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To understand the magnanimity of the screening in Riyadh a few days ago where the film became the first one to be shown in Saudi Arabia in 35 years and in the process reversed a ban on theatres, one needs to consider the median age of the Kingdom. In 2015, the median age of Saudi Arabia's population was 29.8 years, which in other words suggests, that almost half of the country’s population has no idea of what it means to watch a film on the big screen.
Following the 1979 siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca that hard-liner clerics had banned cinemas in Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s. This reversal is amongst the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s bid to modernise the country. In addition to allowing women to attend a football match for the first time in 2017, the Crown Prince, who is fondly referred to as MBS by the young, has also announced that women would be free to drive soon. With most Saudis under 30 years old, a development such as lifting the ban on cinemas not only means an initiation of a whole new demographic group to the joys of watching film on the big screen but also promises to usher in a new generation of local filmmakers.
Till a few months ago most Saudis who wanted to watch a film on the big screen would have to go to the neighbouring Bahrain or Dubai but the ones who dreamt of being storytellers had to contemplate leaving their nation altogether to pursue their dreams. Cinemas were a space where men and women could meet unsupervised and as a result, this could lead to immoral actions outside of marriage. Under the Sharia Law that governs Saudi Arabia, any act that might lead a person astray from Islamic faith was considered ‘haram’ and the mere suspicion of this is enough for a ruling. The first Saudi film was made in 1975 and called Developing Riyadh City by Abdullah Al-Muheisen and through the 1970s most foreign embassies in the Kingdom would screen films for the local population but following the ban, everything changed.
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In an interview to a website, Ahmed Al-Mulla, the director of the Saudi Film Festival, said that while there was ‘Saudi Film‘ per se but there is a movie industry in the country. Comprising of amateurs such as Abdulrahman Khawj, 30, who might not have had support from the state up until now to develop their craft but have kept up-to-date with the latest technology thanks to the Internet and studying film in Europe or the United States. The only thing lacking was that their work could only be screened on a non-commercial platform but now this could be a thing of the past. According to reports the US theatre chain, AMC will soon be opening 40 cinemas in Saudi cities over the next five years and the Saudi government wants 350 theaters with nearly 2500 screens by 2030.
With the lifting of the prohibition along with the changes championed by MBS as a part of his Vision 2030, it’s a matter of time before Saudi Arabia becomes a big hub for Bollywood. The geopolitical developments in the region where China is fast emerging as a great market for Bollywood, or Baahubali completing a 100-day run in Japan are bound to play a big role in Bollywood’s foray into Saudi Arabia. With Aamir Khan becoming a household name in China following the success of Dangal and Secret Superstar the Chinese market that had a quota on the release of foreign films (only 34 for a year) was inspired to increase the number of Indian films releasing locally but this wouldn’t be the case in Saudi Arabia.
Right now the relationship between the two countries is at it’s best and a great deal of this could be attributed to the personal camaraderie between the Indian prime minister and the Crown Prince. The popularity of Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan in markets such as the UAE – SRK featured in a video that promoted Dubai tourism and was shot extensively in UAE – surely suggest that Saudi Arabia would also shower the same treatment. More than a mere market for films, Saudi Arabia’s tourism could also get a boost if Bollywood decides to shoot some big-ticket film in the Kingdom.
Updated Date: May 06, 2018 12:26 PM