PESHAWAR: Pashto film industry was in flux before the Covid-19 pandemic but after nearly a year of theaters being shut down and producers stopped making films, the future of this industry is less certain.
Thousands of people associated with the local entertainment industry are now jobless. “Even during worst terrorism, they produced films regularly but the virus has now completely devastated the industry,” Pashto films producer Shahjehan told Mashriq.
He went on to say that from 2002 to 2008, the industry was flourishing and filmmakers as well as cinema owners were earning enough revenues but from 2008 onward, an unending wave of terrorism entered Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said there were 13 cinemas in Peshawar but now only six are remaining while there is no cinema house available in Nowshera, Mardan, Kohat, Dera Ismail Khan, and other major cities of the province. Swat district now hosts only one Cinema house.
Shahjehan said that despite the violence, the filmmakers did not stop making films and cinemas were remained in operation. However, the routine bomb blasts had spread such a terror that people stopped visiting cinemas which affected the revenue and some cinemas were shut down due to lack of profit.
The filmmaker said that from 2015 onward though there was relative peace and people returned to cinemas, but the industry was unable to cope with the massive copyrights violations. He said that there was no legal protection as the police were not serious to implement the copyright laws as their major focus was on maintaining the security situation. He said that films and dramas were leaked and were freely available on YouTube and through memory cards that incurred an “unprecedented” loss to filmmakers and cinema owners. “The situation has not only affected cinemas but hundreds of local artists are now jobless and are on protests, seeking relief from the government,” Shahjehan told Mashriq news.
The first Pashto film was produced in 1941 in Mumbai and Pashto-speaking areas but it was more than 23 years after partition when Pakistan’s first Pashto film “Yousaf Khan Shehr Bano” was released. Based on a romantic folk story and starring Badar Munir and Yasmin Khan, the enormous success of this film paved the way for the Pashto film industry.
However, later on violence and “vulgar” dances crept into films. The producer said that in Peshawar no one visits to watch film without such raucous and “vulgar” dances and Kalashnikov culture. Shahjehan said that it is the only way to attract youth to cinema house.
Shahjehan said that now due to Covid-19, they have even lost the remaining business and every producer has lost more than 50% of their spending while despite claims, the government have not provided any support to the film industry.