Century-old cinema razed to establish market.

Byline: Aslam Piracha

OKARA -- Nearly a century old Venus Cinema, situated in the centre of the city, was demolished by its current owners to build a commercial market in its place.

Over a century ago, the city's social and night life began around this area, as in those days cinema was the only source of entertainment for people. This is why the area came to be known as Venus Chowk.

Muhammad Arshad, 76, a resident of a locality adjacent to Venus Chowk, told this correspondent that in 1924, a cinema, Radha Talkies, was constructed at this site and movies screened there. After a few years, the cinema began special weekly shows exhibiting English movies.

After Partition, the cinema was renamed Nishat Cinema and its administration taken over by a local, Rao Saeed Khan, the uncle of veteran actor Shahid. After some years, the ownership of the cinema was transferred to a Karachi-based family of Malik Aslam and Malik Ashraf, and the cinema was again renamed, this time as Venus Cinema.

In the 1950s, another cinema was built in the south of the city in front of the railway station as new residential areas started emerging.

The cinema culture remained quite popular till 1990 when video cassette recorders (VCRs) were introduced and became a status symbol among youngsters and in the urban areas. Shops of video cassettes also started emerging with the advent of the VCRs.

Unfortunately, as cinema culture started declining in the country, the last film screened at Venus Cinema was Choorian, which ran successfully for...

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