KARACHI: The local cinemas will start screening Indian movies from Monday (today) after the owners decided to lift a ban they imposed on Bollywood movies in September in the wake of tensions between India and Pakistan following the Uri attack.

“The suspension [of Indian movies] that was in place will be lifted on Monday,” said Nadeem Mandviwala of Atrium cinemas.

The management of Pakistani cinemas had on Sept 30 announced their decision to indefinitely cease the screening of all Indian films as a reaction to the ban of Pakistani artists in India.

The cinema owners imposed the ban as a tit-for-tat move after the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association banned Pakistani actors, singers and technicians from working in India.

Pakistani film industry is going through a revival phase, but its audience compared to the films imported from abroad is not that large.

The suspension of Indian movies affected the footfall in cinema halls so much so that there were certain cinema halls which reportedly went empty for a few days.

Pakistani films are not being churned out with great frequency.

Mr Mandviwala told Dawn that the movies which were missed and could not be screened due to the suspension would be screened first.

In 2008, Indian movies returned to Pakistani cinema houses after a 43-year-long hiatus imposed during the 1965 war.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2016