Pakistan cinemas resume screening Indian films with Freaky Ali

Theatre owners are currently screening those movies that have already been released in India and the decision on new films will be taken on Wednesday.

Cinemas in Pakistan began showing Indian movies on Monday, over two months after film exhibitors and theatre owners suspended the screenings amid Indo-Pak tensions following the Uri terror attack and cross-border firing incidents.

Billboards of a local cinema display films in Karachi on Sunday. Freaky Ali, a romantic comedy starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arbaaz Khan and Amy Jackson, which was released in September in India, is the first film being screened since the lifting of the self-imposed suspension. (AP)

Freaky Ali, a romantic comedy starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Arbaaz Khan and Amy Jackson, which was released in September in India, is the first film being screened since the lifting of the self-imposed suspension.

Theatre owners are currently screening those movies that have already been released in India and the decision on new films will be taken on Wednesday as a lot of people are involved in the process of importing a film, Centaurus Marketing and Call Centre Supervisor Anil Altaf said.

The Pakistan Film Exhibitors and Distributors Association, which includes most owners of cineplexes, multiplexes and single screen cinemas in the country, had announced the “temporary” suspension of screenings after the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) announced a ban on Pakistani artistes and technicians working in India.

Film Exhibitors Association Chairman Zoraiz Lashari said the association decided to lift the suspension with the consent of other exhibitors and film stakeholders.

“We showed our reaction to India. Now it is time to see other ground realities as well,” Lashari said.