HYDERBAD: Old cineastes bemoan fast decline of once highly refined cinema culture in Hyderabad, which boasted 21 cinemas till mid 90s, and are ambivalent towards its revival in the form of modern multiplexes that offer a range of choices at prices only elite can afford.

Fifty-year-old Yasin Hameed gets nostalgic as he recalls once thriving cinema culture in the city that ranked among Pakistan’s top three cities with largest number of cinemas.

Yasin, who wrote regularly in film world’s Urdu weekly Nigar, admits that the rise of multiplex indicates cinemas’ revival but the recreation it offers appears to be for elites only.

“There are no masses drawn from all sections and classes of society who used to be part of the old cinema culture. There are no photosets in the cinema’s ground floor or posters hanging outside, which used to be like an exhibition for the promotion of current and upcoming movies, giving people a gist of the storyline and fuelling their interest,” he says.

Hyderabad boasted around 21 cinemas until mid 90s which were famous for screening quality Pakistani and Hollywood movies but they became history just over a decade back as plazas keep replacing them one after the other, leaving only the last of their kind, Bambino, which stands defiantly in the limits of Cantonment.

The Cinepax – the country’s fast expanding chain of multiplexes – has opened five screens in the city’s modern mall.

The first 3-D multiplex opened in the mall off Autobahn Road in Oct 2013 after the decline of old cinema. Sizes of the screens varied from 24ft to 50ft with 35 to 285 seating capacity. The five halls have a total capacity of 850 seats.

Renowned film producer and director Syed Noor agrees with Yasin and says “Now, classes have replaced masses. A new audience has come into being who wants to sit with a boy or girl friend in a clean environment and watch movies while eating pop corn.”

The change in cinema culture has been long overdue as the masses too felt a total disconnect with the type of films being produced today. If this change had taken place 15 years ago, it would have greatly helped in complete revival of Pakistani film industry, he says.

The ticket’s cost, ranging from Rs500 Rs850, has made the new form of recreation out of bounds for a large segment of population. It used to be so cheap in good old days that almost any person belonging to any class or segment of society could have bought the entertainment without burdening himself too much, he says.

A mix crowd of men, women and children turns up at the mall in the evening more for window shopping and whiling away time roaming about the premises than watching a movie. Currently, four halls showcase movies while the fifth one will be ready to screen 25 shows a day after Eidul Azha.

“We are mindful of it [exclusion of working class]. And to accommodate them the company will keep introducing special days like ‘students only’ or ‘women only’ with half the price of the ticket on some days in a week,” says Mohsin Yasin, the Cinepax’s general manager (marketing).

“The old cinema houses used to be dirty places where families would mostly avoid visiting. They used to cater to labour class and the point is that the cinema owner didn’t keep pace with changing cinema culture and market which has since been revolutionized,” he says.

“Hence, the companies filled the gap and pumped in money. Why screen only one movie and why not three movies at a time [by dividing space] on the same premises,” he says.

Yasin Hameed recalls the time when he could easily watch three films in a day because the ticket was so cheap. “Everyone knows we can’t compete with Indian film industry but despite the modernization, they still have old cinemas to cater to needs of the poor and the underpaid. Even in Punjab, cinemas still exist and comparatively in large number than in Hyderabad or Karachi,” he argues.

He disagrees with the view that the modern cinemas will revive the old cinema culture, saying “how a rickshaw driver or a labourer will convince himself to spend Rs500 out of the Rs1,000 of his days’ earnings to watch a movie,” he says.

He believes that 1988-1992 period proved disastrous for Hyderabad’s cinema life as it was wracked by ethnic riots, unending curfews and political turmoil which badly told upon cinema owners’ earnings.

“As proceeds from the cinemas withered, builder mafia started eying the cinema buildings since most of them were located at prime locations. As soon as they succeeded to buy a cinema they did not waste any time converting them into multi-storey plazas. Today’s generation doesn’t know where there stands a plaza today there used to be once famous Venus or Chandni or Hill Top cinema flooded with cinegoers every evening,” he says.

The multiplex sells tickets for three categories, platinum, gold and silver. The holders of the first category (Rs850 a ticket) are served refreshment or snacks on their recliner sofa sets, the gold category holders pay Rs700 a ticket and silver Rs500.

The rural population is still out of the company’s coverage which worries popular villain of yore liked by all for his curled moustache and devious smile, Mustafa Qureshi.

As an old resident of Hyderabad, he concedes the cinema culture is reviving in the form of multiplex as it caters to modern day needs and environment but it is only in big cities and for elites only.

“What about the rural population that constitutes 70 per cent of the country’s total population who could not even think of buying Rs500 to Rs1,500 ticket for a movie,” says Qureshi.

He says that gone are the days when ‘touring talkies’ used to organise cinema shows in the open in rural areas. The numbers speak for themselves as of 1,500 cinemas across the country, only 65-70 remain today and they too are frenetically fighting for their survival, he informs.

But Mohsin Yasin is unfazed about the decline of old cinema and has even the audacity to take credit for filling the gap left by collapse of old cinema culture.

He says it will certainly take time to resurrect cinema in Pakistan’s popular cinema cities, including Hyderabad, which is the 11th centre on the Cinepax’s network map. The company plans to enter Sukkur in near future, he says.

Published in Dawn September 13th, 2016