The slow death of Peshawar’s cinemas — a legacy in ruins

PESHAWAR:  The culture of cinema-going in Peshawar is on the verge of extinction due to rising militancy, inflation, substandard films, and the overwhelming presence of electronic and social media.

Until the year 2000, Peshawar, a city known for preserving centuries-old traditions, had 16 cinemas. Movie enthusiasts from Peshawar and other parts of the province would flock to these cinemas, which included Shabistan, Falak Sair, Palwasha, Novelty, Metro, Ishrat, Sabrina, Capital, PAF, Naz, Arshad, Aina, Tasveer Mahal, Picture House, and Shama Cinema.

Of these 16 cinemas, 10 have been razed to the ground, with their owners replacing them with shopping plazas and markets. These included Shabistan, Falak Sair, Palwasha, Novelty, Metro, Ishrat, Sabrina, Tasveer Mahal, Naz, and Capital Cinema.

Meanwhile, Arshad, Aina, Picture House, Sabrina, and Shama Cinemas are struggling to survive, with two of them reportedly set to close due to financial losses.

Employees of Peshawar’s cinemas say the shift towards social media and mobile entertainment, coupled with inflation and other factors, has driven cinema owners to shut down their businesses and convert the premises into shopping centres.

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In the past, Sunday film screenings attracted around 700-800 viewers, but now, barely 200-250 people turn up on weekends, they said.

Earlier, a new film would run in cinemas for months, but now, a movie is screened for just a day before becoming widely accessible on mobile phones. This has caused severe financial losses for cinemas, forcing owners to shut them down.

Over the past two decades, no provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has introduced any plan to revive the cinema industry. As a result, within the next few years, the business of cinema houses in Peshawar and the province is expected to disappear entirely.

When asked whether the provincial government had any plans to restore cinemas, officials from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Culture Department said unequivocally that no such plans had been prepared or were under consideration.