Bollywood vs Lollywood

LONDON: This is with reference to your article of April 20 titled ‘Afghanistan’s love affair with Bollywood’. First we should admit that Bollywood is far ahead of Lollywood. But our Pashto films are doing well and after the demise of the Taliban, the industry has been given a major boost. Even Afghans are investing in this industry and the market for Pashto films also includes the Middle East.

As for our Punjabi films, these should be marketed to communities all over the world and also in the Indian Punjab. Our Urdu film industry should be shifted to Karachi where films can be produced that can target the Hindi film market. We can also make a lot of money by promoting our singers through our own companies in collaboration with Indian firms. Success comes only through planning and government support for the arts. That is precisely why Iran has done well in cinema.

And the arts can be a good way to promote a country’s image because if done well and with quality, the whole world can sit up and take notice. Lollywood will improve only if it improves the quality of films that it makes – and by this I mean not only in terms of content such as script and plot but also production.