Producers’ Alliance Company to churn out tent-pole projects collectively, plans on releasing seven films till Eidul Azha 2016.
Yet another Eidul Azha passed by and Lahore’s theatres remained packed with local films made by ‘Karachi’s filmmakers’. Seems almost all filmmakers of Lahore have already exhausted their war chests and are left with nothing to spare for a tent-pole project that will somehow act as life-support for the city’s dying cinematic milieu.
With the push coming to shove, the desolation has compelled filmmakers to join heads and institutionalise their individual aspirations. A new entity called Producers’ Alliance Company (PAC) has come to the fore, with film producer Amjad Farzand Ali elected as chairman. The producers have this time not shied away from having distributors on board since Film Distributors Association Chairman Chaudhary Ejaz Kamran has been chosen as the company’s secretary.
Kamran feels working in isolation is actually counter-productive in times like these. “If only a single producer injects money in a film and the project falls on its face, the producer will be finished. Hence we decided to set up this platform,” he tells The Express Tribune. He disclosed that their first project Blind Love is already complete and has been made possible with help from the entire fraternity. “We wish to continue on the same path.” He says films will be marketed under the company’s flagship banner and a dedicated team will ensure that the film is promoted to the last extent.
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The plan is simple — churn out a minimum of seven super hits this year. Money will seemingly no more be a problem since all PAC members will pitch in and modern technology will be employed for the task. Young film enthusiasts and students will be given a chance to develop scripts and the company will soon be registered with competent authorities. PAC office-bearers intend to extend a hand to Karachi’s filmmaking fraternity to hop in and be part of what is being considered as a watershed development for Pakistani cinema. “We will soon approach cinema owners and request them to be a part of PAC so that issues between the different sections of the industry can be resolved mutually,” says a senior member of the company.
The industry’s mantle shifting from Lahore to Karachi in recent years has helped filmmakers from Pakistan’s largest metropolis rise in prominence. Meanwhile Lahore is still in troubled waters and this is the foremost reason why its producers and directors were forced to act. Prominent names like Shaan Shahid, Sayed Noor, Shahzad Rafique, Faisal Bukhari, Haji Zulfqar Ali Mana, Pervaiz Kalim, Qaiser Sanaullah and directors including Pervaiz Rana, Javed Butt, Masood Butt, Iqbal Kashmiri, Shaan Mustafa, Altaf Hussain and Masood Butt are all up for the company. They have all decided to collaborate and work on projects will begin real soon.
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Rana is particularly irked by Lahore’s crises. “Unity is a need of the hour and I feel that PAC will play a key role in this regard,” he says, adding, contrary to the general sentiments, films are being produced. It’s just that most are currently in development hell and no producer was able to come up with a finished product before the extended weekend of Eid, he adds. “We will make seven new films this year and they will be screened world over.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2015.
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