Yousuf Kamal, the veteran actor known as Shakeel passed away last week. While he ruled the mini-screen, he had once upon a time shared the big screen with the chocolate hero Waheed Murad. The generations that have grown up saying “Kuch kuch hota hai, tum nahin samjho gi,” do not remember the yesteryear of Lollywood beyond the occasional singing of Ko Ko Korina.

Next door Indian film industry’s size is roughly $2.4bn, according to Statista. To put the amount in perspective, Pakistan struggled and suffered to receive the $1.2bn tranche from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility, before receiving the new deal of $3bn under the Fund’s Stand-By Agreement last week.

In Pakistan, the film industry was never very large. Over the last decade, the most movies released in a year was in 2016, when 64 films saw the big screen, half of which were in Urdu. Compare that to India, which releases over 2,000 movies every year.

When the relations between the two countries thaw, there are cross-border collaborations with Fawad Khan wooing masses of both countries, along with heart-warming stories that do not pit Hindus against Muslims or Indians against Pakistani — Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Tiger Zinda Hai come to mind.

According to an Al Jazeera article, about 60pc of the Pakistani box office came from Bollywood. With people frequenting cinemas, there was room for growth for domestic films. When the Bollywood ban was lifted for the first time after the 1965 War in 2006, the local industry was rekindled. A revival seen from 2016 lost momentum after the Balakot strikes of 2019 that led to the resumption of the ban.

Barring the five-year tax holiday for filmmakers and the Rs1bn set aside for the “Binding Film Finance Fund”, announced in the federal budget last year, Pakistani movies are left to survive or die on their own. Meanwhile, Pakistanis continue to consume copious amounts of Bollywood’s Khans through streaming services or torrents.

This year, Indians rejoiced as their Prime Minister Modi addressed the US Congress, whereas Pakistanis celebrated the nick-of-the-time IMF loan that averted default. Banning Bollywood is akin to refusing trade ties — letting politics and sentiments get in the way of business is similar to cutting off the nose to spite the face.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, July 3rd, 2023