Peshawar to soon loose all movie cinemas

PESHAWAR: Peshawar, which was earlier a city of flowers, is today shrouded in dust and has scant green cover owing to the “concrete revolution”.

It also boasted 16 cinemas, indicating that the provincial capital was a thriving art and culture hub as well. But soon there would be left with only two.

It is the third to be destroyed this year. Previously, the Picture House and the Naz Cinema also fell prey to commercialisation. Arshad Cinema was on the Shahi Bagh Road.

While, at the same time, the Shahi Bagh itself is a reason why Peshawar was given the title of the city of flowers – a garden of the Mughal era covering about 100 acres of land.

Yousaf Chacha has had a connection with the Arshad Cinema for the past 40 years. He is now engaged in preserving the movies in digital form. It is his final task for the cinema as its fate has been sealed.

But why was it named Arshad Cinema?

In the 1970s, great producer Sardar Khan Lala produced Orbal, which is regarded as a classic in the Pashto film world. The film had its based on the tradition of Swara – a tradition in which families, clans, or tribes exchange daughters to resolve grudges.

Later in 1984, Arshad Khan constructed the cinema. So the name is Arshad Cinema.

BLEAK FUTUR

The film industry employs thousands and even hundreds of thousands of individuals directly or indirectly. It all depends on the size of a particular industry. So if we are considering Hollywood or Bollywood, then the figures are past.

In Hollywood’s case, the total estimated figure is 0.722 million in California alone. Just add figures from Georgia and other US states.

The closure of these cinemas in Peshawar means hundreds of people directly lost their jobs over the past years. More are expected to be jobless soon.

“I have been working in this cinema for the last 15 years. I don’t have any other skills. I don’t know what I would do after the cinema is erased,” said one of the workers.

WHY THIS TREND

Destroying the cinemas began in Karachi late 1990s, which acquired alarming speed in the subsequent years. It was replicated at the same time in Lahore – the Lollywood, Pakistan’s alternative for Hollywood and Bollywood.

It compelled thousands of individuals related to the industry to look for alternative sources of livelihood.

Why? We ceased making movies. Reasons were varied, ranging from the absence of finances and technology to extremism that deterred arts and culture, as well as stifling of ideas.

But with the advent of VCRs in the late 1970s, individuals had far superior choices in the form of Hollywood and Bollywood films. Include DVDs and the online streaming facilities, what happens is cinemas are no longer a successful business option, at least in a nation like Pakistan where local content production is more or less non-existent.’

It should not surprise one due to this long period of decades. Consumerism implies that consumers constantly search for better and cheaper products.

But it does not mean that cinemas have died in the world. India, Europe, and America adjusted to the transition. They have products. Rather than big cinema halls, they went for mini theatres or micro cinemas anywhere. In malls, in business complexes, in residential skyscrapers.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar cinemas depended mainly on Pashto films. Now that the golden age of Pashto films is over, the owners were not able to withstand the losses.

OPTIONS FOR VIEWERS

As for the common people, they have no choice when it comes to leisure and entertainment. That is, the poor people are again the losers.

But the middle class, assuming one exists with the perpetual purchasing power dilemma, and the upper-middle class may access movies on streaming platforms such as Netflix.

With the terror and extremism overshadowing the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa people for more than a decade, the arts and culture are under the control of very few individuals. Terrorizing the singers and other artists has turned into a norm, driving others to other parts of Pakistan.

At the same time, it would be an interesting research to determine how many individuals permit streaming services in their households in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, considering the conservative nature of society.