(Person) Percentage - Sabanci University Research Database

The Asian Media & Mass Communication Conference 2010 Osaka, Japan
production of quality movies” (2005). However, MAAP blames AAP for supporting the “import
of Indian films” that it denies (Samdani, 2005).
As denials lack solutions, PFPA enters a direct clash with PCOA and PFEA over the issue of the
import of Indian films. As stated in “cinema on the road,” the PFPA believes in the effectiveness
of their three-point-formula for the revival of national cinema: the government support, the
inherent strength that lies in Pakistani producers [for] making quality films, and a ban on the
import of Indian films (2006). The PCOA rejects this formula, partially supporting PFPA for
“the lack of government support in battling with the forces responsible for the continuing decline
in investment, production, and exhibition of films” (Ramzi, 2007). According to Ramzi, the
quality of Pakistani films has become so poor that “even on the first day, first show, no one
comes to the cinema” (2004c). Apparently, the PFPA’s display of eligibility for a ban on Indian
films pairs with ineligibility to meet the cinema needs. Therefore, the importers, distributors,
exhibitors, and cinema owners counter PFPA’s three-point-formula for the revival of the industry
with their own three-point-formula for the survival of cinemas: foreign film imports, ban on
piracy, and the establishment of multiplex cinemas for smaller audience. The validity of the two
three-point-formulas depends on the revival of film, which is bound to the survival of the
cinemas/multiplexes.
The multiplex cinema owners and exhibitors aim at attracting home audience by screening fresh
Bollywood movies if only the government can control the availability of pirated DVDs.
According to cinema owners, the movie-going culture is dying in Pakistan as the local industry
cannot meet its needs; the industry faces a whole generation of lost cinema goers; it shall screen
foreign films to retain young audience who enjoys films; thus, piracy shall be controlled for the
purpose of legally importing fresh releases in English and Hindi to reattract audiences to cinemas
(F. Jawaid & Jawaid, 2009). It’s an audience who is eminently displaying a right to watch pirated
films on DVDs, a factor which has changed the dynamics of the current market and audience
taste over the last three decades.
CONCLUSION
The decades of film piracy have facilitated the decline of the cinema goers, and the industry.
This offence is occurring under the nose of law enforcement agencies and the authorities. The
government plays negligent and PEMRA does not want to crack down on the situation even for
the sake of good local films that lose business at box office. The crisis reflects buildings’
survival and cinema’s revival issues, highlighting the fate of a dying industry from the two
extremes. The screening of Indian movies and clamping down on piracy appear as solutions for
the revival of film viewership to exhibitors, but not to filmmakers. As the banning of Indian
films has not benefitted Pakistani film industry, Pakistan shall consider testing the viability of the
exhibitors’ solution to revive film viewership. The audience return to cinemas conforms to the
survival of the buildings, but not to the revival of the industry. Critics say “the Pakistani cinema
industry is at zero” and the screening of foreign films “on the big screen doesn’t mean that the ...
industry is revitalizing and drawing in big bucks” (F. Jawaid & Jawaid, 2009). In view of the
prevalent situation, the government and the law enforcement agencies shall make decisions in
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