MUMBAI MIRROR (December 23, 2016)

The screening of latest Bollywood films in Pakistan will take time, says Nadeem Mandviwala, owner of the Cineplex at Centaurus. “It can take days, weeks and even months to start screening new movies. We’ve lifted the ban and now it is up to Indian distributors whether they will sell movies to Pakistan. Once they agree to sell their movies, we will have to get a no objection certificate (NOC) from the government. If the NOC is issued, the movies will have to be cleared by Pakistan Censor Board. After that, we’ll be in a position to say that new (Indian) movies can be screened in Pakistan.”

In September, cinema owners in Pakistan decided not to screen Indian movies until tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad abated. The Pakistani decision followed the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association’s (IMPPA) ban on Pakistani actors in Indian movies. The move caused financial losses to Pakistani cinemas, which were forced to reduce the number of shows as numbers fell, the Dawn reported.

The move to lift the ban was made last week and Indian films already released in Pakistan are being screened again.