EVERY now and then, we hear about a cinema house being demolished either in Karachi, Lahore or Rawalpindi. Out of the 700 cinemas that we had in Pakistan in 1975, we now have 270. And even out of these 270 cinema halls, 100 have been temporarily closed.
Cinemas in Pakistan in the last three years have faced a severe crisis because of cable piracy. Does that mean that there should not be a single cinema in any of the cities? With the burning down of Melody cinema and liquidation of NAFDEC, Islamabad is now a capital city without a cinema house.
Melody, a private cinema, became a victim of sectarian violence after undergoing massive renovation. Just when it was about to open its doors to cinema-goers of Islamabad with a new screen, a new sound system, a DTS and renovated seats, it was burnt down by an angry mob. The cinema was not insured and thus the owner got so disheartened that he refused to invest any more money in it.
Created in 1974, the National Film Development Corporation (NAFDEC) was the result of a cultural boom that was witnessed in the early ‘70s when People’s Party government held the reins of power and set up organizations such as the National Book Foundation, the Pakistan National Council of Arts, Lok Virsa and the State Film Authority. The many objectives of NAFDEC had all the ingredients to promote good films, import quality films, export Pakistani movies, get Pakistan participate in world film festivals, and arrange such festivals in the country. To establish a chain of cinemas in the country to promote screening of art films was also one of its objectives, as a result of which NAFDEC constructed two cinema in Islamabad within its complex. Unfortunately, NAFDEC did not achieve these goals in 28 years.
NAFDEC began incurring losses, which started accumulating with the passage of time as it had no source of income, except the two cinemas which could not even break even. In 2001, it was liquidated by the Ministry of Culture under the president’s order and the complex was sold to a private party through bidding for Rs28 crore.
“Four court cases, more than 100 cases of irregular doings of public accounts committee, a huge debt and two cinemas running in loss, everything was in a shambles when I took over in 1980,” recalls Agha Nasir, former managing director NAFDEC. The entire staff was dismissed on various corruption charges by the military court and relations with the film industry worsened. “Changing the import policy for films and the commission on the imported raw material got the organization out of the financial crisis and almost all debts were cleared. But the cinemas could not make money. We rented them out and they were not even able to break even. We tried to import Oscar-winning films, but the crowd that came to the cinema destroyed it,” he adds.
“A cultural promotion department has to be funded and financed on a permanent basis. NAFDEC did not get any regular budget from the government. Even the most developed and capitalist countries in the world promote films,” says Aijaz Gul, a film critic and owner of a private cinema in Rawalpindi.
He quotes examples of British and American Film Institute, Unifrance, Unitalia, and Japan Film Foundation. Former Soviet Union and East European countries also funded films and the medium flourished. India has constantly promoted the NFDC (National Film Development Corporation) which makes art films, runs small cinemas, imports videos and runs a film sub-titling plant in Mumbai.
Aijaz Gul who joined NAFDEC in 1980 as head of export and film promotion believes that the government should not have liquidated NAFDEC. Incurring losses was not the criteria and its running should not have been measured in terms of rupees and paisas. The title of the corporation, he suggests, should have been changed to film institute or film commission.
NAFDEC did not achieve all its goals. But it must be given credit for holding regular film festivals, participating in foreign film festivals, holding the National Film Awards and running the twin cinemas. Today there is no forum to organize such events or even nominate films for exhibitions. Films are screened through DVDs in the Islamabad Club Auditorium, but they are videos, not films.
Syed Jalil Abbas, Secretary Ministry of Culture says that despite the fact that NAFDEC was liquidated, its site is still with the ministry. “We plan to have a cinema-cum-theatre complex at the site for which we have made a project. We have requested the Capital Development Authority and its Chairman Kamran Lashari that they renovate Melody Cinema. They are in contact with cinema owners and sorting out the matter. The city will have a cinema by the end of this year,” he ensured.
Condemning CD channels on cable running latest Indian films on DVD, Aijaz terms it as pure ghundagardi and dadagardi. “When Indian films are being seen on cable, satellite, CD, video and DVD in the market nation-wide, why should there be restriction on showing Indian films in cinemas? Pakistani cinemas should immediately be allowed to screen Indian films lying in Pakistan and import Indian movies. With cricket matches and travel links established, there is no reason why Indian films should not be shown in cinemas. If this is against our cultural policy, restrictions should be imposed on cable operators and video sellers.”
Chairman Board of Film Censors Ziauddin also feels that joining hands with India for combine productions and joint film ventures would give a boost to Lollywood.
“Won’t we have more bans imposed on our actresses if this option is opened? This story about Meera is all baseless. There is no such thing and we have not imposed any ban on her. Someone has published it for some personal reason. There used to be a requirement to obtain an NOC for every artiste before doing a film for any foreign country, but this restriction was removed in the Benazir government. Yes, there are laws if you say anything against the state,” explains Ziauddin.
EVERY now and then, we hear about a cinema house being demolished either in Karachi, Lahore or Rawalpindi. Out of the 700 cinemas that we had in Pakistan in 1975, we now have 270. And even out of these 270 cinema halls, 100 have been temporarily closed.
