Images

A burnt film reel. — Photo by Muhammad Umar

On this day today: Karachi's iconic Nishat Cinema was set ablaze

We explore Nishat Cinema's golden era and it's unfortunate demise in this series of photographs
Updated 21 Sep, 2015

In the heart of the city of lights, Nishat Cinema was long held in distinct regard as an iconic symbol of Karachi's thriving culture.

Unfortunately, on this very day in 2012 Nishat Cinema was set ablaze amidst violent protests against a purportedly anti-Islamic short-film called Innocence of Muslims that aired on YouTube. The short film was neither filmed for the big screen nor was it ever aired in Pakistan yet protestors unleashed their wrath on poor Nishat, and set ablaze six cinemas in Peshawar and Karachi besides. Nishat Cinema has not regained its previous glory and remains a charred icon of Karachi’ s vibrant past.

Situated on M. A. Jinnah Road (formerly known as Bandar Road), it was constructed during the British Raj by a Hindu businessman. He owned 2 cinema houses adjacent to each other called Krishna and Radha, named after his children. During Partition, the owner opted for newly independent India and the cinemas became evacuee properties.

People throng to see 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' which was released in 1958. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan
People throng to see 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' which was released in 1958. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan

Caught up in the trend to change the names of popular landmarks to Muslim-sounding names, Krishna became Nishat and Radha was renamed Naz. After Partition, the Kandawallas acquired Nishat Cinema, as it was right next to their head office in the Godrej Kandawalla building. Nishat Cinema was then re-inaugurated by Fatima Jinnah on 25th December 1947 and the first screening held on its premises was of the Indian film Doli by S. K. Ojha.

Coloured film 'Dawn of Islam' screened at the cinema. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan
Coloured film 'Dawn of Islam' screened at the cinema. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan

“In 1963, when the Kandawallas needed money to invest in their jeep assembly plant, Naya Daur, they sold Nishat Cinema to Yusuf and Hakim Mandviwalla for PKR 1.6 million. It was actually Jagjit Anand, a renowned film distributor, who prompted Yusuf Mandviwalla to buy Nishat Cinema, extending a loan of PKR 800,000 to cover the shortfall. "Up until 1968 Jagjit Anand was solely responsible for running the cinema,” says Nadeem Mandviwalla.

Hollywood classics 'Gold Raiders' and 'Thunder' up for viewing at Nishat. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan
Hollywood classics 'Gold Raiders' and 'Thunder' up for viewing at Nishat. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan

After the 1965 war Indian films were banned in Pakistan; Nishat continued to screen mostly Pakistani films till 1972. Nishat operated with flat screen technology and only when cinemascope was introduced in 1971 did the film quality significantly increase. This ushered in a period when Nishat became a pioneer in the cinema industry in Pakistan. It set the trend for the latest technologies and kickstarted the use of digital surround sound. It was a prominent and considerably up-to-date cinema that attracted the popular and the fashionable.

Sylvester Stallone's 'Rambo: First Blood Part II' (1985) was shown in cinema. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan
Sylvester Stallone's 'Rambo: First Blood Part II' (1985) was shown in cinema. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan

Refurbishments of the cinema were planned for 1971 but the release of two iconic Pakistani films, Mera Humsafar and Dil Aur Duniya pushed the renovation plans to 1972 as both films played to packed audiences for a year.

'Universal Soldier' (1992) screened at the cinema after its release. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan
'Universal Soldier' (1992) screened at the cinema after its release. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan. — Photo courtesy: The Citizens Archives of Pakistan

“After 1972 Nishat started playing mostly Hollywood feature films. Javed Sheikh’ s 1996 film Chief Saab ran for twenty-five weeks acquiring a silver jubilee record. The longest playing film in Nishat Cinema was Neal Israel’ s 1985 American comedy Moving Violations that ran for twenty-seven weeks,” says Nadeem Mandviwalla.

Over the decades Nishat Cinema has been a prominent part of Pakistani popular culture — it's indeed sad to see a landmark destroyed as it has.

Inside of the cinema hall shows burnt chairs. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
Inside of the cinema hall shows burnt chairs. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
Burnt remains of animated film Rio can be seen amid the ashes. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
Burnt remains of animated film Rio can be seen amid the ashes. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
Piles of poster turned to ashes. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
Piles of poster turned to ashes. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
Stacks of burnt film reels lie in the store room. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
Stacks of burnt film reels lie in the store room. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
View of the burnt gallery. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil
View of the burnt gallery. —Photo courtesy: Khaula Jamil

Text by Aaliyah Tayyebi, Senior Project Manager, OHP and EFC The Citizens Archive of Pakistan. Old Nishat Cinema photographs from the archives of The Citizens Archive of Pakistan. Current Nishat Cinema photographs by ©Khaula Jamil/The Citizens Archive of Pakistan

Comments

Seema Ubed Sep 21, 2015 02:23pm
Informative article about the history of Pakistani cinema. well written Aaliyah Tayyebi :)
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Faisal Sep 21, 2015 03:00pm
Great Article, We as a nation are not able to protect our valuable asset
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Asim Sep 21, 2015 03:17pm
Thanks for enlightening us all!
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Zohaib Sep 21, 2015 04:06pm
it was a sad incident indeed, the entertainment starved people of karachi are further pushed to boredom.
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Talha Sep 21, 2015 04:31pm
Should be reconstructed to uplift the revival of our local films. A mega multiplex can be made in this property for running multiple shows for Pakistani movies.
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Waseem Sep 21, 2015 05:45pm
nice article , love to see more like this
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Pragmatist Sep 21, 2015 06:45pm
Was there a hand of some other cinema owners in setting the Nishat on fire to boost their own business?
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M. Emad Sep 21, 2015 06:52pm
Future of film industry in Pakistan . . .
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chacha Sep 21, 2015 08:52pm
I remember Nishat but preferred Prince. What a sad ending. Those old movie posters were a part of Pakistani film history. Come to think of it, Pakistan does not have a 'film industry museum' or something similar.
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Adil Jadoon Sep 21, 2015 09:20pm
@Talha why only Pakistani movies. Good movies from anywhere shoud be welcome. Learn from others and improve ourselves beyond imagination
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Sarwar, USA Sep 21, 2015 10:39pm
Good article.. It tells us before partition mostly Hindus were big businessmen. How Pakistan turned fate of Muslim businessmen is obvious from such articles. Pakistan Zindabad and lesson to those who argue on two nation theory...
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Ashamed Sep 21, 2015 11:11pm
Shows the lack of education to burn down anything.
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Salman Ahmed Sep 21, 2015 11:55pm
Anyone knows history of Naz or Eros Cinema. Who own them and whats happend to them.
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Safdar Sep 22, 2015 01:43am
This column and these pictures reflect Pakistan that is no more...
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Mansoor Khan Sep 22, 2015 02:19am
I saw many movies at Nishat in my childhood with my late father who was Bank Manager at NBP, M.A. Jinnah Road Branch and good friend of the Manager of Nishat Cinema. It was my favourat theater.
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Shoaibarif Sep 22, 2015 07:57am
BRuce Lee's game of death was released in the 1970s. Yet it's poster is next to a film whIch was purported to be from 1958.
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Suhbat khan Sep 22, 2015 05:07pm
So culture loving city Karachi was by that time :-D Alas....
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Madhusudan Sep 22, 2015 08:04pm
My parents were from karachi, my mom always used to talk about radha cinema and other karachi cinemas, she saw noirjehan"s anmol ghadi countless times as noorjehan and suraiya was her favourite and karachi was beautiful city in asia.
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