Zara Noor Abbas Says Pakistani Cinema Must Earn Audience Support as Sheroes Heads to Cinemas

Pakistani cinema has spent years asking audiences to support local films, but Zara Noor Abbas believes that support cannot simply be demanded.

It has to be earned.

As her new film Sheroes prepares to arrive in cinemas, the actress has spoken openly about something the industry doesn’t always like to admit: people aren’t going to buy a ticket just because a movie happens to be Pakistani.

They want to be entertained.

It’s a simple argument, but an important one at a time when local filmmakers are still trying to convince audiences that Pakistani movies are worth another trip to the cinema.

Zara Noor Abbas Wants the Films to Speak for Themselves

There has long been a familiar message around Pakistani film releases: support your own industry.

Zara doesn’t completely disagree with that idea. What she questions is the expectation that audiences should support every local movie regardless of what is being offered.

Moviegoers have options.

A cinema ticket competes with streaming platforms, television, YouTube, restaurants, shopping and countless other ways people can spend their free time.

If Pakistani cinema wants those viewers back in theatres, Zara’s argument is that filmmakers need to give them a reason to come.

The responsibility cannot sit entirely with the audience.

Sheroes Arrives With Three Different Stories

That conversation comes just as Zara prepares for the release of Sheroes, an anthology film built around three women and three separate stories.

Instead of following one group of characters from beginning to end, the movie brings together independent stories led by Zara Noor Abbas, Ushna Shah and Kinza Hashmi.

Each woman enters a very different world.

Ushna Shah plays a boxer.

Kinza Hashmi leads a story centred around an artist.

And Zara steps into uniform as a police officer working in bomb disposal.

The three stories don’t need to connect with one another to explore a similar idea: women facing challenges in spaces where strength can take very different forms.

Zara Noor Abbas Trades Family Drama for Action

For viewers familiar with Zara through television, her Sheroes character offers a noticeable change.

She isn’t dealing with the drawing-room conflicts usually associated with Pakistani dramas.

This time, she is riding a motorcycle, handling dangerous situations and working as an officer tasked with defusing explosives.

It’s a more physical role than audiences normally see her playing.

More importantly, the character puts a Pakistani woman at the centre of an action-oriented story without treating her simply as a supporting figure beside a male hero.

That alone makes the role interesting.

Pakistani television has given actresses plenty of emotionally demanding characters, but mainstream cinema has had fewer opportunities to place women at the centre of stories involving physical danger and action.

Ushna Shah Steps Into the Boxing Ring

Ushna Shah’s part of the anthology takes the film in another direction.

Her character is a boxer, and the promotional material shows her training and preparing to enter the ring.

A boxing story naturally comes with physical struggle, but the character also fits the broader theme of women pushing against limitations placed around them.

For Ushna, it’s another opportunity to move away from the kind of roles audiences regularly see on television.

And because Sheroes is an anthology, her story doesn’t have to compete for space inside Zara or Kinza’s narratives.

Each segment gets its own identity.

Kinza Hashmi Enters the Art World

Kinza Hashmi leads the third story as an artist.

Compared with boxing and bomb disposal, that may sound like the quieter part of the movie, but the trailer hints at a world involving paintings, truth and deception.

It gives Sheroes a useful contrast.

The movie isn’t trying to define a “strong woman” through only one kind of character.

One woman can demonstrate strength inside a boxing ring, another while confronting physical danger as a police officer, while another can face an entirely different battle through her work and identity.

That variety could ultimately be one of the anthology’s biggest advantages.

Can Sheroes Bring Audiences Back to Pakistani Cinema?

That is the question hanging over almost every major local release.

Pakistani audiences haven’t stopped loving movies. They regularly turn up when something captures their attention.

The challenge is convincing them that a local production deserves the same excitement.

And this is where Zara Noor Abbas’s comments become particularly relevant.

Telling people to support Pakistani cinema may create goodwill, but goodwill alone isn’t enough to build a sustainable film industry.

Audiences remember whether they enjoyed themselves.

If a movie gives them a memorable experience, they’ll talk about it, recommend it and potentially return for the next release.

If it doesn’t, asking them to support the industry again becomes increasingly difficult.

A Different Kind of Pakistani Film

Sheroes at least arrives with a concept that separates it from a conventional romantic comedy or family drama.

Three actresses.

Three standalone stories.

A boxer, a police officer and an artist.

That structure also gives the film room to experiment without forcing every idea into a single storyline.

Behind the camera, Saqib Khan and Badar Mehmood are directing the anthology, while Mohsin Ali, Hashim Nadeem and Amna Mufti are credited as writers.

The film is produced by Imran Hussain and is scheduled to reach cinemas nationwide on October 2, 2026.

Now the Audience Gets to Decide

Zara Noor Abbas has made a fair challenge to the industry she works in.

Don’t simply ask audiences to support Pakistani films.

Give them films they actually want to support.

With Sheroes, that challenge now applies to her own movie as well.

The concept is different, the three leading actresses have distinct characters, and the film is attempting to put women’s stories at the centre rather than around the edges.

But ultimately, marketing can only get a movie to opening day.

What happens after that depends on whether audiences walk out of cinemas feeling that their ticket was worth it.

And perhaps that’s exactly how Pakistani cinema should be judged.

Will you be watching Sheroes in cinemas, and do you agree with Zara Noor Abbas that Pakistani films need to earn audience support rather than simply ask for it?