Drama production: From the city of kites to the city of lights

The centre for drama production has moved from Lahore to Karachi.

LAHORE:

While surfing channels, you will notice that television dramas have become an essential part of TV entertainment in Pakistan. The growth of private media has opened up doors to the drama industry, which has flourished tremendously over the last decade. However, much to the surprise of audiences, the television market has detoured to Karachi — despite the fact that Lollywood is a Lahore-based industry.

The creative divide

“Around five years ago, 50 per cent of the production work was being done in Lahore. Now everyone, from actors to directors, is shifting to Karachi,” states Ijaz Bajwa, a Lahore-based producer. “[Karachi] has become a hub of television projects and most of the jobs have shifted there and the quality is also improving due to the competition.”

However, this transition has resulted in a decrease of quality in Lahore. Additionally, for producers who work in Karachi, the technical aspects of production have improved to cater to the growing number of shows. Bajwa states that things such as better lighting, cameras and technicians had meant significant difference in quality compared to Lahore.

“When it comes to drama, Karachi is feeding the television channels,” says Bajwa. The progressive nature of business in the metropolitan city has brought several shifts in the industry practices and trends. “There is this general feeling amongst channels that productions from Karachi are more modern and fresh, the technology is better and the demand is more. The supposed high demand for dramas in Karachi is making more people get involved in the industry as the risk in drama is less than in films.”

Confessions of new producers

Humayun Saeed, Nauman Ijaz and an array of other producers have maintained demand by raising the bar and newer producers are also following the same equation to avoid the risk of failure. Saeed, who has made his mark, not only as an actor but also as the owner of one of the most sought after production houses Six Sigma, feels that this change was not planned. He believes that channels were looking for quality and since only a couple of production houses were producing the major bulk of plays, producers felt that a change was required before they could work on the quality of the drama serials.

“Even now if a producer shows the willingness to shoot approximately 2,000 episodes of dramas in Lahore, the actors and directors will follow,” explains Saeed. “The storylines have improved but the overall quality could improve even more if producers are given more power.”

Saeed states that producers don’t work much on quality because they know that there is no legal space for them. Currently, television channels buy all the rights to the drama, which takes the right of distribution and DVD sales away from the producer. Saeed, however, believes that with more and more channels opening, this, too, will change soon.

Actor Adnan Siddiqui, who has also dabbled in production, explains that this shift is good for the industry, as it provides more work and increases competition for existing production houses and is leading to improved quality.

“I have had two experiences of production in Lahore,” states Siddiqui. “For my first drama, I did everything from Lahore and the experience was not good. Even the current project I am working on is only slightly better.”

He explains that Karachi has always been the hub for TV dramas and many hits of the 70s, such as Shama and Waris, had been produced there. It was in the 80s however, that the concept of epic-dramas gained popularity and for a short period of time, producers began to consider Lahore.  Siddiqui adds that many actors shifted to Karachi due to the amount of work available there. However, writers did not feel the need to travel between the two cities because a script can be written and submitted from anywhere.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2011.