Lahore Karachi Dhaka Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq VCRs film piracy Karachi The Day Shall Dawn Zinda Bhaag Dukhtar Khuda Kay Liye Bol Wrong No. Teefa in Trouble The Legend of Maula Jatt Gulf countries Pashto cinema Punjabi Pakistan North Sindhi films US national UK film production Urdu Balochi
Before the separation of Bangladesh, Pakistan had three main film production centres: Lahore, Karachi and Dhaka. The regime of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, VCRs, film piracy, the introduction of entertainment taxes, strict laws based upon ultra-conservative jurisprudence, was an obstacle to the industry's growth. Once thriving, the cinema in Pakistan had a sudden collapse in the 1980s and by the 2000s "an industry that once produced an average of 80 films annually was now struggling to even churn out few movies." However, with the boom in the Television Industry in Karachi which gave rise to bigger privately owned media houses led to revival of Pakistan Film Industry in the early 2010s. Karachi, now is the biggest production center of Film Industry in Pakistan which produces Urdu, English and Sindhi language Pakistani movies. Lahore is the second big film producer now (mostly Punjabi movies) followed by Peshawar where mostly Pashto films are produced. Films are also being produced on a very small scale from Islamabad (Urdu and English movies) and Quetta (Balochi movies).Pakistani films are gaining its market in the local cticuit and international markets like Gulf countries, UK-Europe, US-North America and Far-East. Many Pakistani movies made their ways to Oscars' foreign language film category i.e. The Day Shall Dawn (1959), The Veil (Ghoonghat) (1963), Zinda Bhaag (2013), Dukhtar (2014), Moor (2015), Mah-e-Mir (2016), Saawan (2017), Cake (2018), Lal Kabootar (2019). Two Pakistani documentary films won the Oscars' for the best documentary film, these are, Saving Face (2012) and A Girl in the River (2016).  
Pakistani movies especially Urdu movies revolve around family drama, romance, love stories, comedy, thriller, social matters, political issues. In contemporary era some Pakistani films have gained international acclaim, these include, Khuda Kay Liye (In the name of God), Bol, Verna, Zinda Bhaag, Load-Wedding, Wrong No., Cake, Teefa in Trouble,  Lal Kabootar, Mah-e-Meer, Moor, The Legend of Maula Jatt.
