All talk and no action prevails in Lollywood


Ali Usman June 05, 2010

LAHORE: While Lollywood directors and producers are pressing the government to take concrete steps for the revival of the film industry, they have not done anything to help their own cause.

United Film Association Pakistan, the body which is negotiating with the government officials on different fronts for the film industry’s revival, has yet to start any new film projects.

The Ministry of Culture and Pakistan Film Censor Board, on the other hand, have agreed on giving Lollywood the official status of an industry.

A proposal to stop screening of foreign movies for 15 days when a new Pakistani film hits the cinema is also under consideration.

Production houses in Lahore, despite all these guarantees by the government, are waiting for directors and producers to grace their doors.

Visits to prominent film studios in Lahore revealed that they are still empty as no shootings of films were in progress.

An official of the Shah Noor Studio said that there was a time when people had to wait in queues to get into the studio, adding that now the studio employees waited for someone to come and pay a visit to them.

“A lot of people are taking about the revival of the film industry,” he said.

“We all want this but hopes are not high. It seems as if this uproar of revival will go down itself as soon as the budget season gets over,” he said.

Currently, four movies are being shot and majority of them are in Punjabi.

Pakistan Film Exhibitors Association Chairman Kamran Lashari said that film producers are very fond of having the screening of films delayed for 15 days but nobody has said how many films are in the pipeline.

“Production houses are lying vacant with no business to do. I don’t see the target of producing 10 movies being achieved this year. When no movies are in the making, can the cinemas be run just on the film announcements,” he questioned.

The association’s chairperson Mian Amjad Farzand Ali said that the work was being done on the scripts of his films.

When asked whether any work has started on the 10 movies that he announced at the launch of association, he replied, “Four not 10 movies were announced.
The work is being done on the scripts and we will start a movie soon because we don’t want to make a formulaic or flop film”.

He said that once the scripts are finalised there wouldn’t be a problem in completing the movies quickly.

Film director and the association’s vice-chairperson Sangeeta also repeated Farzand’s claims.

She said that she was working on the scripts for a few films and would start filming soon.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 6th, 2010.

COMMENTS (1)

Aayan Mirza | 13 years ago | Reply Oh god please revive this film industry.... m dying to watch a good Urdu Pakistani movie, and can pay any amount for it....All the movies here are made in Punjabi language, mans only for one particular province not for the country, if they are not producing something for whole country then why they are expecting people of the whole country to support them and their film industry by watching movies and coming to cinemas. If you still want to make these pathetic standard Punjabi movies then make it and cry your self then, that no industry here.... , no industry here.... and ask only punjabi population to support them not whole country then....
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