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Actor Zara Noor Abbas says people should support Pakistan’s entertainment industry, but only if the movies being made in the country are worth watching.

The star was speaking to The Express Tribune about her latest film, Sheroes, when she said the notion of cinemagoers supporting Pakistani films just because they’re from Pakistan was “quite old” and that “people want entertainment”.

Abbas said people go to theatres if they’re done with other activities like eating out, and want to be entertained, so the responsibility falls on filmmakers to prove themselves and make films to scratch that itch.

The actor said there were films that had succeeded in capturing their audiences, like Spider-Man, which had people dress up and show up to theatres every time a new film was released.

“It’s because Spider-Man has created a niche, Spider-Man has a very big franchise with Marvel,” the star said, adding that Pakistan needed to create franchises like that for its audiences.

Abbas said Pakistani filmmakers also need to instil confidence in their audiences that whatever they are paying to watch will be worth the Rs1,500 to Rs2,000 they are charged per seat.

“Look, not every Spider-Man movie has been great, all of them have flaws, but [people] know that the films have Tom Holland and Zendaya and they will get the kick they want from the movie.”

Coming to her own film, the actor said, “We can only ask you to give it a try. I am only going to tell you, ‘Come, look at it, have a watch.’”

She said her team was trying out new things and the film had been made by new directors — one of whom is making his debut feature for a cinema audience.

Sheroes is an anthology film with three stories of three separate women, each in an entirely different situation.

Abbas is the lead actor in the action-packed segment ‘Gear Up’ where she plays a police officer specialising in bomb disposal. The other two segments, ‘Artist’ and ‘Punch’ are led by Kinza Hashmi and Ushna Shah respectively.