Pashto cinema ( ps, د پښتو سينما; ps, پالېوډ), also known as Pollywood, refers to the film industry based in

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, enagaged in production of motion pictures in

Pashto language Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

. The industry is a part of the larger Pakistani cinema.

Origins

Yousuf Khan Sher Bano ''Yousuf Khan Sher Bano'' was the first-ever Pashto film released in Pakistan. It was released on 1 December 1970.Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official langua ...

film produced in

and released in theaters on 1 December 1970. It was directed by Aziz Tabassum, with debut stars Yasmin Khan and Badar Munir. The story is based on the Pashto folk story '' Yousuf Khan and Sher Bano'' and completed 50 weeks at number 1 in Peshawar.

Revival

In 2015, Sanober Qaiser's film ''Sartez Badmash'' was released at two cinemas in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

and ''Pakhtun Pay Dubai'' was released in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

as well as Kabul. In 2013, the first high definition Pashto film Zama Arman was released. After 35 years, in 2015 the Pashto film industry released seven new movies, thus breaking all previous records of film production. All films were screened at the cinemas in

Mingora Mingora ( ps, مینګورہ, ur, ) is a city in the Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Located on the Swat River, it is the 3rd largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the 26th largest in Pakistan. Mingora is the largest city and ...

Mardan Mardān (Pashto and ; Urdu ; Pashto: ) is a city in the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Located in the Valley of Peshawar, Mardan is the second-largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (after Peshawar). It is a fast-growing ...

Kohat Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th centur ...

and even in a few theatres of

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

city. The movies released were ''Ma Cheera Gharib Sara'', ''Sar-Teza Badmash'', ''Daagh'', ''Mayeen kho Lewani vee'', ''Khanadani Badmash'', ''Pukhtoon pa Dubai ke'' and ''I Love You too''. Shama cinema in Peshawar is popular.

Reham Khan Reham Nayyar Khan (Urdu/Pashto: ; born 3 April 1973) is a British-Pakistani journalist, author, and filmmaker from Baffa, Pakistan. She is a former wife of Imran Khan, who later became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018, The publication of ...

's movie ''

Janaan ''Janaan'' (Urdu/Pashto: جانان; ) is a 2016 Pakistani romantic comedy film directed by Azfar Jafri, written by Osman Khalid Butt and co-produced by Hareem Farooq, Munir Hussain, Imran Raza Kazmi and Reham Khan, under production banners o ...

'' has won awards for its screenplay. Naz cinema was first to provide 3D digital movie experience at

Films

References

External links

IMDb database of films in the Pashtu language
{{World cinema , state=autocollapse Culture of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa