The first VCR was created in 1977, and it is astonishing that by 1978, some of them were actually found in Pakistan, a country where it’s import was illegal till 1983. Most of the VCRs were brought or sent back from the expatriates working in the Persian Gulf, or those living in the UK or US. Many were also brought back by the army officers who were getting posted for a short while in Saudi Arabia. It is absolutely surprising, that by the middle of 1978, a number of VCRS, perhaps 1 per 1000 people or so, were available in Pakistan.
It was a common sight to see a number of people getting together at one person’s place to watch an Indian movie. Even in the poor localities, the whole mohallah was likely to borrow both the VCR and a couple of Indian films for the night from someone and watch it together. In almost all cases, the people would get inside and watch the film, instead of setting up a television on the street. This was because of multiple reasons; watching Indian films was considered by many to be an immoral act, and secondly, since the VCR was not legalized, there was always a chance that the police may come in and confiscate the material.
Hence for this purpose, it was important for many people to remain on good terms with those who owned the VCR in their mohallah :), lest any acrimony prevent them from getting invitations to future viewings of popular Amitabh Bachchan films.
When the VCR was finally legalized in 1983, many people bought the machine who had previously been scared of having legal repercussions. The government of Zia ul Haq however, did not publicize the change in the law, hence leading many people to even be unsure till the mid 80s about whether it was legal or not. The legalization gave rise to a number of video rental shops in the cities and even villages. While initially, people were only content at watching the personal Amitabh Bachchan collections of others, now they had access to the new releases and a much bigger choice.
Amongst the video stores, the term ‘Chaapaa’ became especially notorious. It basically referred to a raid by the police, resulting in the confiscation of all the Indian films, since their rentals were illegal. If the video store was to get an advance whiff of such a raid, they would invariably hide all their Indian films, and only display the Pakistani and English films in their stores to prevent confiscation of any kind. There were also reports of some customers getting arrested along with the store operators during a raid, hence people would be apprehensive during those times in going to get a movie as well.
Once the video rental stores came up,** it was a common sight on the weekends to see a couple of men on a bike, with the one sitting behind holding up a VCR wrapped up in a blanket** 
. Even in their homes, when people put the VCRs in the living rooms, they would generally cover it with a blanket during the time the guests were expected to arrive. Despite the legalization, the VCR still had connotations of immorality, primarily because the driving force behind the acceptance of the technology was Indian films. Mullahs in various sermons across the country could be heard talking about the ‘menace of VCRs’ and how it was taking the people away from Islam.
Once VCRs got legalized, wedding videos became another driving force to its popularity; one which was socially acceptable as well. Many people, initially used their VCRs only to play the wedding movies of their children, or to record PTV programs if they were going to miss them for one reason or the other.
The advent of the VCR was one of the most significant technological events of it’s time in Pakistan. Not only did it contribute to the demise of an already fledgling Pakistan film industry, but it also made TV watching as people’s prime entertainment. Additionally, it created a cultural onslaught which confuses most people even today, to the extent that many claim it is impossible to get out of it, and hence should not be resisted.
Many people have different theories about the acceptance of VCRs in Pakistan. First of all, given that it was Zia ul Haq period, people, especially women, were expected to sit at home. Given that there was only one channel on TV, and that too started off around 5 PM, Indian films provided an alternative source of entertainment for them. The Zia ul Haq government also wanted people to stay inside their houses most of the time in order to avoid political mass gatherings, so it was fairly liberal in the law making for VCR imports. Thirdly, the youth of the late seventies had heard a lot of stories about some very good Indian films that their elders had seen prior to 1965 in Pakistani theatres, and there was a lot of curiosity. Finally, Bollywood was producing around 5-6 films of great quality per year at that time, and given that in Pakistan, there was a backlog of nearly 15 years, there were a lot of great quality films which the people could be entertained by. Some of the most popular rentals at that time were various Amitabh Bachchan films like Sholay, Amar Akber Anthony, Naseeb, Lawaaris, Yarana, Silsila, Kaalia, Deewar, Suhaag etc. while apart from the James Bond movies, English films like Message and Ten Commandments were also very popular.
, because the VCR was to be returned in the morning and we HAD to watch at least 3 movies… Things changed pretty fast at the end of the 80s and specially with the start of the 90s when the dish was introduced.