Patriotism and Pakistani Cinema

(This is a commentary from our September 2013 print quarterly, 'Under the shadow of the Bollywood tree'. See more from the issue here.)

This Eid the filmmakers of Pakistan had much to celebrate. Prior to the holiday, local film distributors had announced that for five days, no Indian movie would be shown in any Pakistani cinema so that a handful of local movies scheduled for release at this time could be promoted. The debate over banning Indian movies – more out of patriotism than to protect the Pakistani film industry – is now an old one. For many years local filmmakers have repeatedly stated that there should be a complete ban on screening Indian films in Pakistan. Proving their loyalty to Pakistani film, cinema owners banned the screening of Indian movies in 2010 on the occasion of Eid. However, the decision backfired as no Pakistani filmmakers managed to release a movie at this time. This year, however, the situation was much different as several movies were in the pipeline: Mein Hoon Shahid Afridi, Josh and Ishq Khuda.

A few years ago I interviewed the famous Pakistani film director Altaf Hussain at Lahore's premier film studio, Evernew. "Screening Indian movies in Pakistan is akin to treason. It is against our constitution," he iterated. Despite its absurd logic, this sentiment has found a sympathetic audience amongst depressed and burnt-out filmmakers of the past. Altaf's last successful film venture was in the mid-nineties. "We repeatedly request the government to ban Indian movies in Pakistan. They don't allow our films there. Why should we allow their films here? We should be loyal to our country," said Hussain. I wanted to ask him if his thesis about foreign movies destroying the local industry also extended to Hollywood movies, but I didn't. I knew that his resentment was confined to India. Nothing has the potential to induce patriotism in the Pakistani heart like rhetoric against India.