Pakistan has imposed a temporary ban on the exhibition and screening of Indian and other foreign language films during Eid in response to demands by the domestic film industry which faces stiff competition from Bollywood and Hollywood films during the holiday season.
According to a notification issued by the ministry of information and broadcasting, the exhibition and screening of Indian and foreign films will be banned from two days before the Eid to until two weeks after the holidays.
An official in the ministry said the step had been taken on the requests by the Pakistani film exhibitors, distributors and production houses.
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Under this ban no cinema across Pakistan will be allowed to show Indian movies during the Eid holidays which usually run for four days and bring in big business for the new Pakistani, Bollywood and Hollywood films.
Another official from the Pakistan Film Exhibitors' Association confirmed they had received the notification.
"The notification says that the temporary ban is being imposed in order to promote local movies on the festivals, a time when usual than larger audience is attracted towards cinemas," he said.
He said the notification was also applicable for the Eid-ul-Adha holidays which will fall around late August or September.
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Pakistani film producers and artists have been complaining for the last two years that their new films face stiff completion from the Indian and Hollywood movies and due to the limited number of screens in the country they are not able to do good business and in some cases even recover their invested money in the films.
This Eid also a number of new Pakistani films are due for release but it was not clear which Indian films are slated for release during the holidays in India and elsewhere.
(PTI)
