RAWALPINDI: Old, traditional cinemas in Rawalpindi city are losing their audiences to modern cinema houses.

New cinemas including Cinepax, Arena and Cine Gold in Rawalpindi have been popular with residents of Rawalpindi city. They cater to about 2,000 people a day on weekdays and 4,000 people on weekends.

The popularity of new cinemas comes at the cost of the old ones and many have been pulled down such as the Novelty Cinema in Kashmiri Bazaar, which was closed down last week.

Gulistan Cinema in Committee Chowk was turned into a commercial plaza while the Shabistan, Rose, Moti Mahal, Railto, Odeon, Capital and Plaza cinemas were partially closed as they are not pulling in audience. The Ciros Cinema in Saddar is open to the public still though.

One of the major reasons for people preferring new cinemas in Jinnah Park and Bahria Town is the deplorable condition of those in the downtown areas.

Residents of Rawalpindi were fed up of the bad environment and the surroundings of the old cinema houses where they had to wait in long queues in stuffy halls only to be seated in bug-infested seats and watch movies with a bad sound system.

Another reason for the overall decline in cinema goers is that entertainment content is more widely available on cable and online.

The reason newer cinemas are pulling in the crowds that do go out to watch movies is because of the better environment and equipment used to screen well-made cartoons and movies in English language.

“Modern cinema houses screen films in a family-friendly environment, have better seating arrangements and air-conditioned halls,” the manager of a private cinema, Imran Ahmed, said.

He said the new complexes are built keeping in mind the evolving tastes and new requirements of cinema goers and provide a multiplex experience which is meant to change the way people watch movies, particularly for families, who want an evening of entertainment in a clean and appropriate environment.

A cinema goer, Salman Ahmed, said old cinema houses had not adopted to the evolving tastes of people and did not adopt better arrangements.

“The selection of movies in new cinemas is also more diverse and they cater to a better crowd,” he said, adding that people were fed up of hearing bad news on the TV all the time and wanted a break.

Fizza Durrani, a university student, said that with the establishment of new cinema houses, it is possible for just girls to go watch a movie as well.

She said she goes with friends or family to watch a movie every weekend to take a break from studies.

Owner of Khursheed Cinema, the oldest cinema in the city, Syed Ali Raza told Dawn that the traffic congestion in the city areas and the old infrastructure of cinema houses were a put off for audience.

“But watching movie at an old cinema costs Rs100 while that at new ones costs Rs500 which they are able to charge due to better location and arrangements,” he said.

Old cinemas have a limited audience because they have failed in making investments in better arrangements.

“If we invested in better décor, people will not pay the same here as they do at new cinemas,” he said.

The trend for watching movies in cinemas is increasing in the twin cities, which is why the government has also imposed an entertainment tax on cinema houses, he said.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2018