PESHAWAR, May 28: The Association of Artistes’ Welfare Zoom has urged the government to build a colony for local artistes and reopen the Nishtar Hall so that they can earn their livelihood through stage programmes.

“After banning music programmes at the Nishtar Hall, most theatre artistes have either switched to other professions or have moved to Lahore and Karachi,” said Javaid Babar, patron-in-chief of the association.

Speaking at the oath-taking ceremony of new office-bearers of the association on Sunday, he said about 200 artistes in the province lived in rented houses and they desperately needed homes.

He also extended support to producers of telefilms but asked them to get rid of people who were responsible for making obscene films.

He said there were little opportunities for local artistes on the PTV, which had forced performers to work in telefilms.

About 40 artistes in the city produce at least 200 films each month and on an average, 12,000 copies of each film are sold. The number of pirated copies is much higher.

“The government should ensure that telefilms are censored before release and give legal protection to the business,” Mr Babar said.

He also criticised the federal information minister for ignoring artistes during his recent visit to Peshawar.

Tariq Jamal, president of the association, said some non-professional people released vulgar films which brought a bad name to the business. He said filmmakers were ready to pay a fee to the censor board for reviewing each movie before release.

He said most of actors like Asif Khan, Jehangir Jani, Javaid Babar, Saeed Rehman Sheeno and Alamzeb Mujahid had performed in telefilms.

“Our competition is with Indian films. We can compete with them but we need the government’s patronage,” he claimed.

According to him, about Rs200,000 were spent on the making of a two-hour film but thousands of pirated copies reached the market a day after its release, which adversely affected their trade. He said artistes were invited from Karachi, Lahore and Quetta to perform in the films, which increased the cost. Initially, the business earned profit but now it was on the decline, he added.

“We have suffered huge losses and we are weighing options to give up this business,” he said. “Telefilms are seen as a substitute to theatre, which has been closed,” he added.

Mr Jamal warned that hundreds of artistes would face starvation if the government failed to regulate the telefilm business.

“Nishtar Hall was closed four years ago after an indecent performance by a film actress. The hall is yet to be reopened,” he said.

Known comedian Almzeb Mujahid said about 30 girls acted in telefilms due to poverty, adding that it was the responsibility of the government to provide shelter to the artistes.

Mirawas and other actors performed on the occasion.

District Nazim Ghulam Ali assured the association that a committee would look into the possibility of allotting plots to artistes and announced Rs50,000 for the body.

“It is regrettable that artistes who make people smile are themselves unhappy. We should extend full cooperation to them,” he said, adding that the district government would provide 60 free food stamps to artistes.