After courting controversy over his remark that women wearing fewer clothes invite sexual predators, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has now said that the vulgarity in the Pakistan film industry is influenced by Bollywood in India and Hollywood in the US.
While speaking about the evolution of the film industry in Pakistan at an awards ceremony, the PM asked filmmakers to stick to original content, adding that the Pakistan film industry was influenced by the “vulgarity” in Hollywood and Bollywood.
“I want originality in our film industry and for it to bring a new way of thinking,” Khan said, adding, “Vulgarity started from Hollywood, came to Bollywood and then that kind of culture was promoted here.”
The PTI chief made the remarks while addressing a prize distribution ceremony of the National Amateur Short Film Festival (NASFF) in Islamabad. He also urged filmmakers to adopt new approaches in filmmaking, while referring to the popularity of Pakistan TV shows in India, as reported by Dawn.com.
Earlier in April, during a question and answer session with the public, Khan had said that the rise in sexual violence in Pakistan, particularly against children, was caused due to “fahashi” (vulgarity).
Answering a question if women’s clothes can provoke sexual violence, Khan had said, “If a woman is wearing very few clothes it will have an impact on the men unless they are robots. It’s common sense.”
“…I said the concept of ‘purdah’. Avoid temptation in society. We don’t have discos here, we don’t have nightclubs. It is a completely different society way of life here. So if you raise temptation in society to a point — all these young guys have nowhere to go — it has a consequence in the society.”
He added, “It depends which society you live in. If in a society people have not seen that sort of thing, it will have an impact on them.”