Pakistani cinemas not to screen Indian Films indefinitely

[SarthakGanguly]

Bravo!

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1191061/pakistani-cinemas-not-screen-indian-films-indefinitely/



Pakistani cinemas not to screen Indian films indefinitely
By Rafay Mahmood / Rahul Aijaz
Published: September 30, 2016
1094 SHARES

Exhibitors take decision in response to Indian producers’ move to ban Pakistanis from working in Indian films. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI: Cinema owners in Pakistan have decided not to screen any Indian movies until tensions between two countries recede. They took the decision on Thursday after the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) banned all Pakistani artists from working in film projects in India.

“We will suspend the exhibition of Indian films till normalcy,” said Nadeem Mandviwalla, owner of Mandviwalla Entertainment which runs Atrium Cinemas in Karachi and Centaurus in Islamabad. “No Indian movies will play in my cinemas from Friday onwards for sure,” he told The Express Tribune.

Can Pakistani cinema survive without Bollywood?

Super Cinemas owner Khorem Gultasab echoed Mandviwalla’s sentiments, saying he has already stopped screening any Indian films at his facilities. “We didn’t wait for an official declaration by exhibitors. From Friday onwards, no Bollywood film will be screened at Super Cinemas for at least two weeks to show solidarity with our actors and our military,” he said.

Although Cinepax – Pakistan’s largest network of cinemas – had not yet banned any Indian movies, a senior official of cinema chain said it would follow suit if film exhibitors take a mutual decision in this regard. “I have not heard anything confirmed as yet, but if exhibitors do ban Indian films, then of course we will go ahead with it,” said Cinepax General Manager Marketing Mohsin Yaseen.

Regarding a mutual decision, Nadeem Mandviwalla said: “Since this ban is an initiative taken by cinema owners and not the government, it is taking us some time to bring everyone on the same page.”

Indian cinema’s changing infrastructure

“We were taking things lightly initially, since the so-called ban [on Pakistani artists in India] was just a few mischief-mongers hurling anti-Pakistan slogans,” he said. “But things have gotten serious after the official [IMPPA] declaration.”

Mandviwalla added that an official announcement of the ban on Indian films will be made soon.

Meanwhile, Gultasab said he is also urging other exhibitors to ban Indian films so that the industry stands united. “A ban won’t be effective if confined to just cinemas. Going to a cinema is a choice, but television channels air content from India all the time,” he said. “We must completely black out Indian content. Remove it from TV channels and from DVD shops. Otherwise, there’s no point.”

The cinema owner added that this ban should continue until the Indian government offers Pakistani films a level playing field and Pakistani artists complete protection.

Cinepax opens its doors in Hyderabad

Renowned Pakistani filmmaker Jami agreed with Gultasab, saying: “There are Indian drama serials playing on TV all the time and you have DVD shops selling Indian films. Why just target cinema? If you want a ban, just ban all Indian content.”

Pakistanis banned from working in Indian films

Earlier on Thursday, Indian film producers passed a resolution banning anyone from Pakistan from working in films being made in India. The move was announced by IMPPA President T P Aggarwal.

“We’ve passed this resolution in the AGM today on the demand of all the producers. Henceforth, till the situation is ok between the Pakistani and Indian governments, we will not hire any Pakistani artist, technician or singer,” Aggarwal said.

“If there is any ongoing project from which they cannot be removed now, on which everything has been done, they can come for that. We will maintain this till the relations between Pakistan and India are ok,” he added.

Btw, Pakistanis are not banned from working in Indians films. The statement by the IMPPA president is only for public consumption. The Govt. will not bar anyone from working. And that's good. As long as you help India make more money without harming our interests, we are okay.

 

[Śakra]

Good news, keep it coming!

 

[cocomo]

Is there a comparison between America and India? No.

Our channels have been banned for a decade and our dramas just got banned recently
Your political party threatened to physically harm any Pakistani found in India after a certain date

Well i guess you didnt read Seymour Hersh leaks on OBL raid

Asad Durrani also speculated that Pakistan and USA must've had an agreement on settling Afghanistan issue before the OBL raid. Do you think Gulbadin Hekmatyar would undermine India's interests in Afghanistan?

 

[baqai]

The cinema theaters will be going bankrupt.

bhai let me ask you something, have you ever worked and managed a theater? well i HAVE, Mandviwalla Entertainment quoted in the article was my employer, Nadeem Mandviwalla was my immediate boss and I was the technical head of Mandviwalla Entertainment and responsible for daily technical and operational running of Atrium Cinema as well.

Let me tell you something, Cinema's can earn by multiple ways, ticket sale is peanuts for a Cinema as their bread and butter is not ticket sale (which by the way is shared by exhibitor i.e. cinema, distributor and other parties as well) but Concession sales, Any Cinema can simply increase the shows of other movies to regain or maintain their ticket revenue.

Now on the other hand, do you know Atrium Cinema ran full houses for Avatar 3D for the longest amount of time in the world, do you know that we received letter of appreciation from 20th Century Fox for that? let me enlighten you with another fact, Don 2 for instance made a huge chunk of money for the producer here in Pakistan, for producer it's a total fail situation if a theater refuse to run his/her movie while for the theater there are multiple ways to cover that time slot

 

[war&peace]

First step in the right direction,
we need to move in the direction comprehensive boycott and ban.

 

[Banglar Bir]

So, Indians encourages pirated products,just like all other of their items?

 

[LA se Karachi]

Good going Pakistan. Hopefully you will replace them with your own movies, or international movies. Bollywood is a disgrace to real cinema.

 

[Jaam92]

This ban should not be lifted till minimum 25 years

 

[baqai]

For interest of readers here, i can share with you some vague stats of movies at Atrium Cinema, out of top 5 grossing movies at the Cinema the top 3 slots are Pakistani movies rest two are Indian movies (Ironically both are Aamir Khan movies)

1. Waar
2. Na Maloom Afraad
3. Jawani Phir Nahin Aani
4. PK
5. Dhoom 3

now cumulative revenue from PK and Dhoom 3 lets suppose was 42 million, out of which lets again suppose 50% share goes to the producer that means 22 million loss for them, All the three movies of top three slots made more than that individually so Cinema can easily recover that loss while producer can't

Edit:

Just another fact, the highest grossing movie in Pakistan to date is Jawani Phir Nahi Aani not any Indian flick.

 

[Basel]

= =

The impotent PEMRA should borrow some balls from somewhere and BAN ALL INDIAN CONTENT FROM CINEMAS AND TV all over Pakistan.

I have posted link of pemra to put complaint against media please go on pemra site and lodge complain against Indian content and cannels on cable, turn it into a movement.

 

[redgriffin]

Good , but i will see artists like Fawad Khan and Mahria and that Cocaine Sister crying now

Met Fawad a few times as he is a friend's friend. One thing I can tell you guys is that he is a professional actor but very patriotic as well. He' won't be crying over this, will probably shrug it off. Only person I see crying is that Mawra Hocane (really that spelling!) bimbo.

 

[My-Analogous]

If Trump gets elected then Will Hollywood be banned ?

Oft out didn't improve your post standard, you definitely will be banned soon

 

[Kabira]

For interest of readers here, i can share with you some vague stats of movies at Atrium Cinema, out of top 5 grossing movies at the Cinema the top 3 slots are Pakistani movies rest two are Indian movies (Ironically both are Aamir Khan movies)

1. Waar
2. Na Maloom Afraad
3. Jawani Phir Nahin Aani
4. PK
5. Dhoom 3

now cumulative revenue from PK and Dhoom 3 lets suppose was 42 million, out of which lets again suppose 50% share goes to the producer that means 22 million loss for them, All the three movies of top three slots made more than that individually so Cinema can easily recover that loss while producer can't

Edit:

Just another fact, the highest grossing movie in Pakistan to date is Jawani Phir Nahi Aani not any Indian flick.

Another thing is on choti Eid spot is usually taken up by Salman movie so other Pakistani movies avoid clash and instead release them on bakra eid. Hopefully this ban is permanent so next year local movies will release in both eids instead of just bakra eid.

Met Fawad a few times as he is a friend's friend. One thing I can tell you guys is that he is a professional actor but very patriotic as well. He' won't be crying over this, will probably shrug it off. Only person I see crying is that Mawra Hocane (really that spelling!) bimbo.

I doubt Fawad will cry unlike Zafar Ali who already cried on Indian tv.

 

[my2cents]

bhai let me ask you something, have you ever worked and managed a theater? well i HAVE, Mandviwalla Entertainment quoted in the article was my employer, Nadeem Mandviwalla was my immediate boss and I was the technical head of Mandviwalla Entertainment and responsible for daily technical and operational running of Atrium Cinema as well.

Let me tell you something, Cinema's can earn by multiple ways, ticket sale is peanuts for a Cinema as their bread and butter is not ticket sale (which by the way is shared by exhibitor i.e. cinema, distributor and other parties as well) but Concession sales, Any Cinema can simply increase the shows of other movies to regain or maintain their ticket revenue.

Now on the other hand, do you know Atrium Cinema ran full houses for Avatar 3D for the longest amount of time in the world, do you know that we received letter of appreciation from 20th Century Fox for that? let me enlighten you with another fact, Don 2 for instance made a huge chunk of money for the producer here in Pakistan, for producer it's a total fail situation if a theater refuse to run his/her movie while for the theater there are multiple ways to cover that time slot

In a way you are agreeing that movies like Avatar and Don 2 ran full houses and your cash machines went Ching Ching. My understanding is that people are drawn to multiplexes for the movies. Good movies are the life blood of multiplexes. Concession stalls and food courts are there to court the movie goes for an wholesome outing. Some malls are surviving just because they house multiplexes which draw huge crowds. Movies are the draw which other retailers are capitalizing to sell their wares.

Retail space in malls with multiplexes will fetch high premium and can go as high as Rs. 30,000/sft here. I know this because my cousins are building a five lakh sft mall which will house 12 screen multiplex here in Hyderabad.

I don't know how big is your Atrium multiplex and how many screens you have? I am sure it is a huge undertaking from the looks of it. With such stakes it is a losing proposition to ban bollywood altogether. If I were you I would be nervous about my job security.

 

[Manidabest]

a very good step and a step in right direction ....and i m amazed at people response they r all happy to get rid of indian movies now... we r happy with our movies and looking forward to watch them in cinema