Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

Land of my sires! What mortal hand can e’er untie the filial band that knits me to thy rugged strand! As APJ Abdul Kalaam said that if a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher and I agree with him. But what would happen of a society where these pillars are too busy making both ends meet of their lives with less or no time towards their children? There was once a time when it was said that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason, or end up being in a state of humiliation. I cannot count the times I’ve been defeated, humiliated, or physically injured immediately after saying the words, ‘Hey, how hard can it be?’ But that never seems to stop me from saying them again the way I feel betrayed recently and by none but my country fellow men. Published in Dawn Newspaper on Decmber 18, 2016 the news read,

 

The cinema houses’ owners said that they had only suspended the screening of Indian films but had not completely banned them. “The suspension that was in place will be lifted on December 19,” confirmed Nadeem Mandviwala of Atrium cinemas. He added that movies which were missed and could not be screened due to the suspension will be screened first. “We lifted the suspension as a cinema guild. We took this decision because we would like to support those (Indian cinemas) and expect them to support us,” said Aadil Mandviwala, Director Mandviwala Entertainment. “It takes two hands to clap, it does not matter if one hand is bigger or smaller. At the end of the day, it’s the clapping that counts. This is the message that we want India to hear,” added Aadil. The first film to be screened will be actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Freaky Ali. On September 30, the management of Pakistani cinemas, Lahore’s Super Cinemas and Karachi’s Nueplex and Atrium cinemas, announced their decision to indefinitely cease the screening of all Indian films as a protest against the ban of Pakistani artists in India and to show solidarity with the armed forces of Pakistan. The move to suspend screening of Indian movies came as a tit for tat move after the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) banned Pakistani actors, singers and technicians from working in India till “normalcy” returns. India’s hard-line party Shiv Sena’s chief Raj Thackeray had also asked to suppress Pakistan actors, saying “with a population of 1.5 billion, we don’t need them”. Indian movies returned to Pakistani cinema houses in 2008 after a 43-year-long hiatus imposed during the 1965 war.

 

Now to add to it, I have a question, why does it has to be us to start clapping when at one hand the larger hand that they consider as India is planning to Isolate Pakistan and planning to stop the water for Indus basin and already stopping the water supply of Chenab river sending jitters. They are violently firing and killing innocent civilians within the borders of Pakistan and continue their frail of demoralizing by sending in terrorists and funding terrorist sanctuaries through the annals of Afghanistan. But still, we need to be the smaller clapping hand to let them hear the voice, wow!

Honestly, it is nothing else but a conspiracy. Recall golden era of Lollywood, we did not had the Indian movies showing in cinemas and even when the Urdu cinema was replaced by Punjabi flicks that are best known as Sultan Rahi’s block buster’s we still made it without Indian films in cinemas. The cinema owners should have been liberal in showcasing movies from all filmmakers then just being focused to productions being produced by their close friends, allies and business partners but this monotony is once again killing the flavour of the revival of cinema. There has been also instances that may be coincidental to let the Pakistani film industry collapse once again by these cinema owners, it may be a thought or a mere opinion but I feel like penning them down. Let me first begin with a status of one of the pioneers of entertainment industry Mohammad Jerjees Seja who had posted on his Facebook account a status which read, “Alarming situation for Pakistan Cinemas and Film Industry. Hearing exhibitors are laying off hundreds of employees and shutting down screens due to lack of foot fall in cinemas. Where are we heading? Are we going back to where we started five years back?” and tagged all the big names of the industry, mostly being the owners of cinema chains or producers of the mega films. Among the tags I repeat myself were all leading names who themselves had vouched out for a ban on Indian films recently, and even announced that they will not be showing Indian movies in their cinemas anymore due to the intense situation between both countries since last few months.

 

Due to this stance, which is really appreciative, around half a dozen movies were released since Eid and the ban was imposed and around 50 films went into production. An impressive number for a reviving industry, which has a lot of limitations in terms of finances and market reach. But then the same cinema owners started missing the Indian films on their screens because the type of money they would earn through Dangal and Raees, they would not be able to earn from any Pakistani film in the current scenario so a greater conspiracy started to make grounds for screening Indian movies in Pakistan sound as legitimate.

To further my argument, I would rest my case with my study on recently released films, 8969 was released on December 2, 2016 along with another amazing Pakistani film Salute all over screens in Pakistan. Regardless of 8969’s box office results, it made a lot records, out of which two worth mentioning are, the film made it to cinemas without any media partners and without any sponsors support. Although it may be a discouraging factor but fortunately the producer being passionate about the Pakistani cinema he went ahead with the launch and when the distributor of 8969 distributed the film , he had no idea that a cruel game plan awaited for him to sabotage the film. To begin with first experience; there was a premier held at Arena Cinema, Bahria Town Islamabad on 1st of December 2016 (a night before the release), the premier was attended by loads of celebrities, corporate sector, friends, families and fans, even his excellency the Mayor of Islamabad himself was present with his family. The crowd loved the movie and gave a standing ovation to the team 8969.

 

Everything that seemed to sail off smoothly was hit by an ice berg the next morning when the movie was officially released as the producers found out that the administration of Arena has given an odd time slot of 1315 hours for screening from day one that no one would come to watch a freshly released Pakistani film as most audience be busy in their daily household and office chores.

 

Earlier, when I went to watch Jeewan Hathi, I was disillusioned by the management of Nueplex cinemas, that sir, it is a boring film, rather not waste money on it and etc., etc., God, let it be my decision to watch and decide whether I wasted my money or go home with all smiles that I actually went with after watching the movie. The game with Salute is very ultimate. At the multiplex websites the movie is not even mentioned yet showing in cinemas as per the advertisement on Television channels.

 

All above is just the highlights of an entrapment for Pakistani film industry. Unfortunately the seed of this conspiracy is well supported by few giants of film making in Pakistan. This mafia has now successfully camaigned for a lift of ban on Indian movies, whereas India is not even bothered for Pakistani market as it is a small circuit for them maybe as good as a state of their own.

 

Now I would like to ask a question to Mr. Jarjees Seja that if he is so worried about hundreds of employees of the cinemas, as mentioned in his status, why is he not worried about hundreds and thousands of people from the film industry of Pakistan who will lose their jobs after the successful sabotage of Pakistani film industry that has been carried out. Let me remind you that when the old film industry of Pakistan was at its peak in 50s, 60s, 70s, and early 80s, there were no Indian films shown in Pakistan, yet our film industry was doing amazingly well. You talk about having a healthy competition, then compete with India internationally in circuits out of Pakistan. But please do not kill your own film industry. You release few of your films on festivals like Eid and mint money from masses but on the other hand you discourage independent film makers, whoever does not belong to your Mafia, you simply destroy them with the help of cinema owners and distributors. The foot fall you are complaining about is created by you, not by masses. You may please drag your foot back from India to Pakistan and support the local film makers. And please get over with this war of Lahore & Karachi films attitude, Unity is the key my dear, unite and deliver. It is just matter of time that our industry will prosper and make its own mark. I really wonder if you guys care about your own children if not the whole generation of Pakistan.

Trust me, patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. To survive in peace and harmony, united and strong, we must have one people, one nation, one flag. We, the people, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defence. If we ever forget that we are One Nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under. Just give it a thought to my last paragraph.