Ban Bollywood: Pakistan bigwigs

Veena Malik 

Several bigwigs in the Pakistani film industry have decided to take legal action to stop Indian films from being shown in the country. 

Actors Moammar Rana, Shaan, Sangeeta and Shahid, directors Syed Noor, Aslam Dar, Altaf Hussain, Masood Butt and Pervaiz Rana, and producers Jani Malik and Chaudhry Kamran, were among those who pledged to take action, claiming they were perturbed by the public's interest in Indian films and that Pakistani films hardly drew crowds. While they said a petition was being filed against exhibiting Indian films, the view was also expressed that Pakistani films released on Eid-ul-Fitr could have done better business had it not been for Indian films.

We face similar situations here 
I can understand where they are coming from. We were the first to release "Awarapan" there in 2006, a bold move by the Pakistani establishment during the Lal Masjid civil crisis. Since then, every Indian film finds takers there. But has it helped the Pakistani industry? No. The workforce is unemployed, the actors, singers, technicians, etc, still struggle to keep body and soul together. So, let's be fair. It's easy to question their decision, but do we remember that we have similar problems in Karnataka? You fight every time to get more screens for Hindi films there. In Maharasthra, the Shiv Sena and the MNS crusade for the Marathi film industry, saying they must get more screens because with their budgets, they don't have the capacity to elbow in this huge competitive market. But the establishment in Pakistan has supported our films, and now that they are facing internal opposition from the industry, we must understand that this is a tightrope - this fight to protect the indigenous product. Perhaps they can collect some sort of tax from foreign films, and use that for the Pakistani industry, instead of shutting doors completely on us. - Mahesh Bhatt