Difference between revisions of "History of Lollywood Cinema"

The Pakistan film industry—or "Lollywood" as it later came to be known—can trace it's roots far back into undivided India, well before Pakistan was to become a separate state by the time the Indian Partition occurred in 1947. The early history of the industry indicates that it started out very bare, but gradually saw tremendous growth and popularity. The history of Pakistani cinema itself can be separated into several distinct eras, which are "Post-Independence & Early Years (c. 1947—c. 1958)", "The Golden Age of Pakistani Cinema (c. 1959—c. 1977)", "The Dark Age of Pakistani Cinema (c. 1978—c. 2002)", "The Media Liberation Act (2002) & Revival of The Cinema Industry (c. 2002—c. 2011)" and finally "Success & The New Wave of Pakistani Cinema (c. 2011—c. Present)". The industry barely survived during the late 1970s and throughout much of the 1980s when a harsh religious stance was enforced upon it by Zia-ul-Haq, who's disastrous Islamization policies (but also the introduction of new technologies such as the VCR) destroyed Lollywood for the next two decades. It was subsequently rescued by Pervez Musharaff, who oversaw the revival of both Pakistan's economy and it's film industry, with the introduction of many policy reforms. Today the Pakistani film industry is still small, but is at last growing very rapidly.^[1] However, several challenges do still remain, namely the number of cinema's in existence across the country. It should technically have over 4,000 in 2018 but has less than 129 (or 0.62 per million in contrast to India's 12 per million and the United State's 126 per millon), having reached a peak of 1,500 during it's heyday. Despite this, the country has however been breaking multiple records in recent years and sustaining very high-quality output since it's revival.

Pakistan is currently the world's 5th largest producer of films,^[2] and although it was there before it's official founding in 1947, it never truly had a long tradition of film production prior to it's formal creation. After gaining it's independence, sadly many of it's film makers migrated over to India,^{[n. 1]} as equipment there was far cheaper, and financing was easier to obtain^[3].^[4] Coupled with the violence that ensued both before and after the creation of Pakistan—caused by rabid bands of Sikhs and Hindus inflicting horrendous violence upon Muslims^{[n. 2]}—the cultural arts did not have a chance to fully evolve. Thus the industry began it's days with no recognisable actors, artisans, directors, producers or technicians.^[4] It barely had 4 small film studios in the entire country, all of which were based in Lahore.^[4] Additionally, the country only had one feature film to it's name, "Sheela" (1935).^[4] Twelve years later, only an additional 27 films had been made in Punjabi, and some 12 in other languages.^[4] By the 1940s, only about 6 films were being produced annually; rising to 20 by 1955; and then 40 by 1964.^[4] In 1965, the industry received it's first big break; films imported from Bollywood were banned (as India had declared war on the young country^[5]); proving starkly advantageous for Pakistan—as one author remarked prior to 1965 Pakistani cinema "struggled to evolve its own identity".^[4] Post-1965 saw a surge in production, which raised both the quality of films produced, and their audience numbers.^[4] It even gave way for the country to produce 80 films per year, rising to a peak of 100 films (1977)^[6] made annually.^[4] Cinema venues also grew from 220 in 1948, to over 500 by 1971.^[4] By 1969, Pakistan had produced over 1,000 feature-length films.^[4]

Some of the larger names that had migrated over in 1947 were Noor Jehan, Shaukat H. Rizvi, Nazir A. Khan, Swaran Lata, Ghulam Haider, Khursheed Anwar and W. Z. Ahmed.^[7] The latter of these directed several major films inlcuding "Roohi", which unfortunately was the first film ever to be banned by the Film Censor Board (largely accused of generating "class hatred", and showing a married woman having an affair with a young man).^[7] It was later released with the "required editing" cuts.^[7] Notable films that were released during this age were "Teri Yaad" (1948); which although was Pakistan's first official film, flopped at the box office.^[7] However notably successful films were "Hichkolay" (1949), "Shahida" (1949), "Sachai" (1949), "Ghaltfehmi" (1949), "Pherey" (1949) and "Mundri" (1949).^[7] These films all carried similar themes; love, romance, tragedy, hero versus villain, good versus evil, betrayal, death, loyalty, home-wrecking and melodrama.^[7] The genres would later evolve, adding in violence, gore, bloodbaths, sword fights, guns and assault rifles into the stories.^[7] The decade also saw the first multi-talented film-maker, Kemal Pasha,write, script, produce and direct his own films (based entirely inside Lahore with his own distribution office).^[7] Some notable films he had produced were "Gumnam" (1954), "Qatil" (1955), "Sarfarosh" (1956) and "Anarkali" (1958).^[7] It is also notable that undivided India's first female film director was a Muslim, called Fatima Begum (who produced her films under her own film studio label "Fatma Films").^[8] Noor Jehan was similarly Pakistan's first female film director, having made "Chanway/Chanwayin" (1951).^[8] Another was Shamim Ara,^[9] who made her directorial debut with "Jeo Aur Jeenay Do" (1976).^[8]

The 1950s thus represented a time when the initial foundations of the industry were first being laid.^[10] In the early years, many actors and actresses rose to fame.^[10] This included Sabiha Khanum, Santosh Kumar and of course, Noor Jehan.^[10] Pakistan's first formal feature film was made in 1948, called "Teri Yaad" (1948), but it's first proper success was "Do Ansoo" (1950), which lasted 25 weeks at the box office.^[11] By 1958, a mere 11 years after the events of the partition, Pakistan even ended up collaborating with India (and later what was to be known as Bangladesh) to create "Jago Hua Savera".^[12] The film was about the lives of typical fishermen communities, and was thus the first neo-liberal commentary on Pakistan. Unfortunately, government meddling by coup-leader Gen. Ayub Khan, lead to accusations that the writers and actors were communists (Faiz A. Faiz, who wrote the script, dialogue and songs was, however, a known communist revolutionary).^[12] With all of the surrounding controversy, the film would have been a success, but after a few weeks had passed was forever buried from the public eye.^[12] The film would not see the light of day until over 50 years later, when it was exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.^[12] It was rescued when researchers travelled throughout Pakistan and Bangladesh to locate copies of the film, visiting also Pune, London and Paris.^[12] Most copies were found in Karachi, some in France and some in the UK.^[12] The film was sent to a recovery lab in Chennai, India, and then because of the delays by Indian customs, taken to London for restoration.^[12] It took approximately two years for the film to be restored from the damage it had accumulated over time.^[12] On May 15th, 2016 it was showcased at the Bunuel theatre, at the "Palais des Festivals" venue of Cannes.^[12]

The late 1950s and early 1960s saw Pakistan's industry break new ground with a roster of new film directors, which included Masood Pervez, Khalil Qaiser, Riaz Shahid, S. Suleman, Hassan Tariq and Pervez Malik.^[7] All of them contributed to the production of several blockbusters and social based films.^[7] The latter category was quite controversial, as it illustrated problems within Pakistani society.^[7] Qaiser and Shahid were particularly known for their critical nature, making films against poverty, corruption, atrocities of the British and the treatment of Palestinians.^[7] Particularly notable films based on this were "Shaheed" (1962), "Farangi" (1964) and "Zerqa" (1969).^[7] Dancing obviously featured prominently in these epics; such that the "International Encyclopedia of Dance" (1998) noted "[d]ancing in Pakistani films...in the 1950s and 1960s was tasteful and often artistic".^[13] The 1950s also saw the introduction of Pakistan's first native film studio post-partition.^[7] This was "Shahnoor Studios" (opened by Shaukat Rizvi and Noor Jehan).^[7] Further studios popped up later; notably "Evernew Studios" (headed by G. A. Gul), "Bari Studios" (headed by Bari Malik) and "Shabab Studios" (headed by Shabab).^[7] The 1960s also represented a time when Pakistan created it's first indigenously produced colour films.^[7] Film director Masood Pervaiz created and published "Sangam" (1964), "Naila" (1965) and "Heer Ranjha" (1970) which were said to have "become milestones in Pakistani colour films".^[7] Other films that were included in this achievement were "Eik Gunah Aur Sahi" (1975) by Hassan Tariq.^[7] Thus, as a result of these milestones, this period later came to be known as Pakistan's "Golden Age of Cinema" (1959—1977).^[8]

Although 1960s Pakistan faced a significant amount of cultural and societal restrictions, film creators still managed to come out with very popular films (some of which are already mentioned above), such as "Chiragh Jalta Raha" (1962).^[15][16] This film gave rise to several popular actors, namely Zeba,^[17] Deeba,^[15] Muhammad Ali.^[18] Waheed Murad^[19] and Nadeem Baig^[20] also rose to fame with "Armaan" (1966) and "Chakori" (1967) respectively.^[16] The former of these films went on to have spectacular success, becoming the country's first Platinum Jubilee film, which also starred Malik-Sohail and Rana-Masroor Anwar.^[16] In East Pakistan (modern day Bangladesh), "Chakori" became the biggest Urdu film ever released (unusual as East Pakistanis spoke Bengali).^[16] East Pakistan also gave rise to "Chanda" (1962), "Talaash" (1964) and the first color film "Sangam" (1964);^[16] West Pakistan's first colour film was "Ek Dil Do Diwane" (1964);^[21][22] although some mistakenly^[16] claim it was "Naila" (1965). In 1967, Pakistan shot it's first film abroad, with "Rishta Hai Pyar Ka" (1967), which was filmed in Europe;^[23] and starred Waheed Murad and Zeba as the leads.^[16] In that same year, Pakistan's first co-production, "Jaan Pehchaan" (1967), was produced by Mohsin Shirazi.^[16] Iranian actresses even began to star in Pakistani films; such as Shahpara who played the love interest of Muhammad Ali.^[16][24] Music tastes also changed in this decade, with composers such as Nisar Bazmi, Sohail Rana, Lal Muhammad-Iqbal and Robin Ghosh gaining popularity.^[16] Additionally, Ahmed Rushdi, Masood Rana and Mehdi Hassan took over the reigns of composers Munir Hussain and Saleem Raza.^[16] Actress Noor Jehan also faced stiff competition from newer talent Mala, Naseem Begum and Runa Laila.^[16]

When the ban on Indian cinema finally took hold in 1965, film production houses pumped out more films in order to compensate for lost incomes.^[16] Shabab Kairanvi was a particularly notable individual who did this, and it worked very well for Lollywood.^[16] The 1970s saw another Pakistani and Iranian co-production, this time in the form of "Jane Bond: Operation Karachi" (1970).^[25] Raza Fazli starred in the film, who was an Iranian actor and producer, who chased Pakistan’s top model^[26] Rakshanda Khattak who, in turn, played the female version of the famous British Spy James Bond.^[16] Riaz Shahid, father of the famous actor Shaan Shahid^[27] (who has starred in many modern critically acclaimed films, most notably in 2013, with "Waar"^[28]), produced and directed "Zerqa" (1969), "Gharnata" (1971) and "Yeh Aman" (1971), which "highlight[ed] [the] struggles of nations around the world".^[16] The first of these films went on to become Pakistan’s first diamond jubilee film.^[16] By 1971, the Pakistani Civil War broke out in East Pakistan, culminating in the independence of the newly formed country of Bangladesh.^[16] Whilst not an economic blow to West Pakistan, the film industry certainly felt the reverberations of the shock.^[16] The friendly atmosphere of competition between the two states had collapsed (owing to the tragedy of war), Urdu films were also now deprived of a market, and the musicians Firdausi Begum, Bashir Ahmed, Subul Das were lost to Lollywood, and so too were Captain Ehtisham, Mustafeez and Zahir Rehan who ran several production departments.^[16] Another music composer of many hit Urdu films produced in the West side, Muslehuddin, refused to settle in either country, opting to settle in UK instead, as he was married to a West Pakistani wife.^[16]

The last great film to have come out during this period was "Aina" (1977). This film was a colossal success. It was played in cinema's all across the country, lasting a grand total of 401 weeks at the box office.^[29][30] In Karachi's main cinema, it lasted a staggering 48 weeks.^[31] It remained so ingrained within the Pakistani society psyche, that a remake was commissioned in 2013, where the character-couple were reunited on screen for the first time in 36 years. The film came at an important period in Pakistan's history; as two years later another film would starkly contrast with it's themes; and thus show how far the industry had lost it's original culture with the coming of this dramatic change; "Aina...arrived at an important juncture in Pakistan’s political history, as the country’s democratically elected, still popular prime minister was toppled. A little bit has been written about another landmark of Pakistani cinema, Maula Jat, which, like Aina, refused to die as it captured the collective frustration and anger of a nation. The Punjabi classic was released the year Bhutto was hanged. Maula Jat, however, was mainly expressed in a male chauvinist grammar. Analysed closely, its reception can be read as a textual and cinematic extension of Aina as a grave cultural shift took place between 1977 to 1979. Aina, instead, negotiates a feminine, perhaps even feminist, grammar".^[32] The film was also a landmark success with some reviewers citing that "[i]t was the first movie that proved that Pakistani cinema could compete with its Indian counterpart".^[32] The film was directed by Nazrul-Islam, Shabnam [Ghosh] played the heroine and Robin Ghosh composed the music.^[16] All three of these artists originally started their careers in East Pakistan (modern day Bangladesh) before moving to West Pakistan.

In the late 1980s film producers began to focus more on creating documentaries rather than investing their money in film.^[33] This was an almighty seismic shift away for an industry that was already used to producing some 80 feature-length professional film's per year.^[33] This shift was perhaps more to do with protesting against the oppressive rule of the government more than anything—but also an eclectic mix of other factors, including Islamization policies, which forced the industry to move into an unknown direction that ultimately saw it's demise.^[33] Zia-ul-Haq presided over this oppressive rule, with his reign lasting between September 16th, 1978 to August 17th, 1988.^[34] His rule indeed lasted just shy of 10 years and left the industry bone-dry; with a grand total of 9 years, 11 months and 1 day in office. Making films had become increasingly difficult during this time,^{[n. 5]} as both neglect by the government and aggressive censorship laws gradually cannibalised the industry.^[33] Discussion of socio-political issues was heavily restricted, leading film makers frustrated at the lack of free expression.^[33] The only genre of films that were then created were gorishly violent (and even then these films were sometimes drastically censored or pulled from the public without warning).^[33] Further exacerbating the problem was that many cinema venues were torn down to make way for shopping malls.^[33] Funding for films also remained drastically low, coupled with high import taxes placed on equipment made abroad that would otherwise have increased the quality of the industry's content.^[33] As a result audience turnout dramatically plummeted, leading to a near-total collapse.^[33] In the 1970's there were 750 cinema's in operation, but by 2008, this had shrivelled down to only about 300.^[33]

For decades the film industry had been both in tune with it's contemporary art style, and the period it was set in.^[35] However problems also mounted when the industry needed to update their filming equipment.^[35] Roughly, every 10 years film technologies used to be modernised in order to keep the industry competitive.^[35] However, much to the detriment of film producers, importing this equipment became ever increasingly expensive to the point where it began to strain the film economy.^[35] This increase in price was driven primarily by high taxation, which led to severe stagnation (the same is now being seen with the IT industry; where 40% of it has relocated to the UAE for it's lower tax rate,^[36] thus proving dangerous for the economy).^[35] One such film director who perfectly illustrated this problem was Syed Noor, who once tried to import a camera lens from Germany.^[35] The manufacturer responded by telling him that it was unavailable because the company stopped manufacturing those particular dated lenses.^[35] Naturally the quality of his work diminished as films he was competing against had superior quality capture.^[35] Furthermore, problems gradually became compounded when costume design departments were instructed by the Haq government to restrict themselves only to government approved clothing.^[35] As one Pakistani news report noted, the "shalwar kameez for males and dupatta for the heroines was declared mandatory".^[35] Viewers rebelled and stopped watching native made films altogether.^[35] Gradually, members of the mafia also infiltrated the industry, forcing writers to create stories based on "gujjar and badmaash" culture, where an "illiterate...violence loving action hero" roamed the screens.^[35]

Thus, an eclectic mix of factors destroyed the film industry almost overnight. Some authors have claimed that wasn't gradual as it was later perceived, but rather a sudden one, proving too big of a shock for the industry to absorb.^[37] The first catastrophe was obviously Haq's presidency.^[37] In July 1977, the widely popular Zulfikar A. Bhutto of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was evicted from his post (Bhutto was the founder of Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons Programme,^[38] and he was widely supported by the population).^[37] By 1979, he would then be executed "through a sham trial" where Haq was then able to "consolidat[e] his grip over power".^[37] What followed then was a reactionary administration who was incapable of understanding how basic economics worked.^[37] Challenging him proved fruitless, if not deadly.^[37] Thus in place of the populist leader was an emotional and highly religious authoritarian.^[37] Social introversion soon began to infect Pakistani society, having very little to do with self-reflection, but more for the purposes of self-censorship.^[37] The average Pakistani could not be politically or socially aware under such conditions where religion was so heavily implemented in law.^[37] Other legislation which proved so bizarre was that film makers needed to have a university degree in order to be able to create films.^[39] Famous cinemas such as the "Naz Cinema" were also bulldozed and turned into shopping plazas, and which were the first casualties of Haq's cultural revolution.^[37] The industry also suffered terribly when the VCR was introduced.^[37] The middle-class bought them so rapidly that most of them would prefer to sit in the comfort of their own homes and watch pirated cassettes of Bollywood films, rather than watch the enforced claptrap their own industry was forced to follow.^[37]

Thankfully another coup occured in 1999,^[40] and lead to the formation of the Musharraf Government (1999—2007^[41]). Musharraf lead a liberal revolution across Pakistan which eventually saw it's GDP increase (at one point it reached an exceptionally high figure of 7.8% (2005)^[42]), and several progressive law reformations were introduced, including the "Media Liberation Act" (2002).^[43] This act "lessen[ed] the monopoly of the government on television and radio, by issuance of licences to independent media group[s]".^[43] This resulted in a rapid expansion of media outlets from a paltry 2—3 state run television channels to over 50 privately run channels within the space of about 6 years.^[43] Censorship laws were also relaxed and so were rules about importing films from India between 2006 and 2007.^[43] Additionally, the government began to actively support the production of film projects in order to kick start the industry, with particular support going to Shoab Mansoor, Bilal Lashari, Naeem Tahir and the Director General of the "Pakistan National Council of the Arts" (PNCA).^[43] One of the reasons for the government getting involved in the industry was that they recognised "the importance of media to launch and propagate...national policies".^[44] Furthermore this drive was also down to cinema chain owners who "lamented that since the Pakistani film industry had gone creatively and commercially bankrupt, the cinemas were struggling to remain in business solely on the strength of Hollywood films. When prompted by the Musharraf regime to come up with suggestions, the owners asked for something that was almost deemed impossible to agree to...[a]llowing the import...of Bollywood [films]".^[37]

As a result of these large scale policy changes, small bursts of talent began emerging within the cinema scene.^[45] Shoaib Mansoor's "Khuda Kay Liye" (2007), which was called a "cinematic masterpiece", drew attention back onto Lollywood for the first time in decades.^[45] It achieved considerable success, gaining a staggering Rs. 250,000,000 Rupees at the box office,^[45] surpassing the previous highest-grossing record for the country with "Choorian" (1998), which gained Rs. 200,000,000 Rupees.^[46]. Some have said that this film "is credited to be the film that ‘revived’ Pakistan’s dying film industry".^[45] This was followed by a horror film, "ZibahKhana" (2007), which unfortunately wasn't a commerical success, but did manage to be showcased in several film festivals abroad.^[45] In 2008, "Ramchand Pakistani" (2008) was released, detailing a sensitive social topic; that of Pakistan's and India's relationship through the expressions of several actors, including Nandita Das, Maria Wasti and Noman Ejaz.^[45] Cinematographers decided to take it one step further and release "Slackistan" (2010), which dealt with several hard hitting social issues.^[45] It was so controversial that it was banned^[47] by the Film Censor Board (as it contained the use of alcohol and words such as "lesbian" and "Taliban"^[48]).^[45] It depicted young Pakistanis "as frivolous and vulgar as it showed a very Western lifestyle", despite it being set in Islamabad.^[45] It was however released in the UK, but given that it wasn't for that market, it ended up doing terribly^{[n. 7]} at the box office.^{[n. 8]} Censors did offer to release the film if the required cuts were made but director Hammad Khan flatly refused to give into the changes that his film would be forced to undergo. Fans of the film found the censorship "ridiculous, unbelievable and sad".^[48]

However, the revival didn't go into full effect until several years later, when three groundbreaking films were released post-2011. These were the drama film "Bol" (2011), reality film "Saving Face" (2012) and the political-action thriller "Waar" (2013). The first of these films launched the career of Mahira Khan^{[n. 11]} (who went on to star with Shah Rukh Khan^[49][50] in the 2017 film "Raess"—for which she was a victim of discrimination by violent^[51] anti-Pakistani Hindu fascists). Shoaib Mansoor was once again "a key figure in the recent resurgence of Pakistani cinema...[h]is film [was] considered [to mark] the revival of the film industry because it had been such a long time since films had come out that had been made in Pakistan. They bought audiences back to the cinema, appealed to both the masses and the middle-classes and made waves internationally".^[52] The second of these films was created and directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who became the first Pakistani female to win an Academy Award (Oscar) for "Best Documentary Short Subject", which detailed the lives of acid attack victims (there are some 153 (2017^[53])—300 (2013^[54]) attacks per year). She won another Oscar in the same category for "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" (2016), which took on the subject of so-called "honour killings" in Pakistan^{[55][n. 12]} (the equivalent of a "Crime of Passion" under European and American laws^[56]). Lastly, "Waar" pushed the bar for Pakistani cinema to new heights;^{[n. 13]} telling the story of terrorism from the perspective of Pakistanis,^{[n. 14]} obscured from the twisted views of Indians, Americans and Europeans, who see Pakistan as a perpetrator than a victim.^{[n. 15]}

By 2013 momentum was in full swing. Films such as "Mein Hoon Shahid Afridi" (2013), "Zinda Bhaag" (2013), "Josh" (2013) and "Seedlings" (2013) all received high praise^[57][58] "for their unique plots and powerful performances".^[45] This was repeated to new heights in 2014 when Nabeel Qureshi released "Na Maloom Afraad" (2014). Other films that also proved critically^[59] popular were "Dukhtar" (2014) and "021" (2014).^[60][61] By 2015, the industry saw more thundering success with "Jawani Phir Nahi Aani" (2015),^[62] "Manto" (2015),^[63] "Bin Roye" (2015),^[64] "Wrong No." (2015),^[65] "Karachi Se Lahore" (2015)^[66] and "Dekh Magar Pyaar Se" (2015);^[63] the latter of which saw for the first time the debut of several acclaimed actors transition into film. One of Pakistan's most famous and beloved actresses, Armeena R. Khan, also made her debut in Lollywood during this time.^[45] The success was so rapid that Pakistani studios even invested in animated films, most notably, the first ever being "3 Bahadur" (2015), who's direction was lead by Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.^[67][68][69] By 2016, "Janaan" (2016) had been released, which introduced another set of now famous actors.^[45] Qureshi also released his second most successful film, "Actor-in-Law" (2016),^[45] starring Fahad Mustafa, Mehwish Hayat and Om Puri. "Ho Mann Jahaan" (2016),^[70] "Bachana" (2016),^[71] "Mah-e-Mir" (2016),^[72][73][74] "Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai" (2016),^[75] "Dobara Phir Se" (2016)^[76] and "Lahore Se Agay" (2016) also saw success.^[77] That same year, India banned Pakistani actors, scapegoating them when 19^[78] Indian Army terrorists^[79] were killed in Occupied Kashmir.

Currently, Pakistani cinema is not wholly independent despite the great strides it has been making as of late. Some 60%—70%^[90] of cinema revenues still directly come from audiences who want to go and see Bollywood films. However, this is good for Pakistan in some ways, as Bollywood essentially acts as a vector; encouraging people to come to the cinema, thereby giving Pakistan's own feature-length films a targetable audience to directly advertise to (whether that is through posters or in-movie trailers; but also gives Pakistani audiences the choice to see whatever film they want), thereby raising publicity. It also creates competition for Pakistani films to directly compete against Indian cinema, thereby raising their overall quality and content (monopolies in any business rarely create a healthy sense of competition, which can therefore give rise to low quality films and higher priced items, which inevitably fail to evolve the industry^[91][92]). Another problem with Pakistani cinema at the moment is that there are not enough screens to showcase films (including Bollywood).^[90] The country only has 129 cinema screens, or about 0.62 screens per million population.^[90] In contrast, India has 12 per million, China has 39 per million, Australia has 87 per million and the US has 126 per million.^[90] However, the fact that Pakistan appears to be breaking new ground in achieving record box office sales for one of it's most current films released in 2017, "Punjab Nahi Jaungi", which gained ~$4.52 million dollars at the box office, expansion of the cinema screens to the same amount as India could have theoretically generated an income of $60 million dollars. Pakistan used to have 1,500 screens at it's peak (or 7.2 screens per million people^{[n. 41]}). At least 4,000 (2018) are now required.^[6]

Watching films remains affordable; ticket prices however do vary considerably between different cinema chains, ranging from Rs. 300 rupees (£1.88 pounds/$2.47 dollars as of July 31st, 2018^[93]) to Rs. 1,250 rupees (£7.81 pounds/$10.28 dollars as of July 31st, 2018^[94]). These prices include the cinemas Atrium Cinema (Karachi), Nueplex (Karachi), CineGold Plex (Bahria Town, Islamabad), The Arena (Bahria Town, Islamabad), DHA Cinema (Lahore), Universal Cinemas (Lahore), Luxus Grand Cinemas (Lahore) and Super Cinema (Lahore).^[95] The average price would therefore come to Rs. 775 rupees per ticket (£4.85 pounds/$6.38 dollars as of July 31st, 2018).^[96] Although the average is heavily slanted towards special seats for those who can afford them. Realistically, the average cinema ticket would range from Rs. 300 Rupees (£1.88 pounds/$2.47 dollars as of July 31st, 2018^[93]) to Rs. 500 Rupees (£3.13 pounds/$4.12 dollars as of July 31st, 2018^[97]) for two-dimensional films, and an extra Rs. 100 Rupees (£0.63 pounds/$0.82 dollars as of July 31st, 2018^[98]) to Rs. 150 Rupees (£0.94 pounds/$1.24 dollars as of July 31st, 2018^[99]) to watch three dimensional films (with 3D glasses).^[95] The average cinema ticket would now thus be Rs. 400 Rupees (£2.50 pounds/$3.29 dollars as of July 31st, 2018 ^[100]). If Pakistan's current highest grossing film is taken into account, having grossed at least Rs. 500,000,000 Rupees (Rs. 50 Crore Rupees^[101]/£3.26 million pounds^[102]/$4.52 million dollars^[103] as of January 22nd, 2018) during it's entire run, the total reach for Pakistan's audience thus may possibly be around 1.25 million (however, it should be noted that this does not factor in ticket prices sold overseas, as the film's entire box office gross simply did not come from Pakistan alone).