Karachi : Cinemas in Pakistan will start screening Indian movies from today as film exhibitors and cinema owners lifted the a two-month self-imposed suspension on their screening that was put in place amidst Indo-Pak tensions following the Uri terror attack. Zoraish Lashari, Chairman of the Film Exhibitors Association, told reporters that after thorough discussions with parties concerned, it has been decided that screening of Indian films would resume from tomorrow. "The cinema owners and other stakeholders in the industry have been hit by the decision to impose a temporary suspension on screening of Indian films. A lot of investment has been made into upgrading or building new cineplexes and multiplexes and the business at this time is dependent on screening of latest Indian films," he said yesterday.
The cinema houses' owners said that they had only suspended the screening of Indian films but had not completely banned them. Movies which were missed and could not be screened due to the suspension will be screened first, said Nadeem Mandviwala of Atrium cinemas. The first film to be screened will be actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui's Freaky Ali.
"We lifted the suspension as a cinema guild. We took this decision because we would like to support them (Indian cinemas) and expect them to support us," Aadil Mandviwala, Director Mandviwala Entertainment, was quoted as saying by the Dawn. The Pakistan Film Exhibitors and Distributors Association, which includes most owners of cineplexes, multiplexes and single screen cinemas in the country, had announced to "temporarily" stop screening Indian films soon after tensions escalated following the Uri terror attack and cross border firing incidents in late September. PTI
