Halla Gulla director blames distributor for failure

Kamran Akbar says flaws in film could’ve been avoided through better planning

KARACHI: Although Halla Gulla was not expected to set cinema screens ablaze on Eidul Azha, its failure caused director Kamran Akbar to lay the blame on the distribution company’s door. Having released during the lucrative Eid weekend, the movie had to fend off serious competition in the form of Jawani Phir Nahi Ani (JPNA), which apart from being a comedy also boasted a stellar cast, reported Roznama Express.

“Lack of promotion and a wrong release date eventually contributed to Halla Gulla’s poor numbers,” stated Akbar. He added that if the distribution company behind the movie, Distribution Club, had screened the movie on its initial release date of August 28, it could have performed better in Pakistani cinemas.

Despite terming the release date as the reason behind the underwhelming response to the film, he admitted there were a few flaws in his own directorial debut. “It was my first film so it is bound to have some flaws, something which could have been easily avoided through better planning.”

Read: Jawani hits the Pakistani box office

Although the film was unable to strike a chord with audiences and critics alike, he added that his intentions behind making the movie were honest. “I cast young actors because the industry needs new blood and fresh faces but unfortunately, the experiment failed badly,” he noted.

The movie was unable to stretch its run on the local box office and was removed from cinemas after two weeks. “Many people have said to me that I should’ve released it on single-screen cinemas instead of the multiplexes. I think this would have been a wrong approach as I would be discriminating between audiences at different cinemas.”

Read: ‘Our standard of comedy has declined since PTV days’

Taking the failure of his first feature film in his stride, Akbar is set to move onto his next project and avoid the mistakes he made earlier. “I have started drafting the story for my next movie and it is most likely going to be a romantic film and a family-drama,” stated the director.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 17^th, 2015.

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