PESHAWAR, Feb 27: There is a vast market for Pushto films in Afghanistan. This was stated by office-bearers of the Pushto Filmmakers Association at a news conference here on Sunday.

Referring to the popularity of Pushto films among Afghans, Arshad Khan of the association, who was accompanied by director Shah Jehan, Muzaffar Khan said that most of the film-goers in Peshawar came from Kabul and Jalalabad.

Arshad Khan urged the government to take up the issue with the authorities in Kabul so that they could exhibit their films in cinema halls there. They rejected assertions that Pushto films contained objectionable scenes, and said that people could watch them with their families.

Lauding the MMA government's decision of banning the screening of vulgar films in cinemas, they said the move had improved the quality of films. "The cinemas are regaining their past glory," said Arshad Khan.

People now liked action films with good music and powerful script, he said. Arshad Khan said that good photography and outdoor locations were also helping to popularise Pushto films.

"Most of the recent releases were shot in scenic places of Swat, Naran and Kaghan," he said. Arshad Khan said that taking a cue from the success of Pushto films, veteran producers of Urdu films, Sangeeta and Iqbal Kashmiri, were also making Pushto films.

He said they wanted government's assistance in establishing modern studios in the NWFP because the filmmakers had to go to Lahore to record music and dialogues which increased the budget of films.

It cost four million rupees to produce a Pushto film besides a host of taxes, he said. A cinema owner paid Rs700,000 as tax to the government annually, and a producer paid Rs25,000 to the censor board for each film, but they got no incentive from the government, the office-bearer of the filmmakers association said.