Cinema houses, once a major source of entertainment for the people, are fast losing their business not only in the country but also in the provincial metropolis while most of them have been turned into commercial centres by their owners to generate handsome profit.
Number of cinema houses has come down drastically over the last decade. From 726 cinema houses in 1990 across the country, the number has been reduced to about 139 today. Plazas have come up in place of the cinema houses.
According to statistics, the number of cinema houses has reduced from 726 in 1990 to 139 in 2008. In 1973, there were 63 cinemas in Lahore, 16 in Rawalpindi, 19 in Multan, 19 in Faisalabad, 11 in Gujranwala, 12 in Sialkot, 12 in Peshawar, 86 in Karachi, 20 in Hyderabad, six in Sukkur and eight in Quetta. The number of cinemas has been reduced to 23 in Lahore, 10 in Rawalpindi, 14 in Multan, 13 in Faisalabad, 10 in Gujranwala, eight in Sialkot, 36 in Karachi, four in Hyderabad, one in Sukkur and five in Quetta.
There was a time when there were 64 cinema houses in the provincial metropolis including Gulistan, Trannum, Pakistan Talkies, Sangeet, Regal, Anguri, Gulshan, Nageena, Neelam, New Imperial, Capri, Crown, Sheesh Mehal, Glaxy, Nigar, Malik Theatre and Anmol. In Lahore some years back, cinemas were providing high-quality entertainment to cinemagoers.
Some of the cinema houses in the city have replaced as theatres like Sangeet, Naz, Mehfil, Empire and Alflah are no more available for cinemagoers. Galaxy cinema that used to attract a large number of people was also converted into a marriage hall, after conversion of Naz, Sangeet, Sanam and Taj Mehal cinemas into multi-storey commercial complexes some years ago.Most cinema houses like Mubarak, Naghma, Nishat, Green, Koh-e-Noor, Sitara, Paramount, Alfaisal, Qaiser, Afshan, Garrison, Glob, Pak Forces, Shama, Taj, Eroz, Irm, Liberty, Niagara, Orega, Angola, New Rattan, Palace, Rattan, Regent, Ritz, Sagheer, Sanam, Sehar, Leeza, Lyrics, Venus, Meer Mehal, Firdous, Almumtaz, Sahil, City, Al-Riaz, Shabnam and Revoli have been closed down, as owners are unable to meet expenses in absence of sizeable audience. All these cinemas were constructed more than 50 years ago and local elders still remember the stories of old films.
Sarfaraz Khan while talking to Business Recorder said that in the face of a major slump in the cinema industry, only 12 Cinemas are working in the city, which are displaying Indian and English movies, while some old theatres in the city, continues to attract substantial audience and still serves as little source of income for its owners.
"We cannot entirely blame the owners of cinema houses for not providing latest facilities to the audience. If there is no audience then how can anyone manage even to meet expenses," said one of the employees at cinema.
Instead of having facilities like good picture quality, digital sound system, proper seating arrangements and hygienic foodstuff at their in-house outlets, the cinema houses offer torn seats, stinking halls, choked bathrooms, outdated screens, broken lights and out-of-order air-conditioning system.
"We have left going to cinema houses because it is better to watch movies on television instead of going there due to lack of required facilities in most of them," said Salia Rana, a student. "What are they offering. Today none of the actors know nothing about acting, no story, and comedy is pathetic," she added.
"They have stopped spending money on maintenance. You see torn seats, filthy stinking halls, choked bathrooms, outdated equipment and screens that give you a distorted quality of picture and sound, broken lights, out of order air-conditioning systems and a rude staff," she said. Most of the critics blamed the low quality of movies that led to somewhat disaster to the cinema industry. "You can take newspapers and read advertisements of movies being screened in cinema houses. The names of the movies suggest us not to watch them," said a student of UET.
Apart from this scenario, there is a class that is enjoying Indian and English movies being screened in DHA Cinema. Cinema houses like DHA and Sozo have all the facilities of today for the audience, mostly include young people. "I have not seen any movie in the cinema house for many years, but now I think there is a place where we can come and watch a movie in comfortable environment," said Kamran Ali.
Some people were of the view that Indian movies should be allowed to generate interest among people who had stopped going to cinema houses because of low quality movies. But now this suggestion is also not working.
"We cannot merely talk about this city as there is a noticeable turn down in the cinema industry all over the country and it would continue unless high-quality and first-rate movies are produced locally," said a seasoned actor Farooq Zameer.
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