Act II: A bloody curtain call

Decades-old movie theatre targeted by unidentified militants.

PESHAWAR: Famed locally and globally for screening racy films, Peshawar’s Shama Cinema, was once again targeted on Tuesday, just a week after the historic Picture House cinema was attacked in Qissa Khwani Bazaar.

The cinema’s Hall-A was screening Pashto film Zama Arman, the first ever high definition Pashto production, while Hall-B also called Sanay Cinema was showing, Yarana, a Pashto dubbed movie, when unidentified militants hurled three grenades in Hall-B.

According to the police, 50 to 70 people were inside the room at the time of the attack and several were injured.

The hall that came under attack has a total capacity of 280 with small wooden chairs packed closely together. On a daily basis, three shows are screened for a little over a hundred viewers.

A life of notoriety

A nearby shopkeeper estimated the cinema has been in business for nearly 30 years.

Over the years, Shama Cinema, which is owned by the influential Bilour family, has come under severe criticism by successive governments, however, the theatre remains functional regardless of such concerns.

The cinema has also attracted the wrath of angry mobs and has been set ablaze at least three times. Following such incidents, its management fortified it with heavy gates and 20-feet-high walls, but security remained minimal.



Shabir Ahmad, an employee of the contractor who runs Shama Cinema, told The Express Tribune everyone who enters the building is thoroughly checked. “The number of visitors had definitely lessened after the attack on Picture House last week, however, the regulars remained undeterred,” he added.

Historian Humayun Akhund said the cinema was established in the 1980s as Sabrina Cinema and was dedicated to showing quality Urdu movies. “Families visited it in large numbers,” he added.



Naming some of the classics that graced Shama’s screens, Akhund listed Pakeeza, Sathi and Bandish, among other hits. “The quality of the movies showed at Shama deteriorated with the decline in the Pakistani film industry,” Akhund contended.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2014.