Pakistani films should be shorter, says Zeba Bakhtiar

Actor discusses her career and the future of the local film industry.

LAHORE:

Pakistani filmmakers will make better and better movies with time and persistence, but they should shorten films from the usual two or three hours of running time, said actor Zeba Bakhtiar in conversation with Juggan Kazim at the last day of the Khayal Festival of Arts and Literature on Sunday.

The veteran actor discussed the glitz and glamour of her career and her hopes for the future of Pakistani cinema before an audience of around 100, who were captivated by her beauty and candour.

“Glitz and glamour are all fine, but I always longed for a real life, so naturally the glamorous life of a film star was never enough for me,” said Bakhtiar.



The actor said that her role in 1991 Bollywood film Henna brought her great fame. “The film made a huge mark in my professional career. Audiences always seem to recall it as a major project in my career,” she said.

But it also highlighted the stark differences between “real life and reel life,” she said. “The duality is so strange. Once the cameras stopped, you’d realise that it’s all gone. It was not real. That is when you want reality.”

Bakhtiar said that audiences tended to perceive actors and actresses differently once they got married. “The audience idolises actors and actresses, imagining them as people they would want to fall in love with. Once they realise these people are married, have children and families, that level of fantasy naturally goes away,” she said.

In reference to contemporary Pakistani cinema and language, she said that she understood the use of Punjabi in Zinda Bhaag, but felt that the use of English in Waar was “a bit excessive”.

But ultimately, it was for the director to decide how much of the script should be in a language other than Urdu. “It is a very personal choice, since only the director can decide which language would be best to narrate his story to his audience,” she said.

She said it was time Pakistani films considered shorter running times than the usual 2-3 hours. The film industry also needed to invest in better acting, script writing, editing and production. “It is a learning process, it will take time, but we have to do it. The successful are those who don’t give up. They keep going,” she said. She urged audiences to buy tickets and watch films in cinemas.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th,2013.