<p>A 66-year-old cinema in Pakistan has shut down -- mainly due to declining clientele. The Taj Mahal cinema in Abbottabad city, built in 1948, was being dismantled after its owner recently sold the property, the Dawn reported Saturday.<br /></p>.<p>Mohammad Saeed Khan, who ran the cinema for the last four decades, said business was at full swing till 2010, providing entertainment to visitors. <br /><br />Abbottabad, located about 120 km from Islamabad, grabbed global headlines when US Special Forces killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at a hideout in the city. In recent years, business in the cinema dwindled. <br /><br />Built by Mohammad Khan Hoti, a year after Pakistan was born in 1947, the 600-seat cinema once attracted capacity crowds. Hoti sold the property in 1974.<br /><br />Saeed Khan said the decline of the cinema was linked to the dipping fortunes of the Pakistan film industry which failed to produce quality movies.<br /><br />He said internet, CDs, cable and other sources of entertainment also contributed to the gradual decline of the cinema industry in the country.<br /><br />In the last two years, not a single show -- even on the first day of a new film -- could attract more than 200 spectators, Hoti was quoted as saying. <br /><br />The worsening law and order situation also began to keep film lovers away from cinema houses.<br /></p>
<p>A 66-year-old cinema in Pakistan has shut down -- mainly due to declining clientele. The Taj Mahal cinema in Abbottabad city, built in 1948, was being dismantled after its owner recently sold the property, the Dawn reported Saturday.<br /></p>.<p>Mohammad Saeed Khan, who ran the cinema for the last four decades, said business was at full swing till 2010, providing entertainment to visitors. <br /><br />Abbottabad, located about 120 km from Islamabad, grabbed global headlines when US Special Forces killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at a hideout in the city. In recent years, business in the cinema dwindled. <br /><br />Built by Mohammad Khan Hoti, a year after Pakistan was born in 1947, the 600-seat cinema once attracted capacity crowds. Hoti sold the property in 1974.<br /><br />Saeed Khan said the decline of the cinema was linked to the dipping fortunes of the Pakistan film industry which failed to produce quality movies.<br /><br />He said internet, CDs, cable and other sources of entertainment also contributed to the gradual decline of the cinema industry in the country.<br /><br />In the last two years, not a single show -- even on the first day of a new film -- could attract more than 200 spectators, Hoti was quoted as saying. <br /><br />The worsening law and order situation also began to keep film lovers away from cinema houses.<br /></p>