DHA Cinema, Phase 2

DHA built this as an auditorium in 2001. In July 2006 it decided to convert it into a cinema, and on 15 November 2006 awarded the management contract to Mandviwalla Entertainment. It opened on 20 July 2007 with Khuda Kay Liye — a fitting first film, since that was the picture credited with bringing Pakistani audiences back into cinemas at all.

On 27 October 2011 DHA shut the cinema, citing security reasons, and then extended the closure to 30 November. The operator disputed that account publicly, saying a civil judge had restrained DHA from interfering. Sources within DHA told the press the real issue was the contract — that Mandviwalla's term had expired and would not be renewed.

We are not taking a side on that. Both accounts were reported at the time and we have printed both. What matters for anyone reading today is the outcome: the cinema is open.

One website gives a grand reopening date of 31 August 2023 after a renovation. That site is machine-generated and we could not confirm the date anywhere else, so we are not printing it as fact.

That is the whole list. Two cinemas, one screen each, in a housing scheme of this size. For anything bigger, DHA residents drive out — Cinepax at Packages Mall on Walton Road is the nearest, and Universal Cinemas at Emporium Mall in Johar Town has nine screens.

The CineStar screen count is unclear — one source says it has only one screen, unlike other CineStar branches, while the chain's own page refers to screens one, two and three. We have not resolved it.

Property websites still describe a two-floor Super Cinema on the fifth commercial floor of Goldcrest Mall in Phase 4. The mall's own website lists its entertainment as a play area, padel courts on the fourth-floor terrace, a gym and a children's area — and its full tenant list, floor by floor, contains no cinema operator at all. That was an announced tenant that did not arrive.

No. We searched DHA's projects list, its joint-venture list and its tenders page, and found no cinema project, no MOU with a cinema chain and no tender. DHA does have 22 kanal in Phase 6 Sector K listed as an entertainment complex and a live proposal request for an indoor entertainment facility in Phase 12 — but that Phase 12 document asks for arcade gaming, digital experiences, a bowling alley and a cafe. It does not ask for a cinema.

The cinema's own website carries a contact page with placeholder text in it — a fake-looking phone number and a head-office address in Phase 5. Ignore that page. The real venue is 305-R in Phase 2, and the number is 042-35747521.