to combat these copyright violations that Twentieth Century Fox has arranged to release Titanic in Bangladesh.

Some aspects of the romance are considered too raunchy for public view

Nevertheless, Bangladesh is one of the few countries in the world where some portions of the romance had to be censored.

There have been complaints about the high price of tickets, but the distributor says it is necessary because of the length of the film. Tickets are said to be selling well, along with posters, T-shirts and other publicity material.