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Through the decades, Kabul city’s Ariana Cinema had weathered revolution and war, emerging battered and bruised but still standing to entertain Afghans Bollywood movies and American Action flicks. Now, it is no more.
On 16 December, demolition crews began tearing down the historic cinema, which first opened its doors to moviegoers in the early 1960s. A week later, there was nothing left.
Afghan film director and actor Amir Shah Talaash told The Associated Press, “It’s not just a building made of bricks and cement that is being destroyed, but Afghan cinema lovers who have resisted and continued their art despite hardships and severe security problems.” “Unfortunately, all signs of historic Afghanistan are being destroyed.”
Hearing about the destruction of the Ariana Cinema was “very painful and sad news for me,” said Talaash, who has been active in Afghanistan’s film industry since 2004 but has since lived in France. TalibanOccupation of Afghanistan.
Taliban bans most forms of arts and entertainment
Afghanistan’s Taliban government, which seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO troops, has imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, imposing a number of restrictions, including a ban on most forms of entertainment such as movies and music.
Soon after assuming power, the new government ordered all cinemas to cease operations. On May 13 this year, it announced the dissolution of the Afghan Film Administration. Ariana, built on municipal land near a busy traffic intersection, was closed and remained in limbo.
But Kabul Authorities later decided that the cinema, with its stylish marquee and plush red seats, would have to make way for a new shopping complex.
“The cinema itself is a kind of commercial activity and that area was a completely commercial area and there was potential for a good market,” said Niamatullah Barakzai, a spokesman for Kabul Municipality.
He further said, “The municipality aims to develop the land it owns so that it can earn good income from its resources and bring positive change in the city.”
Ariana Cinema began in the liberalization decade of the 1960s.
Ariana opened in 1963, its sleek architecture reflecting the spirit of modernization that the then-ruling monarchy was trying to bring to the deeply traditional nation.
But Afghanistan soon plunged into conflict. The Soviet Union invaded in 1979, and war raged throughout the country by the late 1980s, as the Soviet-backed government of President Najibullah battled a U.S.-backed coalition of warlords and Islamic militants. He was deposed in 1992, but a bloody civil war ensued.
Ariana was heavily damaged and lay in ruins for years. In 1996, the Taliban took over Kabul and whatever cinemas remained in the city were closed.
A new – but temporary – lease of life
Ariana got a new lease of life after the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban from power in 2001, with the French government helping to rebuild it in 2004.
Indian films were particularly popular, as well as action films, while Ariana also began playing Afghan films as a result of the revival of the domestic film industry.
Ariana’s travels with her brothers during her childhood to film director and actor, Talaash, sparked her interest in films.
He said, “It was through this cinema that I fell in love with films and turned to this art.” Eventually, she was featured in one of her own films, Ariana, “which is one of the unforgettable memories for me.”
The cinema was a cultural meeting place for Kabul residents, who “went there to vent their sorrows and problems and to calm their hearts and minds,” Talaash said. “But now, a very important part of Kabul has been taken away. In this new era, we are going backward, which is very sad.”
But, he said, art doesn’t just live in buildings. there is still hope.
“The future looks tough, but it’s not all bleak,” Talash said. “Buildings may collapse, but art lives on in the hearts and minds of people.”
In neighboring Pakistan, authorities imposed heavy taxes on Indian films to curb imports and then banned them altogether after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Bollywood fans from Pakistan will travel to Kabul to watch popular movies.
One of them was Sohaib Romi, a Pakistani film lover and art lover, who remembered watching the Indian film “Samjhauta” or “Compromise” in Ariana with his uncle in 1974.
This loss is personal for them. “My memories are buried in the debris of Ariana Cinema,” he said.
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Contributed by Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan