Movie houses that once saw audiences queue for Pakistan's home-grown "Lollywood" productions now say they need to screen films made by their once bitter rivals in glitzy Mumbai, the former Bombay, in order to survive.

"At the moment it has become absolutely vital for us to convince the government to allow the import of Indian films," says cinema owner Jehanzeb Baig, chairman of the Pakistan Cinema Exhibitors' Association.

"The import would give us an emergency boost which is badly needed. There is absolutely no other way left to support the cinema industry." -- he added.

In the golden age of Pakistani cinema in the 1960s and 70s, four studios in Lahore and two in Karachi pumped out regular blockbusters, producing 300 movies in five languages in 1973, a good number of them box-office blockbusters. But since then Pakistan's studios have suffered a long steady decline, thanks to falling production values, simplistic and bloody plot-lines and increasing censorship under various military regimes. Last year, the few studios left in the eastern city of Lahore produced only 14 movies, and all of them bombed at the box office.

Despite an official ban from Pakistani cinemas and public TV channels, thousands of Indian titles are openly available in markets as DVDs, VCDs and, for those with dishes on their roofs, satellite broadcasts. The government, however, has so far refused to budge from its ban on films made by its long-time rival India, in part citing Muslim sensibilities.

"No, we'll not be allowing the import of Indian films, not even limited ones for the time being," says Ziauddin Ahmed, chairman of the Pakistan Film Censor Board. "We are sensitive to our cultural requirements and censor policy."

Source: AFP