Piracy deals a deadly blow to Pakistani cinemas and film industry

Another landmark of Karachi will be gone soon.

The Jubilee Cinema, which had been in the red for two decades, is being demolished.

The cinema, located on a prime site in the old city, will give way to a multi-storey commercial plaza a fate which many other leading cinema houses have met in Karachi since the mid-1980s.

Rex, Rio, Palace, Capital, Naz and Khayam, to name a few, were once part of the mainstream of Karachi's colourful cultural and social life up to the late 1970s.

"Now there are only 40 cinemas left in Karachi, down from 110 in the early 1980s," Nadeem Mandiwala, owner of the Nishat Cinema one of the oldest in Karachi told Gulf News. "Piracy has wrecked the cinema and film industry, putting them out of business."

Of the remaining 40 cinemas, only a handful are doing business. The rest are mere skeletons, offering broken chairs, rickety sound and visual systems, and faulty air-conditioners to their visitors.

Barring Capri, Prince and Nishat located on the M.A. Jinnah Road, and a few others, all other cinemas are finding it hard to survive and many owners are trying to close them.

Industry sources say the once-famous Star Cinema has already been sold. Owners of a few others are trying to get permission from the authorities to change the status of their land to allow the demolition of their cinemas.

Khalid Chawal, president of the Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association, said there were hardly any viewers coming to the cinemas now. "We have to compete with Indian movies which are available for free through cable television and pirated CDs and DVDs," he said.

"Who will take the trouble of coming to a cinema house and buying a ticket when people can see uncensored movies both Indian and English in their homes for free," he said.

The rot for the Pakistani film and cinema industry started when General Zia-ul Haq seized power in 1977 with his vow to "enforce true Islam" in the country.

The stiff censorship laws and a generally hostile attitude of the establishment toward all sorts of performing arts, took the life out of the once booming film industry of Pakistan which in its heyday produced more than 160 movies a year.