KARACHI:
For the Pakistani cinema, the days have been dark for far too long. Fortunately, this fragile industry with tremendous potential is finally gearing up to deliver. Bolts have been tightened and hinges oiled, with the industry finally bracing itself for the release of four Pakistani films after a two-year hiatus: Waar, Main Hoon Shahid Afridi, Ishq Khuda and Josh are all set for release this Eid.
For this reason, distributors and exhibitors in Pakistan have decided to abandon Shahrukh Khan-starrer Chennai Express and Akshay Kumar-starrer Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2 -— films which are slated to release worldwide around Eid. The reason cited by the exhibitors is that Pakistani film-makers want all four local films to get more visibility.
Now here’s the problem: by applying a protectionist cultural policy, are we not robbing the Pakistani market of healthy competition? Even if the ban lasts a couple of weeks, we are temporarily relieving ourselves of a much better competition that is going to give us a tough time in the long run. The situation reminds us of the pigeon that closed its eyes to block out the cat that was coming to eat it.
Producers understandably feel that none of our films can compete with the production of value of films like Chennai Express. But what stakeholders tend to overlook is the Pakistani audience’s loyalty to local content. In the past, we saw Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Kay Liye gave a tough time to Emraan Hashmi-starrer Awarapan; while Mansoor’s second flick Bol, outclassed every other film at the local box office on its release.
Such examples render the insecurity of local film-makers misplaced and selfish. If the release of Bollywood films carries on as per schedule, it will help the audience and stakeholders gauge the value and quality of Pakistani films. If a Pakistani film manages to beat a mainstream Bollywood film at the box office, it will be a huge achievement for our film industry, without hurting the Indian film industry at all.
Another point to note is the release dates of Waar, Main Hoon Shahid Afridi, Ishq Khuda and Josh, which have been postponed in the past. If due to further delays in the production or editing, these films are not released on Eid, exhibitors will have to face major losses since the Indian films will not be available.
A similar incident occurred in 2010, when a Syed Noor-led delegation got Indian films banned on Eid by the cultural ministry and promised the release of three Pakistani films. But Eid came and went, and no Pakistani film was released. As a result of this, a mainstream film like Dabangg made it to Pakistani cinemas three days later than its worldwide release — after cable operators had run pirated versions of throughout the holidays. This was one of the worst post-Ramazan box office failures, which could be repeated if there are more delays at our end.
In a debate like this, the decision of actor-turned-film-maker Reema Khan to release her first production venture Love Mein Ghum alongside Salman Khan-starrer Bodyguard should be lauded. Despite being a box office flop, Love Mein Ghum’s release spoke volumes for the effort Reema made to put her film at par with an Indian flick.
The practice of airing Turkish soaps during primetime and screening Indian films on Eid shows how having a healthy competition ups the quality of content produced. Banning or prohibiting foreign content temporarily might be profitable for some, but is essentially unhealthy in the long run.
Shahrukh and Kumar should not be eliminated from the competition this Eid, but instead should be available along with Shaan Shahid and Humayun Saeed. Let’s show some confidence in our entertainers and allow our audience to show its loyalty towards local faces versus Bollywood ones.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2013.
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COMMENTS (14)
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To all my Indian and Pakistani brothers, Cinema is for entertainment and if you can not appreciate anyone's hard-work or efforts please do not pass out silly comments. Talking about the supremacy of Bollywood over Lolly-wood, how about if i compare Hollywood to Bollywood, Every country has its own budget,sense, an ability to produce films, so therefore my humble request to you all is not to judge any film industry without knowing the actual truth and if you could than please appreciate their work, Films like Dabaang, Jab tak hai jaan, Barfi or etc is what the youth of Pakistan and India wants today, that is why Bollywood is producing such movies and it is a profitable venture, Pakistan is far behind in terms of making films but the talent they have produced in the past decades was incredible, Imagine Race without Atif Aslam's major hit song "Pehli nazar mein" a bit flavorless, imagine an absence of Nusrat or Rahat Fateh Ali khan in hindi songs' a huge loss, Imagine no Bollywood in Pakistan, loss of 17 million Pakistani fans and to Pakistan a loss of 65 years of entertainment, Pakistan may have given little to India in terms of fans and revenue and India may have given a lot more to Pakistan in terms of entertainment and love, in the end they both have contributed for a cause which is called the 'Cinema', to end my comment i would like say " Dost to buhat dekhay magar tujh sa dushman na dekha jo saath ho to main gabra jaoon saath na ho to main gabra jaoon "
The culture of Pakistan and India is not the same with significant and sometimes polarized differences in various aspects including ethnic, linguistic, religious, historical, practical, social etc.
There is a degree of commonality though between the two due to the cultural mixing and population migration that occured throughout the history of the region but bollywood masala movies should not be construed as accurate cultural representations, noting that there are always exceptions to the rule and that it may be the case in this instance as well.
Cinema however, especially in Pakistan and even in Indian, is a format strong enough to impact, alter and change culture itself which is enough of a reason for Pakistan, if it desires to continue on the path of cultural sovereignty and independence, to bolster it's own entertainment industry by ensuring that it produces the required volume of quality content, of relevance to it's various demographics.
India, just as many other logic-driven countries have done, installed protectionist policies to lend support to it's indigenous industries and corporations until they became strong enough to withstand competition from external sources, Pakistan needs to do the same.
Previous attempts to do so failed because though the policies were protectionist enough they weren't followed by measures that fulfilled the innate demands and requirements of the public, which made them seem dictatorial and turned public opinion against them.
For two weeks running, new Indian movies are not being released in Pakistan. Is it sign of times to come? Are TTP certified political parties in government, Zia is back in full glory?
@Siddharth Pandey: Totally agree with you. Quality only comes amongst stiff competition.
I pity the people who even think about watching a Bollywood movie. India, despite its all hype, has not been able to produce over a dozen quality pictures in its entire history. Almost 100pc of the Indian blockbusters are a third rate copies of Hollywood or European movies. Our public (Indian or Pakistani) generally lack consciousness otherwise no sane fella is ready to watch an Indian Commercial movie like Dabangg, Ek tha Tiger or Bodyguard etc instead of Avatar or A Separation. I wonder who rated Shahrukh, Salman or Akshay Kumar as first class actors. Huh... They, no doubt, are successful actors but not the great actors. India has a huge lot of great actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan, Coco Sherma, Tabbu, Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and lot more but don't know why these prosaic boys are the favourite. If one intends to watch Indian Cinema, one must go to parallel Indian cinema that is no less than any quality film industry on earth. I pray for the viewers of Indian Commercial Cinema may God give them a little brain to judge the standards.
@kaasma dadabhoy: I know all my lessons in culture and history madam. As for your reference to the Zia regime, may I give you a lesson in history and culture. We had to go through a period of Emergency ourselves from 75-77 under Indira Gandhi what you call dictatorship in Pakistan or Martial Law.. Strict censorship, control on the press and the whole 9yards. Our biggest superstar Amitabh Bachan enjoyed the best part of his career at that time and came to be known as angry young man because his films were overtly anti-establishment. Ironically, countries that are under tyrannical rule, theocratic rule or one party states produce some of the best films or literature. Biggest example in modern times is the films coming out of Islamic Republic of Iran. In Czechkoslovakia we had a dissident playwright Vaclav Havel who went on to become the first President of non-communist Czech Republic. Like wise for Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the former USSR and so on and so forth. So this excuse of the Zia regime stands on shaky ground. Even after Zia died and democracy was restored Indian Films were not allowed for a longtime. Exactly that happened when there is no competition, people got lazy!! you cannot expect people to back you, invest in your work or appreciate it if you are not good at it. It's a business. Nobody likes to run a loss making business. I could not care less who works in Pakistans embassies. The bottom line is, if your directors made good movies people would watch them. If they make crap, your cinemas will shut down!! In the entire year you make 3-4 movies. That's how many movies release here in a fortnight. Hollywood films have never been banned in India. We have he largest English speaking population in the world. Yet Bollywood rules. So please, stop blaming the world or your plight, get down and work hard. If Iran and its directors can make class movies, I don't see why Pakistan cannot. The rest is just excuses.
Protectionist Cultural Policy exists everywhere in the world including India. Are Pakistani TV Channels allowed in India?
This is not ban but choice made by the exhibitors to promote local product & culture which may not get promotion because of the heavy investments Indian producers make in the marketing department. Why don't Indian exhibitors show all our movies in their country at the time of the release.I think this is a good decision by the exhibitors to show movies with low budget and with relatively unknown faces.There is an opportunity for the Pakistani cinema to prove actually that Pakistani cinema is different from Indian cinema and create their own audience.Not everyone likes to watch an Indian masala.I personally like to avoid an Indian movie and i i want an alternative.
@Siddharth Pandey there is no comparison between Bollywood and Lollywood. I wish people like you would learn some lessons in culture and histtory before making bold inaccurate statement about the health of the film media in both countries. The basic culture in India and Pakistan is the same yet different.India did not have a time in their history that Pakistan did when Zia moved the country backward destroying an trace of "foreign culture" and even though Pakistan Lollywood was not in par with Bollywood there were enough masala films to meet needs of the masses. Also the government of India has allowed assistance in creating a more decent atmosphere of training in technical aspects and the overall economy of India has moved the middle class where they can enjoy events that were out of their reach. Also the Indian government has a mass publicity machine to promote and invite all aspects of its economy from film media to software applications. Pakistan lacks in this area the embassies of Pakistan is staffed with cronies of the administration that are rude and have no interest in promoting positive images of the Pakistan talent from manufacturing to education. The embassies are treated as holiday residences for their family and friends. My feeling that any ban of speech no matter how disgusting and crude does the society harm. The banning of youtube in Pakistan is a good example, and even this temporary ban of Indian films is a band-aid for what ails Lollywood. The lack of support for Pakistani films by the locals and the investment for new aspiring film makers is not-existent in Pakistan.
@author Because its high time that we should focus on Pakistani talent rather promoting foreign soaps and movies, we should give respect and priority to our artist and cinema, they need our response and backup.
Excellent article. Superbly balanced!! Since the Indo-Pak war of 65 Indian films were banned in Pakistan. The ban was lifted after a 50year monopoly for the Pakistani film industry. But even after such a longtime the film industry was in shambles. It's when the Pakistani films had to once again compete with Indian films have we seen some excellent work come out of Pakistan in recent times. Bottom line is competition brings the best out of everybody. As Khuda Kay liye and Bol have proved, Pakistani films can compete with the best and beat them. So why the hullabaloo??? Syed Noor is just anti-Indian more than anything else. In a market, it should be down to he consumer to choose what's best for him. @H: completely agree with you. It should have been in the blog section.
@H: Good point.
Author: "If a Pakistani film manages to beat a mainstream Bollywood film at the box office, it will be a huge achievement for our film industry, without hurting the Indian film industry at all."
Please note Indian film industry is not hurt one way or another. It is the Pakistani cinema owners that are deprived of profits by bans/postponement of Indian movies. Revenues from Pakistan are a rounding error for all Bollywood producers. The fact that Ek Tha Tiger was not allowed to be released in Pakistan did not prevent it from becoming one of the biggest blockbusters of 2012.
Waar is big budget film, it has potential and production value to compete with indian films. Moreover I agree with writer that banning indian cinema is not solution, you are actually sending a wrong message to audience.
Why was this published in the life and style section? The author is clearly voicing his own opinion and there is nothing wrong with that but perhaps this could have been places under the blog section?