KARACHI, April 3: The chairman of the Central Film Censor Board of Pakistan, Azfar Shafqat, said the board would not allow unchecked access to Indian movies in the country and only those films made by Pakistani producers and directors with foreign technology and talent would be permitted to be screened.
“The films, which are made abroad with foreign actors and technicians, are not liable to be put under strict censor policies, however, no stuff would be allowed which does not come in conformity with our moral values,” said Mr Shafqat while talking to media at Saeed Rizvi’s Studio on Tuesday.
Producer-director Saeed Rizvi and film distributors Satish Anand and Ahmed Hassan were also present on the occasion.
The censor board chief admitted the local film industry was going through the toughest crisis of its history but he believed it was because of the poor quality of the Pakistani movies and nothing else.
“The quality of our films has declined to a huge extent, which is why they are rejected by the masses. Even, a few films, which are good in quality succeed in present circumstances, which shows that the industry is on decline for its own weaknesses and nothing else should be blamed for,” said Mr Shafqat.
He said the present censor policy was too gentle and mild so that Pakistani movies could compete with popular foreign films.
He said all the quarters and stakeholders of the film industry should unite to get the Pakistani cinema come out of the crisis. “All of us should take sincere efforts to revive our industry and cinema culture,” he said.
He said the number of Pakistani films had almost touched to naught, which could improve if their quality was improved with joint efforts.—Staff Reporter
