Nouman Ijaz highlights the 'gundagardi' of Pakistan's entertainment industry
In August 2020, filmmaker and host Rafay Rashdi’s online talks how Behind the Curtain ended up on Amazon Prime for the US and UK audiences. Now, the second season of his show has initiated, and in an episode featuring Nouman Ijaz, we can see how Take Two will be uncovering the various problems faced by artists in the film and television industry of Pakistan.
In this episode, Ijaz, who has spent decades in the showbiz, can be seen exposing loopholes nobody talks about. Upon being asked whether artists are denied payments so often that they have no option but to name and shame, Ijaz said, “There is no actor or producer in Pakistan who can say their payment is not stuck.”
“Even my payments are stuck,” he continued, “how can I talk about anybody else? One channel owes me Rs45-50 million and another channel owes me Rs20-25 million.”
The Dar Si Jaati Hai Sila actor went on to assert that these are “big channels”. “It’s been four-five years since one channel hasn’t paid me and three years since another. You go asking for your money and they make you run after several other people. A producer has to beg in front of the broadcaster for his own money and the broadcaster pays him the bare minimum from that amount just to shut him up,” claimed the veteran.