Lollywood’s clan connection

LAHORE: Sixty-three years later, Lollywood still hasn’t shed the notion of naming films after certain clans.

Producers and directors believe that films based on clans appeal to a certain group of people and are good for business. Writers, on the other hand, argue that producers put limitations on them and do not let them go out of certain parameters.

Nasir Adeeb, one of the most celebrated writers in Lollywood, is considered to have started the trend of naming films after clans. His film Wahshi Jutt, released in 1975 and was followed by a series of films that had titles based on clans. Talking to The Express Tribune, Adeeb said, “When I started writing for films, it was the era of Yahya Khan’s martial law. I looked around and realised one couldn’t write on the establishment, army, ministers and judiciary. I was left with a very limited choice. Then I thought and decided to introduce personal enmity as the subject of my films. I wrote Wahshi Jutt which turned out as a super hit and Jutts became famous with this film.”

“After some time Gujjars realised that they should also be in films. They approached me and requested to write a film on them. I then wrote Jugga Gujjar which also became a huge hit. Others started following this trend and films were made on many clans including Butt, Arain, Rajput and others”.

Adeeb believes that in past it was justified to make films on personal enmity and clans but in the current age other social issues must be dealt with through cinema. “I stopped writing after Sultan Rahi passed away. The writers should have come out of this mind set but I guess producers don’t allow them to do so. Now I have resumed writing myself and I am working on several films which are based on social issues not clans”.

An official of the Pakistan Film Producers Association, the organisation that registers films’ titles, said that the practice of making films on different clans started in 1970. “Before the 1970s, one can hardly find a film based on a clan,” he said.

One of the two films likely to be released this Eid is also based on clans. Pervez Rana’s Ilyasa Gujjar is likely to release this month.

Director Sangeeta believes that certain films based on clans were hits at the box office which led many filmmakers to follow the practice without realising that the ideas ought to be changed as times progressed.

A director who spoke on condition of anonymity said a director often has to bow to the wishes of the producer. “There isn’t any training for becoming a producer here. If a producer wants his film’s name to be based on clan, the director can only argue and can’t stop him from doing so. If someone is making a film on Gujjars, he is likely to get financing for it from someone belonging to the said clan,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2010.