Govt urged to curb sale of obscene, pirated films
PESHAWAR, March 4: The Tele-Filmmakers’ Association has urged the government to formulate laws in order to curb sale of pirated and obscene films.
The association’s representatives said that production and sale of pirated and obscene films made for television were not only affecting their business but were also responsible for defaming the Pakhtun people.
Talking to Dawn here on Sunday, the association’s chief, Sherdil Khan, said that they were ready to pay fee to the censor board, but the government should legislate to put brakes on the trade and screening of vulgar films.
Expressing concerns over the sale of pirated and obscene films in the market, he said the makers of such films had no connection with the film-making business but wanted to make quick money.
He said that after imposition of a ban on musical shows at the Nishtar Hall most of the theatre performers had switched to films made for television but their business had started going down the dumps because of the sale of pirated and obscene films.
“We want the government to streamline the business. About 300 artistes in the province are associated with tele-films,” he said.
He said many actors and actresses had left the city for Lahore and Karachi.
The PTV Centre was small enough to accommodate all local artistes and there was no option for them but to act in films made for television so as to earn their daily bread, he added.
According to the association’s president, about 60 tele-film producers in the city released at least 200 films each month and on an average 12,000 copies of each of those were sold but the number of pirated copies was much higher.
“This has greatly affected our business. We want the government to arrest those responsible for the piracy of tele-films and involved in the production of films on CDs and DVDs,” he said.
He said pirated DVDs of the films were being sold in the NWFP and Afghanistan but there was no law to check the trade.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/5/2007
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