By Surendra Bhatia
It’s funny how politics, by and large a useless craft, overrules economics, the exercise of which ensures food on the table for the masses. It’s politics that incites declaration of war and peace too though, it must be admitted, it is often economics that determines the outcome. Such is the case in the subcontinent, and has been for over seven decades.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has never been cozy but there have been periods when some semblance of a state of non-conflict has prevailed, till another incident came along to disrupt it all. This phase, now in August 2019, may lead to a meltdown in the relationship in the coming months, one sign of which is that Pakistanis have, yet again, imposed a ban on the release of Indian films in their country. It is now not even surprising that when relationship begins to deteriorate between the two countries, the first axe falls on cinema.
It may seem as if Pakistan is punishing India by banning its films, delivering a killer blow to Bollywood by denying it revenues from Pakistan but the brute fact is that it is the film industry in Pakistan that will be crippled. It is well-known that multiplexes have been built in Pakistan in expectation of high revenues generated by release of Bollywood films. Pakistan’s own film industry might throw up occasional hits but it is no match for the Bollywood fare; locals who pay inflated ticket rates for Bollywood movies, often balk at watching Pakistani films at the same price. Without Bollywood films, most multiplexes and many other cinemas would be crushed under the load of overheads. Without fervent and large audiences to bulk up occupancy, which Bollywood ensures for them, many cinemas would face closure or conversion into malls.
It is no secret that exhibition and distribution of Bollywood films are two prosperous segments in the Pakistani film industry. Production of films in that country isn’t a patch on even the Marathi film industry, which is among the smaller ones in India, dwarfed by not just Bollywood but also Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil film industries. So, when Pakistan decides that it would feed its cinemas with its own films, exhibitors would be getting ready to tighten belts and stare starvation in its face.
So, why has Pakistan committed cinematic hara-kiri? Actually, what less can a weak entity do but shoot itself in the foot to attract attention and seek sympathy. If, in the process, it truncates itself, what does it matter if it can just persuade some people to come hold its hand and save it from itself.
Is Bollywood bothered? Not really. The big films see the Pakistani revenue as a drop in the pond while the ones that haven’t done well have low expectations in that market, in any case. This drama of banning Bollywood films will play out in the next few months. It is generally expected that the relationship between the antagonistic neighbouring countries will get a lot worse before it improves. Bollywood has the capacity to wait; the Pakistani film industry, especially the exhibition sector, is staring down the barrel of a gun… how soon before the bullet is fired?
