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Islamabad: India and Pakistan crossed another milestone yesterday with the Bollywood film Taare Zameen Par (Stars on Earth) being released in 19 movie halls across the country, the first after Islamabad gave in to the long-standing demand of cinema owners to allow the screening of Indian films.
The film with a dyslexic child as the main protagonist is also popular Indian actor Aamir Khan's directorial debut.
The screening of Indian movies in Pakistan stopped after the 1965 war but various governments did allow the odd exceptions - the classic Mughal-e-Azam for instance.
Censor board clearance
Film lovers and industry insiders here say Taare Zameen Par represents a "golden era" of exchange of films and can be a major step towards long-lasting peace in the region. They could be right now that a clearance by the censor board is all that is needed for new Indian movies to be find an audience across the border.
"This is good for the industry but best for the people of the two countries," said actor-director Samina Pirzada. According to Pirzada, the excitement Taare Zameen Par had aroused among movie-goers signalled it would turn out to be a huge hit in Pakistan.
Cinema owners said Indian films, which have always been hugely popular in Pakistan partly due to a thriving trade in pirated DVDs and CDs, were like a life-saving drug for their dying businesses. The dearth of locally produced quality films has seen cinemas giving way to shopping plazas, parking lots and even CNG and petrol stations.
"I think now is the time that we should continue with the cinema business," said Afsar Khan, manager of Xeros Productions.
There is a flip side too.
Flip side
There are some who fear that the unconditional import of Indian films would expedite the demise of the Pakistani industry. Many film directors, actors, choreographers, technicians and other support staff feel high-quality movies from India could drive them out of their jobs.
"I welcome this move to show Indian films in Pakistan but I believe that this should be reciprocal and our films should be shown in India," said Pirzada, confident that the quality of Pakistani films would improve once Indian cinemas started screening them.
Khuda Ke Liya, a Pakistani film by director Shoaib Mansoor, is being screened in India these days to a widely appreciative audience. According to Shahzad Gul, owner of Evernew Studios, Lahore, even a random visit to a film studio would expose how the industry was fighting for survival.
"You will find them [workers] stranded, in search of a job and desperate," he said.
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