At the best of times, the Pakistani film industry finds itself struggling with many a woe, ranging from financial constraints and cash flow issues to competition with foreign content, dearth of creativity, and inability to adapt to an ever-evolving global entertainment landscape.

These aren’t the best of times.

The macro impact of a pesky microscopic organism

Before a virus suddenly brought the world to its knees in early 2020, our industry was chugging along, releasing a handful of titles every year, and enticing us with the promise of everything from the return of Maula Jatt to tales of ‘fat men’ and adventures of (we presume) fabric fasteners. (That’s what Tich Button is about, right?)

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit

“Our industry was already limited to [releases on] Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha,” director Asad Malik tells Instep. “Then the pandemic really broke its back.” Among the movies that took a hit was Asad’s film Abhee, a romantic thriller starring Goher Mumtaz and Kubra Khan. When the first lockdown was imposed in Pakistan, Asad recalls, he was busy prepping for the project. “If that lockdown didn’t happen, we would have finished the film that year and been ready to release it,” he continues. “But we had to stop because of the pandemic just like the world stopped. We faced several issues in completing the shoot, but we kept at it. Whenever we got the chance, we kept shooting.”

Director Wajahat Rauf found himself in a similar situation with his latest film, the social comedy Parde Mein Rehne Do. “We had to halt production in March 2020,” he says. His project, too, suffered delays. “Thanks to the professionalism of our actors in terms of maintaining their look,” he adds, “we didn’t face any problems other than the investment being stuck.”

Both films are now among the projects that are ready for release. But even though cinemas have once again opened their doors to filmgoers and content is now back on the big screens, few local producers have been brave enough to venture into the unknown and release their movies while the pandemic still rages on.

Back to business

Among the first to test the waters was Nabeel Qureshi’s Khel Khel Mein, which was released in November, soon after cinemas reopened. Jalal’s Kahay Dil Jidhar came out the following month.

“Our film Kahay Dil Jidhar was scheduled to be released on 23rd March 2020,” says the film’s producer Kamran Bari, “and we had to wait for almost two years for its release. The pandemic had a major impact on cinema, with Spider-Man finally bailing it out of the crisis.”

But the webslinger and his billion dollar appeal also ended up overshadowing the local flick that stars Junaid Khan and Mansha Pasha.

“Kahay Dil Jidhar is a major example of prioritising foreign content over good local content and why our film industry cannot prosper in the current scenario,” Kamran opines. “Can you believe that the movie was released on 17th December all across Pakistan, but in Punjab it is being exhibited again from 14th January as we didn’t get any shows because of Spider-Man and now we have released it again?”

His frustration lies with those who are in charge of what plays in cinemas. “We have been so disappointed by the local exhibitors,” he says. “Our film is an exceptional movie with a strong message, beautiful music, great locations and a good story, getting excellent reviews and feedback from the critics and the masses, but the desired numbers are still not achieved because of the very few shows [the film has been given] since its release.”

The movie’s box office take, he reveals, is “slightly over a crore,” a sum that may or may not be disappointing, depending on how you look at it. “If you compare it with the number of shows we received till today, then it’s a good number,” he thinks. “But if you compare it with the number of days since the film’s release, then it’s not a good number. So it’s the perspective you see it from.”

Either way, these aren’t exactly figures that would encourage others to follow suit. And it just might be why others, including the aforementioned Wajahat, are waiting till – you guessed it – Eid to release their projects.

To infinity and
beyond

The occasional release from Eid to Eid won’t exactly resuscitate the ailing industry though. So what can be done to recover from the ongoing slump? What can the industry do to survive in this pandemic stricken world and eventually thrive post-Covid?

“For one thing, we can unite, sit together, and work out a strategy,” Wajahat says. “[We need to] come up with festivals with lower ticket prices, special packages for students, and attract and encourage people to come back to cinemas by providing a safe environment.”

Kamran thinks producing more solid content is the best way forward. “The road is definitely tough and challenging,” he says, “but I strongly believe good content can still pull the crowds back to the theatre and the magic of cinema can be lit again. But good content is the only way.”

But creating good content is easier said than done. A solid movie requires a solid crew, with talent needed in every aspect of filmmaking, from screenwriting and acting to shooting, directing, editing, sound engineering, and beyond. And Asad thinks it’s therein that our problem lies. “I feel that we haven’t really gone through the learning curve and have instead jumped ahead too quickly because of which we aren’t able to do the kind of smart filmmaking that other developed industries around the world are doing. Sometimes we are technically strong but weak story-wise; at other times, our story is good but we are technically weak.

“We want a quick fix and aren’t ready to accept the fact that we are not producing good filmmakers,” Asad continues. “The other industries worldwide are focused on both good storytelling and producing good professionals. We don’t have that here, which is why we suffered losses during the pandemic and also otherwise in general. Foreign industries focus on all the ingredients needed to make a film; the art director, audio engineer, cameraman, editor, you name it – everyone is professional. So they work hard on producing professionals, which is lacking here. That is why we are lagging behind and our industry isn’t thriving.”

He also emphasises how vital “kahani” – the story – is for a movie and how low budget filmmaking just might be the need of the hour. “Our cinema is in need of kahani. Our drama industry has stories, but our film industry does not. The other global industries continued operating during the pandemic via streaming because they have stories and they know how to grab their audience with their storytelling. So we need to think about the fact that we need stories. And we need low budget films. We should do films between 10 and 15 million, but the story should be amazing. Then I think our cinema will get through the negative effects of this pandemic. And if we all go back to heavy films again, then it will be difficult.”

Asad is hopeful that our industry has the “guts, power, and talent” to bounce back. Wajahat cautiously shares this positive outlook. “I for one have always been an optimist. After all, we have been making movies every year against all odds without thinking about the financial viability. But where we had a good seven year run for contemporary cinema, the sharing ratios with exhibitors and distributors, the non-existent role of the government towards cinema, the small number of screens, and the lack of strategy or unity in planning releases might take us to the dark age, once again. There is excitement for films around the two Eids though, but that’s about it.”

Kamran, too, has his concerns. “Unfortunately the scenario of the Pakistan film industry doesn’t look very prosperous to me. There are way too many challenges and difficulties for the local producers to survive. The recent example of Kahay Dil Jidhar proves our stance that till the time the government doesn’t intervene to rescue the local filmmakers, our industry cannot move forward.”

It does seem like an uphill climb, even more so considering where we stand with respect to the rest of the filmmaking world. We have yet to create a bona fide global hit. None of our feature films have ever been nominated for, let alone won, anything major, like the Best Foreign Film Academy Award, for instance. And our biggest earner of all time, Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2, has grossed PKR 70 crore which currently equals around US$ 4 million; that’s chump change compared to the $2.8 billion box office haul of the world’s highest grossing film, Avatar.

But that should just be an added incentive to do even better in the future and impress the world with our creativity and skill. Here’s hoping the industry bounces back and manages to create exciting content so that we can hopefully enjoy even more entertaining local comedies, dramas, and thrillers in the future.