Deep inside the narrow markets of historical and congested Raja Bazaar in Rawalpindi, scores of persons in their cultural attire are waiting in front of a steel cage. The tired looking Pakhtun labourers, drivers and watchmen, after their routine work, gather in a large number to watch Pashto movie here.

Khurshid Cinema is the only picture house in the twin cities that screens Pashto movies. It was established before partition. In the beginning, only Punjabi and Urdu movies were screened at the cinema but for the last four decades only Pashto films lovers are coming to this old building.

After a few minutes of introductory dialogues, a song starts and few young men jump near the screen and begin to dance as good as the actors and actresses are doing in the movie. Their moves are matching the rhythm of the fast and medium sound of drums and other musical instruments. Inside the dark hall of Khurshid Cinema, the air is full of cigarette smolder.

Every day scores of Pakhtuns come to the cinema for enjoyment. The number increases on Friday due to off. Khurshid Cinema is the place of enjoyment for illiterate young and middle-age Pakhtuns living in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Rahman Gul, 27, is a labourer in Rawalpindi. He earns Rs600 to Rs700 per day and works six days a week. He is from Swat. He comes every Friday for the movie. “I come here for watching Pashto movie to relax,” said Mr Gul with a smiley face in the dark movie hall.

Dramatist urges joint efforts by writers, producers and policymakers to revive Pashto film industry

He says that he doesn’t understand other languages therefore for him Khurshid Cinema is a place of pleasure.

Although a poster is hanging near the main gate to stop people from smoking inside the hall but hardly few of them abide the instructions. Zulfiqar Ali, the manager of the cinema, who started his duty as ticket seller, is controlling the income and expenditures of the picture house from a broken chair in the decades-old office.

“Pashto movies are earning enough to run the daily affairs of this historical house,” he says. He adds that film industry is on the decline due to piracy but only Pashto movies are fighting the last battle for survival.

Mr Ali says these days hit Pashto movie price is up to Rs4 million for cinema house. Khurshid Cinema displays the new movie as well the old ones.

“We display a movie daily, but presence is good only on Friday because the cine-goers normally work on weekdays with off on Friday,” he says, adding that Pashto films are now in high definition format with heavy budgets, so sometimes they are unable to get new films and display the old ones.

This cinema has been visited by many prominent actors including Badar Munir, Asif Khan, Tariq Shah, Suneeta Khan and Shehnaz. These actors would sit inside the cinema and watch movies with the audience. At that time, it would be a kind of promotion activity too.

Six persons work in different capacity inside the cinema. This historical cinema was once hit by terrorists during Afghan war.

Daud Khan, 26, comes from Peshawar shouting ‘Ticket Wakhla, Ticket Wakhla’ (buy the ticket) while sitting at the entrance of the movie hall. He works as a daily wager for Rs400 per day. “I am living nearby the cinema. I adopted this profession few decades ago,” he says. He adds that he doesn’t earn a huge amount but he is happy with his life.

Shafeeq Babu, 59, runs a small old-style shop in the cinema. “I spent my energy and young age in this cinema. From the peak of Pakistani film industry to this dwindling, I am witness to each and everything,” he says.

His business was once flourishing but as the industry declined he also lost his clients. In the beginning, rent of his shop was less than Rs100 but now it is Rs800. The twin cities have many modern cinemas where Lollywood and Bollywood movies are displayed with no representation of Pollywood because of the viewership. The labourers can’t afford to buy ticket of such cinema houses. The ticket of Khurshid Cinema ranges from Rs100 to Rs150 where everyone can come without any difficulty.

“I along with my family have seen dozens of movies in Khurshid Cinema,” says Aziz Gul, an elderly shopkeeper outside the gate of the cinema. However, he no more visits the cinema as he says that Pashto films now don’t represent Pakhtuns. He objects to what he calls Kalashnikov culture and vulgar dances in the present day Pashto movies.

Noorul Bashar Naveed, a renowned dramatist and writer, appreciates Khurshid Cinema for keeping alive its tradition to screen Pashto movies in a non-Pakhtun city.

He says that modern filmmakers of Pollywood focus on quantity instead of quality.

“We haven’t produced an actor like Badar Munir. His combination with Asif Khan and Nimat Sarhadi can’t be forgotten by Pashto film viewers. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find their replacement,” he says.

Militancy has forced the owners of many cinema houses to stop screening movies. Four cinemas have been shut down in Mardan and in Peshawar the oldest cinema Firdous has been replaced by a shopping plaza. The expenses of cinema houses have increased but on the other hand the income has been dropped due to bomb blasts in different cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Mr Naveed objects to the script, poetry and dresses of the characters in the Pashto movies. He says that the new Pashto movies harm culture. He adds that people like old Pashto films owing to their attachment with the actors, quality songs and dialogues.

However, he stresses the need for joint efforts by the writers, producers and policymakers to revive Pashto film industry.

“Pollywood can’t compete with Lollywood and Bollywood because of the ground realities. No one is ready to invest in Pashto movies, though we have seen some non-Pakhtuns making Pashto films in the past,” he adds.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2018