Re[el]vival: Cinemas in Peshawar take rebirth cue from Bollywood

Pashto films limited to a couple of theatres as owners look to boost business.

PESHAWAR: While Firdous Cinema is unlikely to see the light of day again, others in the city burnt down on September 21 by angry mobs protesting over the anti-Islam film ‘Innocence of Muslims’ have risen from the ashes.

Popular Indian films Son of Sardar, Jab Tak Hai Jaan and Student of the Year have now begun to slowly draw back crowds to the cinemas, which bear the look of fortresses with high walls, steel gates, barbed-wire and several security guards.

Shama Cinema which has been infamous for showing adult movies in the past, reopened with the latest Bollywood flicks. Another separate hall within its building, called Sanjay Cinema, now allegedly screens the porn movies.

Situated in the middle of the city, Capital Cinema made its comeback with Dabangg 2 and Talaash. Even though the theatre was hardly damaged in the riots, no films were screened there for the past couple of months.

Naz Cinema is often criticised for showing English movies, but has stuck to its guns following its revival.



While the revival of these cinemas will be a treat for moviegoers, knowing that screen space for Pashto films is now limited to Arshad and Tasweer Mahal cinemas will be disappointing to fans of Pashto cinema.

Senior script writer Nazir Bhati believes the death of Pashto movies is imminent. “Even if the theatres were not plundered, people would have still gotten fed up of the monotonous nature of Pashto films.”

Bhati added that viewers would turn to other sources unless the local culture is actively promoted and highlighted.

“I gave up my job when a producer asked me to include vulgar bits in my scripts due to changing market demands,” he said.

Bhati said Pashto films supported Pakistan’s struggling film industry, but cinemas have resorted to Indian movies to boost business.

“With the business Indian films are giving cinemas in Peshawar, I don’t think screen owners will like to show Pashto movies again,” said manager of Capital Cinema Khalid Khan.

He said Capital was the only cinema to screen Urdu and Punjabi films earlier, but lack of public interest led to it switching to Indian movies.

An ardent fan of Bollywood films Umair Karni said Pashto films need to improve their production to attract viewers. “We appreciate cinema owners for bringing Indian films to the city. We shy away from watching Pashto films due to vulgarity in them.”

Culture critic Laiq Zada Laiq said: “Foreign culture is being imposed on us in the name of entertainment and the situation currently faced by our society is miserable.”

Laiq said those working on Pashto films are mostly not Pakhtuns and questioned: “How can they represent your culture properly”

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2013.