<p>The Lahore Arts Council said it was banning all dance performances based on Bollywood films in commercial theatre plays to facilitate quality theatre. But theatre producers and artistes in Pakistan's cultural centre are angry at the ban, and they say this would damage their business.<br /><br />An official of the LAC said the theatre was very popular in Lahore and people from all age groups and classes regularly visited theatres.<br /><br />"We can't allow producers or artistes to promote vulgarity through Indian songs and dances on stage under the guise of theatre," he said. But, artistes pointed out that with the local film industry shrinking badly in the last few years, they cannot depend completely on local stuff.<br /><br />"How many films are made in Pakistan annually? From the handful that are made how many have songs that we can use in our plays? If we don't have performances on Indian songs and cannot include any dance performances other than classical dance, then what are we left with," said the chairman of Commercial Theatre Producers Association, Chaudhary Zulfiqar Ahmad.<br /><br />He admitted that some artistes and producers do not follow certain moral standards when including dance performances in their plays. But they should be banned – not the dances, he said.<br /><br />"Only a limited section of audience appreciates classical dance while large numbers of theatregoers have little or no interest in such performances.<br /><br />"This ban will have major financial repercussions on commercial theatre at the LAC," he added.<br /><br />He pointed out that the ban was absurd when the government had allowed exhibition of Bollywood films in cinema houses and Indian TV channels were also available freely in the country.<br /><br />Zulfiqar said if the arts council desires to check vulgarity in commercial theatre, it should strictly check the scripts of plays and the number of dances incorporated in it. Some popular artistes like Samina Ahmed and Usman Peerzada, have supported the LAC ban.<br /><br />They said Ahmad commercial theatre producers tend to use vulgar dance routines to draw in audiences and make money. "Quite often, the dance performances in these commercial theatre productions are vulgar. The performances have no theme or relevance. It's better to ban such plays in their entirety instead of allowing them to have dances," Usman Peerzada said.<br /></p>
<p>The Lahore Arts Council said it was banning all dance performances based on Bollywood films in commercial theatre plays to facilitate quality theatre. But theatre producers and artistes in Pakistan's cultural centre are angry at the ban, and they say this would damage their business.<br /><br />An official of the LAC said the theatre was very popular in Lahore and people from all age groups and classes regularly visited theatres.<br /><br />"We can't allow producers or artistes to promote vulgarity through Indian songs and dances on stage under the guise of theatre," he said. But, artistes pointed out that with the local film industry shrinking badly in the last few years, they cannot depend completely on local stuff.<br /><br />"How many films are made in Pakistan annually? From the handful that are made how many have songs that we can use in our plays? If we don't have performances on Indian songs and cannot include any dance performances other than classical dance, then what are we left with," said the chairman of Commercial Theatre Producers Association, Chaudhary Zulfiqar Ahmad.<br /><br />He admitted that some artistes and producers do not follow certain moral standards when including dance performances in their plays. But they should be banned – not the dances, he said.<br /><br />"Only a limited section of audience appreciates classical dance while large numbers of theatregoers have little or no interest in such performances.<br /><br />"This ban will have major financial repercussions on commercial theatre at the LAC," he added.<br /><br />He pointed out that the ban was absurd when the government had allowed exhibition of Bollywood films in cinema houses and Indian TV channels were also available freely in the country.<br /><br />Zulfiqar said if the arts council desires to check vulgarity in commercial theatre, it should strictly check the scripts of plays and the number of dances incorporated in it. Some popular artistes like Samina Ahmed and Usman Peerzada, have supported the LAC ban.<br /><br />They said Ahmad commercial theatre producers tend to use vulgar dance routines to draw in audiences and make money. "Quite often, the dance performances in these commercial theatre productions are vulgar. The performances have no theme or relevance. It's better to ban such plays in their entirety instead of allowing them to have dances," Usman Peerzada said.<br /></p>