Bollywood to help Pakistani Film Industry

The spate of recent Bollywood releases in Pakistan will in the long run help the revival of the Pakistani film industry, a leading distributor from the country has said.
“Indian cinema is playing a huge role in reviving the Pakistani film industry,” Hammad Chaudhry, marketing director of HKC Entertainment, which has distributed films like ‘Bride and Prejudice’, ‘Welcome’, ‘Bhootnath’ and ‘Jannat’ in Pakistan, told PTI.

“The box-office numbers that ‘Welcome’ generated in Pakistan took everybody by surprise,” Chaudhry said, adding “that has enthused us to release ‘Bhootnath’ and ‘Jannat’ back to back. I am happy to report that both films have taken bumper openings.”

‘Welcome’, which opened 14 weeks ago, is still running in Pakistan.

‘Bhootnath’, he said, is particularly significant because it stars Amitabh Bachchan and has a special appearance by Shahrukh Khan. “This is the first time that the two Bollywood megastars officially have a film on screens in Pakistan,” he added.

Chaudhry pointed out that the commercial success of the critically acclaimed Pakistani film ‘Khuda Kay Liye’ in India also helped in changing mindsets on both sides of the border.

Source: PTI