REPORT
Clashing Eid releases
might harm the Pakistani
film industry. Why do we
persist?
C
oming September, the cinematic calendar is overflowing. Eid-ul-Azha festivities ensure a few days’
holiday and movie producers are well aware of
the lucrative potential of an off-duty, euphoric audience.
Even as the landscape fills up with braying cattle, cinemas are about to get crowded with a spate of much
awaited-movies, offering ‘pre-booking’ and ‘booking’ options.And you can bet on plenty of full focuses up ahead.
After trundling through a milieu of desultory flops, cinema is suddenly looking interesting.Jawad Bashir’s Teri
Meri Love Story releases in early September and following it are a range of local big banners nudging against
each other for ‘hit’ status during Eid: ARY Films’ Janaan,
Urdu1’s Actor In Law and Geo Films’ Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hay.Also swooping in are heavy-duty contenders
from Bollywood: Sonakshi Sinha-starrer Akira in early
September; on the weekend before Eid, Nawazuddin
Siddiqui-starrer Freaky Ali and Baar Baar Dekho, featuring Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif and right after
Eid, Amitabh Bachchan’s Pink.Forget a meat-infested
diet; cinema buffs may as well while away their entire
holidays at the movies. They’ve suffered enough – winding their way through a Hotal, deciphering a Mah e Meer
and hijrat-ing out of the cinemas during Hijrat. Now,
they have a range of options available to them and so
far, they all look promising. “It’s Eid, let’s enjoy it!” declares Mohsin Yaseen, General Manager Operations at
Cinepax Cinemas.Mohsin has reason to celebrate, with
Cinepax owning two-screen and five-screen multiplexes
as well as conventional single screen cinemas in multiple cities across the country. “We’re expecting 1950
shows to be seen nationwide from 9th till the 19th of
September,” he predicts. “That’s an audience of more
than 200,000 people and an attendance of at least
70%.”But it is doubtful that movie producers will revel in
the same kind of profits. Should one good movie have
had released on Eid, audiences would have filtered in
to see it repetitively.Now, with so many options, only a
limited number of screens will be allocated per movie,
thereby restricting viewership. Revenues can hardly be
expected to maximize, regardless of how good the movie is. It may still be a ‘hit’ – but it may not be able to bring
10 | BOOM