Women feel sexually empowered by doing item numbers: Saqib Malik

The director along with other panellists spoke at KLF about how far Pakistani cinema is from a revival

KARACHI: In a realm where Pakistani cinema is still struggling to find an identity of its own, a panel at the 11^th Karachi Literature Festival broke down ‘Pakistani Cinema in the 21^st Century’, with moderator Ally Adnan probing on the industry’s commercial success and creative expressions.

The star-studded panel comprising of Bee Gul, Sheheryar Munawwar Siddiqui, Faseeh Bari Khan, Faysal Qureshi, Sangeeta Rizvi, Saqib Malik and Irfan Ahmed Urfi sat down to reflect on the same.

Photo: File

The War of Narratives

While the last few years have been good in terms of Pakistani cinema moving towards a somewhat stable identity, the description of a successful movie is, however, still not defined. The primary debate lies between movies that are vessels of capitalism versus movies that revolve around serious social issues.

“If you’re going to watch a commercial film, you sign a silent contract that tells you to just enjoy the movie and not take it seriously,” said actor and producer Sheheryar Munawwar. “On a personal level, I enjoy movies that revolve around serious topics; but as a producer, I would look at the commercial success of a movie.”

On the merit and necessity of item numbers in commercial movies, Sheheryar gave an example from his movie Ho Mann Jahan and said that the placement of an item number in a commercial movie is normal, but it should be organic. “It is organic in a commercial movie, but it wouldn’t fit well in a serious movie,” he said.

Baaji director Saqib Malik said, “We are demonizing item numbers. Mujras have been a part of the sub-continent since ages,” adding, “I think women are taking ownership of their bodies and feel sexually empowered by item numbers.”

Actress and filmmaker Sangeeta agreed with her contemporary, adding that Pakistanis were culturally conditioned to watch mujras. “Item songs are there since the beginning, the only thing that has changed is the attire of the girl in those songs,” she said, with Baaji writer Irfan Ahmed adding that they “are artistic, not moral choices.”

Bollywood versus Lollywood

In the absence of Indian movies, quality films with strong content seem to be the key to a revival of Pakistani cinema.

Speaking on the topic, screenwriter Bee Gul said that the Pakistani industry was far from achieving its identity, and for that, it needed to produce movies in a parallel, “If Bollywood style movies are being produced, Iranian style movies should also get screens,” she said, adding, “In order to find a true identity of the Pakistani cinema, all sorts of movies should be made, for all factions of the society.”

Actor and producer Faysal Qureshi gave his two-cents on the topic and said that we should not compare Pakistani cinema to Indian cinema. “They have thousands of screens, while we have less than two hundred,” he said.

“We are not Bollywood,” added Sheheryar. “India’s industry had a natural evolutionary process while our industry is still growing and maturing. We are still discovering our identity; we are in the process of developing it.

The panel concluded that even though Pakistani cinema is moving towards a revival of sorts, comparing it to Indian cinema is not fair since Bollywood has been crafting meaningful production alongside commercial movies since decades.

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The Censorship Conundrum

With the rise of religious extremism and Sarmad Khoosat’s latest movie facing the brunt of those myopic policies, the moderator posed the question of censorship — “Is there a justifiable reason to stop a film?”

While Faysal said censorship is important because some topics are ‘too out there’ and that ‘our society isn’t ready for them,’ Faseeh and Bee Gul shed light on how censorship is inapt in the 21^st century. “The producer is already scared - there’s self-censorship at play,” said Faseeh.

Bee Gul added that it wasn’t the censor board that stopped the movie, it was the radical groups. “Of course stopping the movie and censoring it is wrong. Sarmad even asked them to preview it, if their ideologies were in contrast. But there has been no progress on that front. The movie is neither here, nor there.”

Saqib also added to the discussion, stating the famous quotation: “One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist.” He said that across-the-board censorship was irrelevant in today’s era. “Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution’ was a radical concept in its day, Lolita was too bold for its time, Manto’s work was way ahead of its time, but that does not mean they weren’t necessary.”

Sangeeta also spoke on the topic and narrated her struggles behind making bold movies back in the day when there was no concept of an audacious heroine. “I made ‘Society Girl’ when I was only 18. The heroine was a call-girl. There was no concept of a bold heroine back then, but I made it, and it was a huge success.”

Producer’s Plight

Even though Pakistani films cannot entirely compare to Bollywood movies with their big budgets and grandeur, they could be branded as somewhat decent – and that is a success story in itself. However, the financial cost of this is something independent producers bear.

“Producing films is extremely difficult. But even when the viewers like it and it is a hit at the box-office, the turnover takes a lot of time to reach the producer,” said Sheheryar. “Independent producers cannot produce more movies because of the problems in the financial model.”

Sangeeta added to the discussion, saying “Producers work the most but get the least money,” adding, “How can you make another movie if you do not get the money from the previous one?”

Photo: File

The Way Forward

Despite the fact that the panel disagreed on the definition of success of a movie, they agreed that something that could play a pivotal role in revitalizing Pakistani cinema is freedom of creative expression and producing content that is well-written.

Faysal reiterated that film-making is a choice, so writers/producers should be given a free hand in doing what they like. “I have my own expression, I will work on that. Writers and directors should not be dictated into producing only a certain kind of movies. That is against their creative expression.”

“There is a lot of responsibility on a creative writer because the content is where the issue lies. It should flow organically, the writer should be given a free hand,” said Bee Gul.

The panel made a lot of valid points, and with the advent of parallel cinema in Pakistan, more local movies can be seen infiltrating the theatres; however, with so much diversity being welcomed into the industry, will Pakistani cinema be able to find its true identity, or will it remain an extension of Bollywood, with a side of Iranian cinema to add flavour?

With this, the much-publicised session winded down as cries of the south flying birds bid farewell to winters in the sun-kissed city by the mighty Arabian Sea.

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