Lollywood: A comment
Last week, a friend shared a nice article, about the decline of Lollywood under pressure of religious-based policies and piracy, on facebook. The full text can be read here. It was an interesting read, with references to a famous actor of yesteryear (and now director) , evoking the general nostalgia that comes with remembering the gone-by glory days of any institution or industry.
The article talked of how Zia's policies ordained the film business to be vulgar which started the downfall and the governmental patronage that the film industry was looking for never really resumed after his era. I don't agree completely. Not that religious based govt policies and piracy have not hurt the film industry, they have indeed affected it for the worse but somehow by saying this, the industry tries to comfortably lay clear of the blame. It is also their fault that things are how they are nowadays: a dwindling decadent mess. Lack of equipment doesn't stop one from writing a good screenplay. It doesn't stop from using the talents of the great crop of actors and directors that we have here either. Take Syed Noor for example, Chooriyan, Ghoongat and Majajan are definitely films I remember (and I watched them in a cinema!) and as my friend pointed out in our discussion about this article on facebook, creativity is a thing separate from unhelpful policies. Stifling environments can help produce the best art sometimes and we have had Sabiha sumar's 'khamosh pani', Feryal gohar's 'tibbi gali', even Omar Khan's "zibakhana" (in its own sense of genre) in recent years that can prove this point.
I know that it is a vicious cycle and if the industry isn't thriving, it certainly puts a damper on creative forces. But still there was a time when these industry wallahs could have owned up to this problem and helped avoid the circumstances we presently find ourselves in. Now, I'm afraid, it is really a Herculean task.
Revival of proper film production companies would be great for this cause, but I doubt that would happen since the existing producers can make better money by switching to tv or advertisements. However, they need to understand that if Race and Singh is Kinng can open to packed houses in Pakistan (people paying as much as Rs. 200 for a ticket in these new Multiplexes in urban centres) despite of the fact that these movies are available in the market for a mere Rs. 60 then definitely piracy is not a major reason for our decline.
One more thing, I find most people who talk about the revival of Cinema, of the opinion that Pakistan needs good cinema. I disagree, we don't exactly need good cinema for this revival (although it would be more than welcome) we need commercial movies! run-of-the-mill comedies and cheesy action flicks that would help turn in the cash! Hell, "budha gujjar" did more good to the whole Punjab circuit than "Ramchand Pakistani" could do for a single city.
March 18, 2010 at 5:54 PM
an extremely intelligent take on the industry. i don't think i've heard anyone put it better myself.
the only minor quibble i would have is near the end. your insight that commercial films are the need of the hour is spot on. i am not sure if you meant that this means we don't need to make "good" cinema, but if so i disagree. i just think we need to recalibrate what good cinema means in our country. people seem to think that realist films like those in the west are what constitutes good. i think we can make very pakistani films, in all their bizarre glory, while still making them very intelligent.
that said, i think that's something that is going to take something special.
other than that, a great look at the cinema. super post!
March 19, 2010 at 4:58 AM
thanks for appreciating! (somebody is reading my not-public-as-yet-blog yaayyy! :D )
I didn't mean that at all, in fact I wrote that they are most welcome. Interesting thought there, about the recalibration of our definition of "good". We could have our own brand of intelligent filmmaking that way! :)
But we need intelligent independent film-makers/film students like yourself and good writers!
March 19, 2010 at 9:05 AM
invited or uninvited....whatever
commercial cenima is the real need of the hour (not the one with vulgarity) , the thing is u need to put money in ur industry then u can make people watch the movies which are considered 'good' as refered by waqas..........
people have lost the confidence in pakistani cenima...........and 'ramchand pakistani' again people more confident in their thinking......even Hollywood has only some pet story lines but their presentation,creativity and technology comes into play.......... in a million films only cpouples make to the mark and the pakistani film industry have to work alot for this...........patriotism wont work here
March 19, 2010 at 9:05 AM
April 26, 2010 at 5:11 AM
@Shahbaz I couldn't find anything relevant in there except two points which I would like to take on:
Commercial cinema is the need of the hour but why sans vulgarity? What is vulgarity, really? This is debatable. I like big, buxom punjabi lasses dancing around in sugarcane fields and showing their fatty curves. Why do you want to deprive me of that?
"Patriotism won't work here" I can't understand if this statement was uttered in response to the above discussion or just a feeling you wanted to share. In the above comments we were talking about the brand of cinema/film-making we have here in Pakistan and talking about not changing it altogether but rather retouching it with intelligent storylines.
April 26, 2010 at 6:12 AM
@vics
"I like big, buxom punjabi lasses dancing around in sugarcane fields and showing their fatty curves. Why do you want to deprive me of that?"
i agree with you on the debatibility of what constitutes vulgar, but the use of actresses dry humping stoic strong men, which is what happens in every film, is exploitative crap. i understand that i may personally not find the use for a gyrating woman, but if there must be such dances, it should involve the hero as well. i hate this trend where the hero stands there, looking gruff, while the woman literally rubs herself into an orgamic state against him. the huge disconnect between portrayals of men v women is one of the reasons the cinema has become a male preserve. people will still see 'vulgar' dances if it involves both sexes, as can be seen with bollywood films. the lolly obsession of making women no more than empty receptacles of oozing sexual innuendo is a big problem too.
on that note do check out the film "Aurat Raj" which in my opinion is the greatest film in pakistani history
April 26, 2010 at 7:04 AM
I'm a bit upset that the "vulgarity" thing might have portrayed me as the usual male chauvinist pig slash patriarchal bastard. But I think you understand that I was just being sarcastic there and not really confessing to a fetish... and if that's not the case I must apologize! :$ I completely agree with putting an end to the exploitation of women in Pakistani films especially the Punjabi movies. The point I was trying to imply earlier was that we wouldn't consider an act vulgar if it was
a) glamourously packaged
b) seen alone, without having a family member (especially of the female gender) around,
which is just hypocritical. I have no qualms about women being given more powerful lead roles in movies and no reasonable person can or should defend women being portrayed as sexual commodities in movies or real life!
As for aurat raj, I have seen bits of the movie and some songs and heard a lot about it and from all that, I can safely say that yes, it's a farce of the highest quality and yes, it might be the greatest Pakistani film ever!