This has become a very hot topic nowadays, specially in countries like Pakistan where the film industry is facing a recession and each and every person related to this industry has got his own version of reason for this decline.
Many reasons are given by many different people but the two most common & basic reasons are: “lack of finances” and “Lack of thought”. So let’s put some spotlight on these two reasons.
Lack of finance is a reason which is very understandable by a common man, seasoned director Syed Noor and actor Shaan Shahid both backs the same reason for this current situation of industry. Syed Noor is of the view that world has changed a lot but Pakistan, when it comes to film making, till now is relying on the same old 90s or 80s technology, he says that “give me money and I will make a good film, a film that will be able to compete with the international product”. Similarly Shaan also backs the same reason and adds that multinationals should now come forward and start investing on this business just like what the business community in India did some years back and is still doing.
But this is not a very solid reason, Syed Noor himself has given many good films such as Choorian, Majajan and most recently Wohti Ley Key Jaani Aye which were not at all backed by big budgets but did the business of crores, one of them was even made with only 70 Lac Pakistani rupees, which is quite low when it comes to a comparison with an average Indian movie which is made with 25-35 crore Indian Rupess which in Pakistani currency becomes almost 55-60 crores. Not only this, films like Maula Jutt, Aina are just a few more addition in the list of such live examples of low budgeted but successful movies.
But that’s not all, the reason is valid till some extent as well, a good film do requires a good amount of money so that the complete justice can be done with a good script. And a good financed film can even overcome weak scripts, the most recent example of this is the Indian film Robot, which was widely criticised for its weak story but it still managed to recover its cost and earned the profits of crores mainly because of the latest technology used in the film and a great hype created by the media because of its extra ordinary budget which was almost INR 175 Crores (PKR 327 Crores).
Now let’s talk about the second reason that is “Mind” or in other words can be called”film thinking”. This factor has got a great influence on a final shape of the film. Here the word “thinking” not only means the directorial skills that the director of a movie have, but it also includes script, cast, vision of the director and so many other necessary factors other than finance to make a good film.
In Pakistan, history shows us that directors always prefer making a formula film, for instance after the success of Maula Jutt, directors here made 100s of same kind of movies on that topic and till now people are making such films, which either flops badly or get a very little success. And now what actually happening in Pakistan is that, all those films which breaks that formula and are based on different topics; getting success, such as Koi Tujh sa Kahan, Khuda Key Liye, Majajan, Chooriyan and many others.
In Pakistan it seems like film making is not taken as art but it is taken as a money-making business, and in order to earn money directors make films that are based on the formula which includes at least two or three vulgar songs and some sex scenes, leaving all the film making ethics far behind. Such movies only attracts either the youth of the country or those living in rural areas.
But still we have got people like Syed Noor, Shoaib Mansoor, Syed Faisal Bukhari, Reema Khan, who have always thought something out of the box when it comes to film making, they make films which breaks that particular formula and gives the audience something great to watch.
The conclusion that we get in the light of whatever is mentioned above is that both factors (Money & Mind) are equally necessary to make a good film, and unfortunately both are missing in Pakistan. Though these two factors are not the only factors required to make an extra ordinary film but these are actually the basic ones.
