Pakistani cinemas stop screening Indian films

KARACHI: The Pakistani cinemas have stopped screening Indian films after an escalation of violence in Kashmir between Pakistan and India, theatre owners said on Friday.

"We have stopped screening Indian movies at our cinemas from Friday till the situation improves and normalcy returns," said Nadeem Mandviwalla, whose Mandviwalla Entertainment runs eight cinemas in Karachi and the capital, Islamabad.

The Indian Motion Picture Producers´ Association (IMPPA), a small filmmakers´ body, banned their members from hiring Pakistani actors. Mandviwalla and other cinema owners said the ban in Pakistan was also in response to IMPPA’s move.

Indian media reported that a leader of regional right-wing party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, last week gave Pakistani actors 48 hours to leave India or faced being "pushed out". The party, which was not available for comment, is one of two hardline parties based in Mumbai that has regularly called for Pakistani artists to be banned from working in India.

Pakistani actors have increasingly been appearing in big budget Bollywood films in the last few years. Some Indian actors came to the defence of their Pakistani counterparts.

"They are artists. These are two different subjects. They were terrorists, these are artists. What do you think, artists are terrorists?" Salman Khan told reporters when asked if Pakistani actors should be forced out.

Khurram Gultasab, general manager at Super Cinemas, which runs ten cinemas in cities across province, confirmed his group would also not be screening Indian films. "I think we should show solidarity with our army engaged at very hot borders right now and secondly with our actors," said Gultasab.

He said the move had been made by cinema owners themselves, rather than on government directions. Other Pakistani cinemas posted on social media saying they would not be showing Indian films after Thursday´s violence.