Life & Style

Lollywood: a brief history

A look back at the history of the Pakistani film industry.

Express October 23, 2010

Milestones in the Pakistani film industry

1966 The Waheed Murad-Zeba starrer Armaan released, which went on to become Pakistan’s first ‘Platinum Jubilee’ film. The film’s soundtrack was composed by Sohail Rana and featured the now-iconic song, “Akele Na Jaana”

1967 Nadeem and Shabnam debuted in Chakori, which featured the song “Kabhi To Tum Ko Yaad Ayenge”

1970’s Most popular actirs in Urdu films: Waheed Murad and Mohammad Ali

1979 Rangeela’s satirical film Aurat Raj releases, but is banned

1990 Reema made her Lollywood debut in Javed Fazil’s Bulandi. Her on-screen pairing with Shaan and the film’s success paved the way for a spate of films starring the two in lead roles

1999 Samina Peerzada’s first directorial venture, Inteha, released. It marked the Lollywood debut for television actor Humayun Saeed

First Pakistani Film: Teri Yaad

Release date: September 2, 1947

Produced by: Dewan Pictures

Directed by: Daood Chand

Starring: Asha Bhosle, Nasir Khan, Shola and Ghulam Muhammad

After the first release in 1947, it took a year-and-a-half for another production to release.

The higs and lows of Lollywood

962: From 1967 to 1977, 962 films were released. The film industry boomed in this period despite political crises and a war with India in 1965.

100: The number of films released in 1968

111: The best year for Pakistani cinema was 1975, when 111 films were released.

39: Since 2007, only 39 films have been released.

COMMENTS (4)

Shahida Kazi | 14 years ago | Reply A couple of corrections:Shabnam did not star in Chakori.The heroines name was Shabana.Secondly the heroine of Teri Yaad was not Asha Bhosle,but a starlet named Asha Posley.And what about the major landmarrks before 1960? believe me there were a lot of them.

Lalit | 14 years ago | Reply arts, like films and music flourish in a society which is progressive and forward looking.narrow mindedness and conservatism often strangles the art.in my opinion Pakistani psyche has inclined toward conservatism,specially after Zia era.there were times when Pakistani movies were at par with Indian movies.but a steady dose of fanaticism brought an early death for this golden period. Art requires strong measures to flourish,but stronger measures to die.if Pakistan wants its Film industry to survive the onslaughts of time,conducive atmosphere has to be built.this will help new talents in all disciplines to come to the fore,and they in turn will give life to the tattering film industry.blaming lack of technology or budget constraints is no help.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Anoop | 14 years ago | Reply Pakistan can only play the role Canada, UK and other English speaking countries play with respect to Hollywood to Bollywood.

Sobia Abdul Razzaq | 14 years ago | Reply i have checked out the figures today in newspaper as well. it shocked to me completely but the good thing i noticed we started getting progress in the showbiz world since we get separate home land. my mother still use to say me no matter how much you people see and praise high to bolly wood but the real actors were Pakistani Only who sacrified their total life in showbiz , she often includes name waheed murab , shamim aara , zeba and etc etc usually gives the references of singers too who give lots and lots success to Pakistan music industry they were classic and very solo. I see the decline started from 2007. the biggest reason i feel the technology , we do not use different technology in making of films now. investment in making films are too low that technology cant be use if it is even present in Pakistan. students who are graduating from media science field are preferring to go India and work with them because of not getting proper salary here. to give a high position to Pakistan film industry first of all we all need to invest high,use technology, make films in Urdu language with a good story line. and to give platform to young ones to come forward and show their talent. then the day is not far when Pakistani cinemas receives crowd as it was in mid 1970s..:)

Replying to X