Opportunities Lost


Written by J. Enver • Cover Stories • November 2010

Going by the standards that the Kara Film Festival has established, the uninitiated would believe Pakistan has a thriving cinema that produces good entertainment for the mass market as well as a bit of alternate cinema for the more discerning viewer. Just a scratch on the surface would reveal that Pakistan offers no such pleasures – and its film industry today is not even worth a mention. Any good films emanating from the country are rare and far between and are lone, brave efforts that see the light of the day because there are still some dedicated, passion-driven individuals around.

However, the cinema industry in Pakistan has not been a dismal story all along. In the post-partition Pakistan, Lahore emerged as the major film production centre where many talented film producers, directors, actors, writers and technicians came to work after they left Bombay and Calcutta to make their home in Pakistan. From the 50s to the seventies, many mentionable films emerged from the studios in Lahore and later in Karachi. The film-making infrastructure in Dhaka in the former East Pakistan was also well-developed and produced many good films.

Those were times when the business of making films was much less capital intensive and cinema audiences in Pakistan were quite happy with the fare they were offered. There was, of course, a constant comparison with the better quality Indian films but up until the pre-color era, Pakistani film-makers could produce a reasonably good film for much less than a crore of rupees.

Though never recognized as an industry in the real sense, the film-making setup in Pakistan received an added boost in the days of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. It was one of his key objectives to open up Pakistan’s cultural scene and provide greater opportunities for the country’s creative talent to emerge. Though he did not liberate the media as openly as Pervez Musharraf did but, among other initiatives on the cultural front, he set up a National Film Development Corporation (NAFDEC) for the promotion of national cinema. As other organizations set up with much enthusiasm and noises of commitment in those days, this one too failed dismally in achieving the desired results in terms of setting up film production facilities, processing labs and training institutions that were required to produce quality films and set the national film industry on the path to viability.

With the setting up of NAFDEC, it was also being expected that on the pattern of India, the government would take the lead in financing film projects and would set up a film training institute. Unfortunately, none of this happened and the only benefit that film lovers derived from the film development corporation were regular screenings of quality foreign films that were impossible to obtain otherwise in those days when the VCR had just arrived.

Since the business of film-making did not have the status of a regular industry, no financial institution was willing to put up money for film projects. The interesting upshot of this was that film-making in the country became for the most part an exhibitor-driven industry. This meant that film distributors and cinema owners advanced money to film producers to make films. The producer had to make sure that the film would turn in a profit at the box office which actually translated into the distributors/exhibitors calling the shots in terms of storyline, casting, locations, etc. They interfered in the entire process since they were paying for the making of the film and it was also in their interest that the film made money.

In fact, there was a time when some major film distributors had such control over the film industry in Lahore and Karachi that they wanted every film to be made according to a set formula that, in their experience, would rake in maximum box office sales. This would always be the staple and predictable equation comprising a hero, heroine, comedian and villain, with a certain number of songs thrown in and the same old outdoor locations such as Murree and other hill stations. The formula affliction prevented good talent to either follow the dictates of the selfish entrepreneurs or bid goodbye to films forever. In fact, such was the power that these unscrupulous elements wielded over the film industry that people who stepped out of line and ventured into making films that broke from the formula, were either confronted with all kinds of problems in the distribution and exhibition of their films or forced to leave the industry altogether.

In the view of many analysts, if there was one single reason that led to the downslide of Pakistani cinema, it was the lack of reasonable financial backing for serious filmmakers. In the absence of professionally driven efforts, it was an open field for all kinds of swashbucklers and fortune-hunters to jump into the fray and churn out one B-grade product after another. When continuously low standards drove decent film-goers away from cinema houses, they turned to other easily available means of entertainment such as TV and video.

Another interesting development was that the very distributors and exhibitors who had initially wreaked havoc with the industry by promoting formula films themselves became victims of their own devices. Their thriving film distribution and exhibition businesses ground to a halt when people stopped going to cinema houses and they had to close down their exhibition halls, turning most of them into shopping plazas or office buildings.

While there have been some efforts in recent years to revive the film industry in Pakistan and a number of good films have been released, it cannot be said with any certainty that the industry is back on its feet. The industry is now in competition with various digital means of entertainment that are easily available, are very affordable and offer high quality viewing within the comfort of one’s home. On the other hand, in the larger cities, the conventional cinema hall is being gradually replaced by the modern Cineplex that, despite being expensive in terms of ticket prices, attracts discerning audiences who demand quality movies.

In the past years, the government has also relaxed its policy governing the exhibition of Indian films, which means that some of the latest Indian hits are released through the Cineplexes and other better quality cinema halls. All this is placing added pressure on the local film industry. B-grade films made in Urdu, Punjabi, Pushto and other languages cost much less in production terms and continue to feed a large section of the less demanding audience. However, the industry needs to seriously put its act together in order to offer a product that competes favorably with Indian and international productions.

Again, it all boils down to the money and resources available for the making of better quality films. Some kind of initiative must emanate from the private sector to drive the Pakistani film industry forward on all fronts. New talent must be found and groomed, technicians must be trained on the latest equipment and techniques and content must be aligned to current thoughts and trends. As a leading film personality once remarked, Pakistan has so much to contribute to the world of cinema but it is not quite understandable why it has missed all the opportunities to do so. A valid point that must be addressed with all seriousness.