COMSATS University Islamabad

Lahore Campus

Psychology Department

Media Communication

Topic:CURRENT CONDITION OF PAKISTAN FILM INDUSTRY

Submitted by:

Name: Hafiza Mifrah Majeed

Reg. No. FA19-BPY-046

Class: BS Psychology

Section: ‘’A’’

Submitted to: Prof. Shakeel Malik

Dated: 31 March 2020

What is Pakistani film called?

Lollywood is a Pakistani-based film industry which borrowed its name

from Hollywood.

Why is it called Lollywood?

Lollywood refers to the Punjabi films of Pakistani film industry based in the
city of Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.

Where is the Pakistani film industry?

The cinema of Pakistan or Pakistani cinema refers to the filmmaking

industry in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to several film studios centres, primarily located in
its two largest cities – Karachi and Lahore.

Short History of Pakistani film industry:

The first Pakistani film produced was Teri Yaad, directed by Daud Chand in
1948. Between 1947 and 2007, Pakistani cinema was based in Lahore, home to the
nation’s largest film industry. During the early 1970s, Pakistan was the world’s fourth
largest producer of feature films.
The Silent Era:

> Pakistan shared it’s film history with India from 1896 to 1947.

> The first silent film, The Daughter of Today, was released in 1924 in Lahore,
the city had nine operational cinema houses.

Growth And Independence:

A year after the partition of India in 1947, film production in the newly
founded Pakistan struggled due to the lack of filming equipment and filmmaking talent as
most of it’s a actors and directors moved to India.

Inaugural Pakistani Film:

Lollywood released its first film in 1948 with the name ‘Teri Yaad’.

Some past of Pakistani film industry:

In the some period, two Pakistani films were nominated for foreign language
category in the Oscars , namely Jago Hua Sawera and Ghoonghat. Suddenly everything
changed when General Zia Ul Haq took over the country in 1979 and implemented the
policy of Islamization.

Golden Age:

Since then, an industry which was in a golden period started facing its downfall.
Due to heavy entertainment taxes, urdu films stopped being produced and as a result, the
mainstream audience was lost.

The 1960s and 1970s were a golden age of Pakistani cinema. Hundreds of
popular films were produced yearly by Lollywood, the Lahore-based entertainment
industry. The era’s stars included Waheed Murad , a heartthrob, and Sabiha Khanoum,
known as the first Lady of Pakistani screens. Both continue to be revered today. Murad’s
1966 film ‘Armaan’ introduce audience to the South Asian pop song, creating a new
genre of Pakistani music.

But for all its former glory, production in Lollywood collapsed by the end of the
1990s. By 2005, barely 20 local films were released annually. Political turmoil triggered
the decline. General Zia ul Haq seized power in 1977 in a military crop. The new
proceeded to enforce an Islamization agenda, under which film-makers were forced to
comply with strict censorship. Projects could be banned if deemed prejudicial to all
manner of interests, including decency, morality and the public good. With little to screen
and unable to compete with home entertainment, hundreds of cinemas were shuttered.
The Dawn of a New Age:

In 2012, a little known filmmaker from Pakistan won the Academy Award for the
Best Documentary Short and was instantly catapulted to national and international fame.
Her film, Saving Face, talk about giving hope to acid attack victims. In a country where
filmmaking suffered an untimely demise, Sharmeen Obaid-Chiony and her Oscar ignited
even hope the Pakistan could dream again of movies being made on its soil.

Eighteen months on and a number of filmmaker have either exhibited their stories
in theaters are working toward future releases. Things have changed however. These
filmmakers are not the cinema stalwarts that had contributed to Pakistani cinema in the
past decades.

There are a lot of reasons that have contributed to Lollywood’s decline and the
rise of the new age of Pakistani cinema. Nadeem Mandwivalla Distributions, counts
Lollywood’s infamously low quality production as one the chief contributors to its
demise. Comparing the historical sketch on cinema Pakistan to that of the Indian film
industry, popularly known as Bollywood, Mandwivalla explains that during the 1990s
Bollywood embraced higher production values while Lollywood continued to lag behind
in technology. During this time, Bollywood started using techniques which displayed true
colour, while Lollywood’s films still carried a distinct pink hue on screen, indicating out-
dated cameras and poor quality film. Even as the audiences in the respective countries
were embracing a global modernity, Lollywood continued to produce sub-per movies
with story lines centered on rural feudal communities in the Punjab, alienating Pakistan’s
growing urban population. He points that Bollywood in the same era was mounting its
song sequences in the Swiss Alps, and churning out scripts that appealed to the large Non
Resident Indians settled overseas.

The New filmmaker in Pakistan:

The new filmmaker in Pakistan, however, are doing thing differently. Shooting in
high definition with trained cinematographers and DOP’s has become the norm and there
is a greater focus on using screenplays to chalk out the narrative pace. More importantly,
the story being told are relevant to modern Pakistan – instead of damsels in distress and
song and dance numbers, the current batch of movies talk about issues such as education
and women’s rights (Josh), voting to make a difference (Chambaili) and even Pakistan’s
national passion, Cricket (Mein Hoon Shahid Afridi). These films are bold and welcome
departure from the film of yesterday which failed in the face of competition from
Bollywood, not least because of poor production of quality. According to Meher Jaffri,
the challenge for the new filmmakers in not that some of their stories would not be
understood by the local audiences in Pakistan. Instead it is how to change the traditional
mindsets of the industry and bring more of these new films to the Pakistani film screens.
Future of Pakistani film industry:

The energy was palpable. A couple of dozen gushing students, lining up take
selfies with their favorite teacher. This was the scene at the certificate distribution
ceremony organized by Karachi Film Society. Indian Screenwriting Teacher,
screenwriter, script consultant and an independence filmmaker Ashwini Malik, was
invited by Karachi Film Society to teach screen writing to aspiring film makers; in Mr.
Malik’s words, it was a tremendous success.

1st of all it has been a privilege to be here. I can’t thank Raza Sahab, Misbah Jee
and of course Sultana Apa enough. It was a surprise to me that these students had so
much knowledge of Bollywood. I am being honest when I say that people here know
more about Bollywood than I do. Someone used to make a comment, and I used to think
to myself ‘oh man I did not know this’. People know and understand so much about
cinema, it makes me happy.

The excitement of students in the hall matched with the glowing way their teacher
talked about them. The student’s interest in story telling is amazing. The kind of stories
they want to tell, it’s just breath talking. Their stories are rooted and are connected to
their society. Yet they have international sensibilities, which is vital. Obviously with the
available web content, they have developed their understanding of foreign content too.
It’s an ideal combination of rootedness and modernity which is exciting. It’s heartening
to see such talented people. The future is great. Already the Pakistani film industry is
producing such quality content, I am sure the future is brighter.