Isn’t this a dead city then?
Uzma Zafar
 

Blurt Out

Lahoriites and Karachiites often term Islamabad as a dead city for they say that shops close in the Capital after 9 and even if they don’t, there are dim lights all around, as if all the Capitaliites are sleeping and thus, there is no fun in roaming around the city roads at night! Where we do not like anybody criticising our cozy and serene city, there we must realize one thing. We might be blessed with all 5 seasons, i.e. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Monsoon, and we might be very happy and well-adjusted or easily relate to the elite culture prevalent in the city, even if we are not part of it but as our dwellers of the area, but all pleasures come with their set of problems. It is also the only Capital city of any country which has no cinema house! It is also the only city which has minimum sources of entertainment! Don’t know of the entertainment but the Capital did not always used to be without the cinema industry!
The Capital city is a representative whole for the entire country. And thus, it’s hard to even think about Islamabad devoid of any cinema. If we look back at time, we would actually be surprised that this was the very same city which flourished with cinemas. There were two cinemas under the banner of NAFDEC, 1 at Melody known as the Melody cinema and a small one at Sitara Market. However, as the fundamentalists got out on the roads, during rift with the authorities, the first government property to be targeted and pelted furious stones at, was the NAFDEC cinemas. Then, when Saeed Noor; an established producer and director of Pakistan film industry, made a film against sectarian violence, giving the message of peace to all, the same rowdy, fanatic and fundamentalist mob, targeted Melody cinema as well. And the last to go was the cinema house at Sitara Market. And if you have not seen a Capital anywhere across the globe, having no cinema around, welcome to Islamabad!
We, the Capitaliites, watch and read on news about the launching of latest Pakistani flicks and about such shows but alas, all we can do is say tuned to such news which are but, many a times lifted from the internet as they are no such reporters here who have been assigned Showbiz beat. In fact, such a beat does not even exist within the city media organizations and this is one department, i.e. showbiz in general and cinema industry in particular which is not taken seriously at all! Lollywood keeps screaming that nobody watches it’s films but do we have a platform where we can view the same even when we want to? There was a time when our latest flicks used to be put on PTV at Eid and such occasions but not anymore. And to top it all, there is a channel on Cable TV called Filmazia which has been reserved for Lollywood films but which airs only age old films. What’s our mistake if we are not born in that time?
And the Pakistani films which are released, only reach the local markets after they have seen their days at the cinemas. Is the city alive for only Indian flicks which are readily available on DVD and dead for all the rest? Is Islamabad really a dead city when our own entertainment in general and cinemas and Lollywood flicks in particular, is concerned? It is high time that our government high-ups residing in the Federal Capital must at least wake up from their deep hibernation that they have been living in as neither it is the season, nor the time for such a deal. They should better shun the political ways they have been living and start doing something about making the city alive with the cinema industry or less, at least plan on reviving the theatre industry and reserving the ground of NAFDEC cinemas for that purpose perhaps as only spirits can reside in such spooky places and this is not a city of the dead spirits!