The sweet smell of popcorn: City’s cinema screens to show world cup

Preparations in full swing as cricket fever grips city.

PESHAWAR: Cricket fans need look no further than Peshawar’s cinemas to get their World Cup 2015 fix as many of the establishments have decided to show matches instead of action-packed Pashto movies. A number of them have completed their arrangements.

Seats at cinema houses have been gathering dust for the last few months as people became increasingly wary of the security situation. Showing cricket matches could potentially give their business a much-needed boost.



Instead of posters of the latest Pashto flick, the country’s cricketing heroes are on display outside the cinemas. Sabrina cinema in Khyber Bazaar has completed its preparations and tickets are almost sold out ahead of the eagerly anticipated Pakistan/India clash on February 15.

Intermission

The cinema houses of Peshawar have been largely closed after the brutal Army Public School massacre, while Pashto studios stopped production due to the security situation. As a result, these establishments are suffering a severe financial crisis.

“We have created opportunities to keep this house intact,” said Sabrina Cinema House Manager Khalid Muhammad. “The youth of the city are quite enthusiastic about cricket and tickets are almost sold out for the first Pakistan match.”

The city had a large number of cinema houses in yesteryear. A number of them have closed down while some have been turned into shopping plazas.

Sad segues

Picture House and Shama cinemas were attacked with grenades last year, resulting in the death of over a dozen people and massive damage to the theatres. Shama never resumed its shows after the attack.

Peshawar cinemas have been in some form of trouble or the other in recent times. Some closed down as owners did not get enough business while Firdous Cinema was also destroyed last year. Now, an under-construction shopping plaza stands in its place. Also, Ishrat Cinema in Gulbahar, Novelty in Saddar, Palwasha—originally called Aman— and the historic Falak Sayar, the first cinema of the city, remain closed.

A number of young people were gathered outside Sabrina Cinema and for some it was their first visit to a movie theatre. According to cinema staff, tickets range from Rs100 to Rs300 and phone numbers had been displayed for advance bookings. However, the price of tickets can increase due to demand on the day of the match.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2015.