Pak film business suffers due to suspension of peace process

Karachi, Dec 27 (PTI) The suspension of the Indo-Pak
peace process after the Mumbai terror attacks has left the
Pakistani film distributors, exhibitors and cinema owners
worried about their business, which was thriving on the
Bollywood flicks.

These exhibitors, distributors and theatre owners were
one of the biggest beneficiaries of the peace process, as part
of which the Pakistan government had lifted a 42-year ban on
the exhibition of Indian films in cinema halls here in 2007.

With relations between the two countries taking a
nosedive and the peace process suspended after the Mumbai
attacks on November 26, the release of the latest Bollywood
movies has been stopped in Pakistan.

"There is nothing officially conveyed to us but the
Censor and Culture Ministry have not cleared any new Indian
films for release after the Mumbai incident," said Nadeem
Mandviwalla, a well-known distributor and owner of Nishat
cinema in Karachi.

Pakistani film goers-were eagerly awaiting for the two of
the biggest Bollywood releases of 2008, Shahrukh Khan's 'Rab
ne Bana di Jori' (RNBJ) and Aamir Khan's 'Ghajni', but the
release of these movies has been put off due to the tense
relations between the two countries.

A cinema owner declining to be named said both films were
due to be released in Pakistani cinemas as well. "But the
whole process has stopped after the Mumbai attacks," he said.

For the moment, cinema owners who did roaring business
after a number of years due to the release of Indian films
since last year, are keeping their business going by again
releasing old films.

"Awarapaan, Goal, Welcome, Race were all big hits in
Karachi," Mandviwalla said.

Such was the boom that at one stage due to shortage of
quality cinema halls, the existing ones had started screening
special shows to meet the demands of film-goers and to cope
with the rapid release of new Bollywood films.

Nishat, in fact, still screens two Indian movies
'Yuvraaj' and 'Dostaana' with different show timings while
other cinemas have again released 'Bhagam Bhaag' and 'Golmaal
Returns' to keep their business going as they point out there
is no competition between the demand for Pakistani and Indian
films.

"We don't know how long this situation is going to last
but we are fearing for the worst," Raheel Ahmed, a manager at
one of the cinemas, said.

While the cinema owners are worried, the video parlours
and shops in Karachi, whose business was hit hard by the
government's decision to lift the ban on screening of
Bollywood films, are once again celebrating.

"People are coming back to us for pirated prints of
'RNBDJ' and 'Ghajini' as they are not up for release in cinema
halls," one shop owner in Bahadurabad, a posh shopping area of
the city, said.

The government had launched a crackdown on sale or
renting out of pirated copies of the latest Bollywood and
Hollywood releases after these films were allowed to be
released in cinema halls.

"It's back to business again because no matter what the
state of relations between the two countries, people don't
want to miss out on the latest films of superstars like
Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan," Liaquat, another shop owner,
said. PTI