Rise and Fall of Pakistani Cinema

Pakistan, has a rich history of filmmaking. The historic city of Lahore was the hub of filmmaking, prior to the partition of India. It is also said, that the film industry in India was born in Lahore. After the partition, most of the industry migrated to the Mumbai. But still, Lahore was home to a significant number of actors, directors and film producers. The 50s and 60s were the peaks of Pakistani film Industry. They were in competition and at par with the Indian films of that time.

After the partition, reconstruction of the film industry in Pakistan was an uphill task but luckily we had a good number of artists here and they played a very crucial role in laying a solid foundation of the film industry in the country. The first Pakistani film Teri Yaad was released in 1948, which was indeed the first joint effort of Pakistani artists, which was successful. The first blockbuster film in the early days of the Pakistani cinema wasDo Ansoo, which released in 1950. Do Ansoo became the first film in Pakistan to enjoy a 25-week run at the box office, eventually achieving a silver jubilee status.

The early days of Pakistani cinema also witnessed the directorial debut of its first woman film director in the legendary singer and actress Noor Jahan. Released in 1951, the Punjabi film Chanwey, was directed by her.

As film viewership increased exponentially in the country during this time, Sassi,(1954) went on to become the first Pakistani film to reach golden jubilee status by  playing 50-weeks on theatres.

Around the same time, the first ever Sindhi language film Umar Marvi was released in 1956.

In order to celebrate the success of these endeavors, film journalist Ilyas Rashidi organized an annual film awards event on July 17, 1958. Titled Nigar Awards, the event has been, since then, considered Pakistan’s premier film awards event, celebrating outstanding performances in various categories of films and filmmaking.

The Pakistani film industry is also known for producing many remarkable and renowned actors, directors, producers, writers and playback singers. 1956-66 is known to be the golden era of Pakistani film industry. During this period, many classical films were made and produced in Pakistan. As of today, Aaina is considered to be the most successful and popular Pakistani film that was ever made. Released on 18 March 1977, it remains a distinct symbol which stands on the threshold between the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto years and the increasingly conservative and revolutionary Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq regime. The film stayed in the cinemas for over 400 weeks.

Not many in Pakistan know the fact that since the birth of cinema in Pakistan, only two Pakistani films had been submitted for the Oscar Awards, Foreign Language Film Awards category. Both submissions were musical-dramas in Urdu. Pakistan’s first Oscar submission was Jago Hua Swera (The Day Shall Dawn, 1959). The movie was filmed in Dhaka, East Pakistan (contemporary Bangladesh) by the East Pakistan Film Development Corporation. Based on a novel by Bengali novelist Manik Bandopadhaya, the film’s screenplay was written by Faiz Ahmad Faiz and it was directed by A.J.Kardar. Scripted in the Urdu language. the film’s storyline was about the daily lives of the fishermen of East Pakistan and won a major0 award at the Moscow International Film Festival.

Pakistan’s second and final Oscar submission, Ghoonghat (The Veil, 1963) was about the disappearance of a veiled young bride on the day she is scheduled to be married off to a rich young man. Since 1963, no Pakistani film has been submitted for Oscars.

The quality of films, scripts, music, lyics, acting and direction were at its best during the golden era of the 50s and 60s.. In the major cities of Pakistan, almost every film attracted a large audience to the movie theaters. Sadly, we couldn’t manage to continue with the legacy of the rich culture, and hence began the downfall.

There were several reasons behind the eroding away of the Pakistani film industry. One of the major reasons was the Fall of Dhaka. It came as a rude and destructive jolt to the Pakistani film industry. At the same time, the mid-70s saw the introduction of video cassette recorders in Pakistan and instantly films from all over the world were copied(pirated) onto tapes, and attendance at cinemas dwindled as people preferred to watch Indian films in the comfort of their homes. This ushered in video piracy in Pakistan. Films began to be copied on tapes on the day they hit the cinemas

After a disastrous 2010, fans of Pakistani cinema got its first Urdu language film Khamosh Raho, starring Juggan Kazim and Shaan, directed by Altaf Hussain, in 2011. Unfortunately it was a disaster on big screen and bombed at the box-office. Later in June this year, Shoaib Mansoor released his second film Bol as a director. The film, starring Atif Aslam, Humaima Abbasi, Mahira  Khan and Iman Ali in lead roles, broke all previous records and became the highest grossing movie of Pakistan. While Bol was receiving an outstanding appreciation and tasting success, two more Urdu language movies Love Mein Ghum and Bhai Log released. Both films were Eid gifts to the whole nation and were welcomed warmly by the Pakistani audience.

This year we also witnessed the release of the controversial film Slackistan. However, the film didn’t  hit the theaters in Pakistan as the director refused to make any cuts to the film as requested by the country’s Central Board of Film Censors (CBFC). According to The Guardian, the CBFC objected to the movie because it had swear words in English and Urdu, and “contains the words ‘Taliban’ and ‘lesbian’”.

Pakistan film industry is passing through a period of transition, where a whole new generation is replacing the previous one. New faces are emerging in the movie industry, which is a healthy sign. Unique and tabooed issues are being brought into the limelight via the storytelling on silver screen. No doubt it is a positive change and we can hope that within few years young Pakistani filmmakers will totally change the old concepts of filmmaking. It is too early to claim any success but at least it is safe to predict that our film industry is moving in the right direction. Upcoming films like “Gidh”,“Waar”, “The Dusk”, “Freedom Sound” and “Kolachi” can bring in  remarkable change to the film industry of Pakistan.

By :WALEED SHEIKH

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