“There should be no boundaries for filmmakers and lovers,” said Muhammad Khalid Ali, producer of Dukhtar , the only Pakistani film to be screened in various international film festivals in India this year.
Dukhtar , directed by Afia Nathaniel, is a powerful story about a mother’s personal quest to save her 10-year-old daughter from an arranged marriage to a tribal leader.
The film’s co-producer Zinnia Sheikh said that Indian cinema was playing a major role in the revival of Pakistani cinema. She pointed out that Pakistan, which once produced over 500 films (prior to General Zia-ul-Haq’s regime) now produced only around 10 to 15 films a year. “Of the 100 screens in Pakistan, the majority is screening Bollywood films. Pakistani cinema is still young and emerging,” she added.
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Noting that it was difficult for the Pakistani film industry to grow in the absence of Indian cinema, Mr. Ali said: “Though people in Pakistan are hungry for native movies, it is difficult to produce big budget films on the scale of Bollywood.”
However, he admitted that films that were “detrimental to the interests of Pakistan” such as Ek Tha Tiger and Haider were banned in Pakistan.