Pollywood
The Pashto film industry or Pollywood, as it is now called, has witnessed many ups and downs since its formal inception in the early 1970s. In actual fact, the history of Pashto cinema predates the creation of Pakistan itself; Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari’s Laila Majnoon, the first ever Pashto film, was released in 1941 in Mumbai and Pashto-speaking areas. However, it was a whole 23 years after partition when Pakistan’s first Pashto film Yousaf Khan’s Shehr Bano was released. Based on a romantic folk story and starring Badar Munir and Yasmin Khan, the enormous success of this film paved the way for Pollywood proper.
Pashto movies were once so popular that not only would they run in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Quetta and Karachi but demand led to reels being smuggled to Kabul with some even making it to Europe and the Gulf.
Pollywood frequently releases more films than Urdu and Punjabi cinema, quality notwithstanding. An average Pashto movie costs Rs 7 to 8 million.
The MMA government, an alliance of nine religious parties in the erstwhile NWFP, imposed a ban on any manner of cultural activity during their tenure. They closed down Peshawar city’s lone cinema, Nishtar Hall, and banned film billboards and posters contributing to the film industry’s downward spiral.
Currently, there are ten cine-theatres in Peshawar, four in Nowshera, two each in Mardan and Bannu and one each in Swat and Kohat. A total of five new Pashto films will release this Eid,
The Pashto film industry or Pollywood, as it is now called, has witnessed many ups and downs since its formal inception in the early 1970s. In actual fact, the history of Pashto cinema predates the creation of Pakistan itself; Amir Hamza Khan Shinwari’s Laila Majnoon, the first ever Pashto film, was released in 1941 in Mumbai and Pashto-speaking areas. However, it was a whole 23 years after partition when Pakistan’s first Pashto film Yousaf Khan’s Shehr Bano was released. Based on a romantic folk story and starring Badar Munir and Yasmin Khan, the enormous success of this film paved the way for Pollywood proper.
Pashto movies were once so popular that not only would they run in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Quetta and Karachi but demand led to reels being smuggled to Kabul with some even making it to Europe and the Gulf.
Pollywood frequently releases more films than Urdu and Punjabi cinema, quality notwithstanding. An average Pashto movie costs Rs 7 to 8 million.
The MMA government, an alliance of nine religious parties in the erstwhile NWFP, imposed a ban on any manner of cultural activity during their tenure. They closed down Peshawar city’s lone cinema, Nishtar Hall, and banned film billboards and posters contributing to the film industry’s downward spiral.
Currently, there are ten cine-theatres in Peshawar, four in Nowshera, two each in Mardan and Bannu and one each in Swat and Kohat. A total of five new Pashto films will release this Eid,
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