In a bid to promote Pakistani movies, the government has decided to impose a temporary ban on screening Indian films during Eid holidays.
As per the notification issued by Pakistan's ministry of information and broadcasting, the exhibition and screening of Indian and foreign films will be banned until two weeks after Eid holidays.
"All the importers/distributors of the foreign films have been directed to restrain from the screening of Indian films in cinema houses all over the country during the above mentioned time period," the letter stated.
This ban has been imposed taken into consideration the interests of Pakistani film exhibitors, distributors and production houses.
"The notification says that the temporary ban is being imposed in order to promote local movies on the festivals, a time when usual than larger audience is attracted towards cinemas," an official from Pakisttan's Film Exhibitors' Association was quoted as saying by PTI.
Pakistani movies have been facing stiff competition from Hollywood and Bollywood movies due to the limited number of screens in the country. Producers say they have not been able to do good business due to competition from foreign films and there have been occasions when they even find it difficult to recover their invested money.
Ali Zafar’s Teefa in Trouble, Mahira Khan’s 7 Din Mohabbat In and Moammar Rana’s Azaadi are all set to hit the screens during Eid 2018.
Sagar Arya
Irvine Iqbal
