Back to the cinema

We welcome the announcement that screenings of Indian films are to resume

In general terms the practice of going to the cinema, particularly as a recreational activity that is family-and-women friendly has been revolutionised in recent years. What started as a gamble by the cinema owners in the investment in modern multiplex cinemas has been paying off. A decade ago the majority of cinemas in the country were squalid shadows of their former selves. Today in many larger cities there is one or more multiplexes and second-tier cities and towns are now on the horizon of the investors. The multiplexes work and turn a profit not because they screen Western films, but because they show what everyone wants to see — Indian epics awash with song and dance and storylines that change little from decade to decade.

Just how reliant the cinemas are on attracting customers to Bollywood has been exemplified by the recent (self imposed) ban on Indian films. Audiences everywhere slumped. Where films were replaced by indigenous material they were sparsely attended. Profits drained away with the audiences. Thus it is that we welcome the announcement, endorsed by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, that screenings of Indian films are to resume. The films will have to be approved by the relevant censor boards but this is little different from past practice.

The ‘ban’ followed a rise in the level of tension between Pakistan and India and was driven by nationalist sentiments. Unfortunately nationalist sentiments are not good box-office. The empty seats and unsold popcorn should also act as a wake-up for the Pakistani film industry, once so vibrant. People will go and see a film if its quality is sufficient to satisfy them. It is now up to the filmmakers and producers to give local filmmakers the incentive to create films in Pakistan that the people of Pakistan are going to want to pay good money to go and see. There is no shortage of talent or expertise in the country, but unless there are films on offer that are as good as those coming across the border then India will corner the market. Welcome back to the cinema.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2^nd, 2017.

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