Pakistan has banned all Indian films. An announcement to this effect was made today (8th August) in Islamabad by Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan, the special assistant to prime minister on information and broadcasting. No Hindi film has been releasing in the neighbouring country since some months now, after the Pulwama attack, but today’s diktat comes as a warning that there may be no settlement anytime soon. There is also a reported move to ban all kinds of cultural content from India in Pakistan.
This will have an adverse impact on the Overseas business of Indian films as Pakistan had become an important source of revenue generation for big-budgeted and star-cast films from Bollywood. Films of Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, especially, did huge business in the neighbouring country.
It is pertinent to note that Pakistan as a territory had opened its doors to Indian films, only a few years ago. Before that, Indian films were not allowed to be shown in Pakistan’s cinemas. The country once again banned Indian films as well as Indian television content after India’s surgical strike in retaliation to the terrorist attack on Indian soldiers in Uri in 2016. The ban on Indian content remained for several months, after which Pakistan resumed film trade with India. Cinemas in the neighbouring country again stopped screening Indian films after the recent Pulwama attack (2019). No Indian film has opened in Pakistan in the last few months. The current announcement suggests that Indian producers may have to strike off the name of Pakistan as a territory for releasing their films, at least for some time, if not forever. It may be mentioned here that Pakistan’s exhibition sector got a huge boost after Indian films started to play in Pakistani cinemas. Pakistan’s own film industry is not very robust as films produced in that country do not fare too well there.