Follow Pakistani channels for a week and you will get one thing clear in your head, if there is any media rivalry worth calling a ‘rivalry’, it’s between ARY and Geo. If Geo has/had Nadaniyan, ARY has got Bulbulay, if Geo has Aamir Liaquat, ARY has Junaid Jamshed, if Geo has Capital Talk, ARY gets you things Off the Record, if Geo is quickest, ARY is expected to be the authentic most, such that, the media house rivalry starts and ends on these two channels only.
This rivalry between these two media giants is basically being fought on three fronts currently; the first one, as many would have already guessed, is ‘News’. Thanks to this ‘news’ that the names ARY and GEO are known to most men in Pakistan. The second front is ‘Drama’, now if there are infinity reasons in the world for couple fights, the feud between control over television remote is one of them, but in Pakistan, almost every fight and divide has a fight and divide within itself too, thus, our women not only have to fight on their ‘remote’ rights, but when they finally have that magic stick in their hands, the mental struggle over ‘ARY or GEO Entertainment’ starts–this mental war though is getting thinner these days, all thanks to this insanely popular Turkish soap ‘Mera Sultan‘, but again, it is aired on Geo Kahani, another arm of Geo Television Networks.
The third dimension to this rivalry, which is also our subject here, is ‘Film distribution’. Now don’t be like, ‘hey, this editor guy totally forgot the music channels of these two media houses’. No, how can I really forget such a thing? It’s just that I am not convinced enough to call this mere competition-for-the-sake-of-competition scuffle between Aag and ARY Music a war. That industry is dominated by numerous small players, dividing the whole market share into different small pockets, giving everyone involved a great run for their money. So, not one-on-one exactly, but you have a complete rights to think otherwise.
Now, coming back to this film distribution part, since the days of Khuda Kay Liye, we had been convincingly thinking that the best filmmaking formula in Pakistan is first to produce a slightly good-looking film; a sociopolitical preferably, and then getting it released countrywide under the banner of Geo Films. Anything getting stamped with that banner name turned into the golden goose, making some serious money at box office.
The Geo-Pakistan film industry association mainly dates back to 2004, this was the year when Geo got associated with Shehzad Rafique directed Salakhain, the film ended up making quite an impact at local cinemas. Then came Khuda Kay Liye, this was perhaps the first time, we, the new generation saw some potential in Pakistani cinema. Followed by Ramchand Pakistani, not really making it that big at box office, but was again an impact leaving product of Pakistan film industry, then hits like, Muhabbatan Sachiyan, Virsa, Bol and most recently Chambaili. Thus, it was like, either you come under Geo films, or you are a probable flop.
ARY Films, however, hasn’t really been that big of a name for all these years, they did try their hands in this movie distribution business by releasing Javed Sheikh’s Khulay Aasman Kay Neechey in 2008, but failed miserably. Since then, it felt like as if they stopped considering this business part of their league.
But more recently, the brand has sort of revived itself, a possibly new management, a great looking new logo, more and more distribution deals, and what not, all of this definitely ringing a danger alarm for Geo. The news of Iram Parveen’s Josh releasing under banner of ARY Films sure came as a pleasant surprise, we thought ‘okay, finally they are trying their luck again.’ But this got more and more serious with time, right after the Josh news, we heard of ARY Films securing a deal with Humayun Saeed for Main Hoon Shahid Afridi, taking it all away from the jaws of Geo Films, and finally giving the movie a successful cinema release in Pakistan. But this just wouldn’t stop here, it was never supposed to, in fact, this was all followed by a much bigger shocker, the one that we got after seeing Waar too falling into the hands of ARY. Through that particular act, ARY had made its message clear, “WE ARE BACK!… Oh, and we mean some serious business this time”.
Things seem to have cool down for a while after Main Hoon Shahid Afridi, but that’s mainly because it’s no more Eid, after all, ARY films is done delivering its message, and they did it quite well. However, let us assure you, this momentarily silence is not just that simple. From the face of it, it looks like as if Geo for the time being is only focusing on international releases, and that they are too occupied to give local films any heed. But, ahaan, that’s not how ARY-Geo rivalry works. We reckon an ongoing proxy war, a war being fought silently between the two bigwigs on possibly securing some deal with any upcoming big local film, there are many coming in next ten to twelve months, just give it a little thought. Leave Zinda Bhaag and Waar and start counting it from Tamanna, the film may release in fall 2013, succeeded by Operation-021 in the line, possibly releasing in early 2014, then comes the next big sociopolitical Shoaib Mansoor film on India-Pakistan issue, followed by this awesome looking film named Moor, by Jami, and the list just goes on. Thus, too many possible battle grounds.
But the question that’s far more significant and interesting is that who strikes next? And more importantly, through which film? Here it becomes a little tricky to guess. Even if we give the ‘film part’ our best shot, we can only say it’s going to be one of the early ones. The reason why it came as a guess is because of the fact that there are certain films having their release dates due, they need to hit cinemas somewhere in next three to four months, and these distribution deals in Pakistan are usually worked out in this particular stage of a film. Thus, the fight could be on another Eid release for this year, or maybe something even bigger.
Now who really strikes next, only time can tell. But don’t expect either Geo or ARY to play it soft. They are struggling, one for recognition and one to regain its place. But be sure of it, it is all going to be highly interesting and quite healthy for the film culture in Pakistan.
Does it really matter who succeeds in the release and distribution of these films, there are more issues to be resolved as to making sure our dear fellow who are bent on downloading illegal films that there are technical steps taken to protect the property of the material for the people who spent blood…sweat..and tears to make there a project a reality and to have these crooks download in torrents and not pay. Mr. Aayan Mirza you need to spend more time on this subject of illegal download, get some facts and numbers and try to educate the movie going pubic to the illegality.
Competition is good for any business if it is between ARY & GEO. This produces better films with a better opportunity to be released. We have a huge void in marketing in Pakistan, since the world is global there is no decent distribution in Eurpoe, USA & Canada so those of us living abroad have access this could also bring in great revenue to help future projects. So please write about these subjects to increase your core belief to help re-birth & revival of Pakistani cinema.
Thanks Asama for your comment. We really appreciate people giving us feedback, and we appreciate it even more when it comes with diversed views. To clear one thing, the article was never about who succeeds and who gets left behind, it was about an interesting turn distribution business is taking as the film making scene goes up a little. We believe in reporting and writing on a wide range of topics, it helps us stretching the range of Pakistan film industry and the journalism on it as whole.
About the point of illegal torrent downloads you raised here, believe me, if I see a Pakistani film on torrent to be downloaded for free, it hurts me equally as it would hurt that filmmaker who made the film, because all we are doing here at the end is, ‘making a market for Pakistani films’, and movies being available on torrent just puts a great dent on this. But you know what, the issue isn’t as big as you think it would be in Pakistan. Filmmakers don’t really seem concerned about it, had it been affecting Pakistan film Industry, we would have reported on it, not once, not twice but we would have reported multiple times on it. But it isn’t. And honestly, what happens in rest of the world is of no concern to us. We are a Pakistani film promoting website and our cocern and interest is our own industry. First, Pakistani movies don’t usually come on torrents the way films do in rest of the world, seems like we don’t have any infrastructure for such a thing here in Pakistan, fortunately of course. Secondly, all those Pakistani films that are available on torrent, were uploaded when they were released in India. People in India have infrastructure to make such illegal copies of films, we don’t, thus, we can’t do anything about it.
So again, the same point, had that been an issue here, we would have reported on it. If it is not an issue, how can we make it one on our own.
But still, if you really want people to have their attention towards this topic, we will be more than happy to provide you space here on Galaxy Lollywood to write on it as our ‘Guest Writer’. You can send your article at [email protected].
Thanks
Admin Member (Aayan Mirza)
Thank you for your candid answer and response in fact congratulations for having an adult forum open for discussion and so we on the other side of the world can contribute to make the Pakistan film media a stage to be reckoned with. I am better educated about the illegal downloading since you were kind to explain the technical aspect of it.
I see the support from abroad as a stepping stone in finance and other forms for the young new independent film makers from all walks of the film world even to the group that contributes to the posters as everyone plays a part to make a film a reality. We abroad can help get formal training in film schools and the exposure can challenge foreigners make films in Pakistan so they can see the beautiful country with the talented people who can shed a much needed light. This is a win-win situation for all as people abroad thirst for stories from your side of the world and have only recently begun to even realize with films like….Ramchand Pakistani..Khuda Ke Liya,,,,BOL…..Saving Face…JOSH….Seedlings…and they love what they see. The upcoming films add an excitement in Pakistani communities all over the world that a sense of a new genre is emerging. For easier distribution and release there needs to be also a foreign distribution chapter to assist these film makers and now with social media there are many opportunities to get the Pakistani communities abroad to assist in the show casing of our films. I wish our Pakistani embassies would assist more in this sector but that discussion is for another time,
I will contribute in the future to the reaction from abroad about the films that are screened at the various locales to show the people in Pakistan that we are as proud of this new revolution to brighten the future for our new emerging film industry.
http://www.meetup.com/sfpakistanis/.
Thanks for your praise Asama, we really appreciate it. I completely agree with what you said, Pakistanis abroad have a great role to play if the film industry here has to succeed. You guys have brains, infrastructure, reach and most of all resources to invest in different aspects. Film isn’t anything if there is no proper distributional infrastructure, this needs to be developed, we hope something and someone will come up soon in this regard. You see, whenever there is a market for something, marketeers come automatically. You people would have to play a great part in it.
As far as your contribution is concerned, we would love to incorporate it on our site.
Are you sure ARY and Geo films actually compete to be the media partner of a local movie? Because what it seems to me is that Geo is no longer remotely interested in partnering with any local film. Perhaps that is why ARY films is picking up the slack? For example, these days Geo is busy promoting “Satariya” or whatever that Bolly movie name is while completely ignoring local films like Main Hoon Shahid Afridi. Just like it happily keeps airing Turkish and other foreign dramas, maybe Geo thinks it should only be promoting non-local movies. I used to hold Geo Films in high esteem because it teamed up with movies like Bol etc. in the past, but I am now losing patience with Geo. The same can be said about many other previous fans of Geo too. If Geo’s executives think that they can keep sabotaging the efforts of our local film makers by completely IGNORING coverage of those movies or their (often excellent) songs, so that they can just promote non-local content only then maybe it is time for Geo channels’ viewers to consider whether they need to watch those channels at all. At least, ARY and even Hum TV, I think, are not busy undermining local movies and therefore those channels are the ones that should be supported by responsible television viewers.
Thats what we mentioned in the article. It does seem like as if they aren’t interested in local movies anymore, but the thing is, as ARY started picking up again after their partnership with Mandviwalla Entertainment, they left no breathing space for Geo. And Geo Films though seems to be not caring about it, but its a private corporation, and they can’t just ignore it like this, and in fact they aren’t, they will try to bounce back. Just wait and see.
ARY Films don’t even know how to distribute a movie.But I think GEO knows it better and they did in past.They know how to make a thing “successful” and how to do Bussiness but ARY is doing this like they are doing charity and like “kisi pe ehsaan ker rahe hain”.
I am really agree with Mr. Saqib Kazmi…Ary has no sense how to promote the Film altough they have a MEGA film of Pakistan WAAR…but there is no good promotion have been noticed so far…