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| March 3, 2003 | Monday | Zul Hijjah 29, 1423 |
Cinemas in critical state
PESHAWAR, March 2: Owing to the government’s attitude towards films prevailing in the NWFP the local cinema-culture has in recent months reached a moribund state.
“We are victims of both customs and technology. The MMA’s policies too are scary,” said an owner of a cinema for almost 30 years.
For this reason most movie theatres, which occupy prime locations in the city, are now being converted into commercial centres, shopping plazas, marriage halls, and auditoriums
Some of the old ones like Tasveer Mahal, Firdous (Shabistan), Falak Sair and Capital cinemas are resisting the winds of change, but Palwasha and Metro couldn’t survive.
“Some cinemas have become notorious for showing indecent movies and so decent people have stopped visiting them, and are slowly dying their own death. The revival of interest in cinema would only be possible if the owners and exhibitors revise their policy and make use of cinematic techniques as well,” an official said.
“I tried to do something different this time. I used multimedia to show World Cup matches, but only five or six people came. Only India-Pakistan match attracted 300 customers,” lamented the owner of Capital cinema.
Dingy hotels and cafeterias have been turned into mini-cinemas. A few years back when there were no VCRs and cable cinemas were doing thriving business, but not any more.
People with orthodox views term cinema the source of all vices; they waste no opportunity in airing their feelings.
A cinema-goer said the government should not only target cinemas alone, there is so much that goes on behind the curtain which needed to be unearthed and crushed.
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