Will 2013 be the year of revival for Pakistan Film Industry?

The machinery of Pakistan film industry; like the capital of the country few days back, seems to be on halt these days. With exceptions to one or two ongoing efforts and work on upcoming announced films, there doesn’t seem to be much activity in film circles. If we talk about the expectations regarding the ‘New Year’ of 2013, well, to be honest we haven’t got much new to discuss.

Let’s first discuss the long list of already in pipeline films, which we hope would at last be able to make it to cinemas this year. To start with the biggest, Bilal Lashari’s long-awaited Waar finally needs to see the projector lights this year, and that too hopefully in the first half of these new bunch of twelve months. There were a lot of positive expectations regarding this film last year as far as its release date is concerned, and to many people there was no point of it being not released in 2012, but as per the producer in an interview, it is the distributional framework of the film that remains unchecked. But we hope the production gang would soon come up with good news for the fans.

Another film that was highly expected to release in 2012 was Shahzad Rafique‘s Ishq Khuda. The film was announced twice to be released last year for both the Eids, but things couldn’t get materialised at the end. We hope this Ahsan Khan, Meera and Wiam Dahmani starrer Punjabi flick would also be announced soon to release this year.

Some other delayed but highly anticipated movies like Saltanat by Sayed Faisal Bukhari, The Dusk by Z-Shan Kazmi, Kaptaan by Faisal Aman Khan, Tamanna by Steven Moore, Lamha (Seedlings) by Mansoor Mujahid, Josh by Iram Parveen and Shamoon Abbasi’s Gidh, would also hopefully hit the cinemas this year.

There are quite a few newly announced and currently under-production films that will add up significantly to the list of upcoming films. In fact there has been a great anticipatory shift from the films that were announced a few years back but haven’t still made it to cinemas; to these newly announced and better looking films.

The first one in the list of these newly announced films is Shoaib Mansoor’s sociopolitical period film on Pak-India relations. The movie was announced in the former half of the previous year, whereas the name of the movie and cast hasn’t been made public yet. The period love story based during the troubled times of 1947; according to Shoaib Mansoor, isn’t going to be a stereo-typical “boy-meets-girl-across-the-barbed-wire-fence story.” In Shoaib Mansoor’s point of view, “cinema in both countries needs to go deeper to pin down the reasons for the rapidly deteriorating relations between India and Pakistan,”

The second big announcement last year came from Mudhouse and the Golden Doll’s director and star, Hamza Ali Abbasi. Hamza has announced a full length feature comedy film named, Kambakht. Starring none other than Ahsan Khan and Shafqat Cheema, the movie will be based on two characters who come from entirely different financial backgrounds. One is a rich-class man while the other belongs to the under-developed Tribal Areas of the country. Work on this full commercial film is currently in its full swing and we hope the release date for the movie will be announced soon.

Another recently announced feature film that has created a great stir in the industry after its announcement is Humayun Saeed produced sports film inspired by the life of ace Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi. People had been wishing for a long time to see Humayun Saeed back and active in the film scene of Pakistan. And guess what, he is back! There has been a great ambiguity about the film, it was previously reported that the film is based on the struggle and then the stardom life of Shahid Afridi, which changed after a few months and it was announced that the story has just taken few inspirations from Afridi’s life. The plot is still not clear; neither the proper announcement of cast and actual name has been reported so far. But we hope things would get clearer with passing time and movie will soon be completed.

There are two other films currently making headlines in film journals. Both having their own unique links, the films are rated very high. To start with the big one; and we are calling it big because it has been termed as the biggest movie ever been under-production in Pakistan. With Humayun Saeed working on his own film separately, Abdullah Kadwani, his (now rumored to be) former production partner at “7^th Sky entertainment”, has also decided to produce something of his own at bigger screen. Produced by Abdullah Kadwani of course, along with the very well-known face of the industry, Shahzad Nawaz, who has also penned the story and the script of the film, the movie has been titled as Chambaili. With the likes of Salmaan Peerzada, Shafqat Cheema, Maira Khan (not to confuse with the Bol and Humsafar star Mahira Khan), Khalid Ahmed, Omair Rana, Sadia Hayat and Shahzad Nawaz himself in the cast; along with a guest appearance by industry veteran Ghulam Mohiuddin, the film is for sure going to blow your minds. As per latest reports on its release date, the drama-thriller is slated to release on 23^rd March 2013, keeping it in line with the sociopolitical narrative the film possesses.

The second film enjoying its publicity share these days is veteran Indian actor, Naseeruddin Shah, starrer soon-to-be-released Punjabi-Urdu flick Zinda Bhaag. Produced by Mazhar Zaidi, quite a known person in the journalistic circle of the country, Zinda Bhaag is directed by Meena Gaur (also the co-writer of the film), along with Farjad Nabi. The film deals with the topic of young generation in pursuit of better opportunities outside the country, opting for the not so legal ways to escape the mohallas of Lahore and finally ending up in difficult circumstances. The editing work on the film is almost done according to a latest report, while the film itself is slated for the release in latter half of 2013.

This whole year now relies on these already announced but delayed movies as far as the long awaited revival of film industry is concerned. The more of our own productions here, the less of course will be the crisis. Yes, the local cinemas are currently occupied with English and Indian films, creating a space amongst this immense competition is obviously tough, but this is where these movies have to play their role, specially the ones that are on delay for last two years at least.

The bitter reality on the part of local cinemas is that the big theatres in Lahore and Karachi have already done their planning for the New Year and booked the cinemas in advance for Bollywood or Hollywood movies. But what else could they do as the local quality films aren’t releasing in abundance. So there is only a little ray of hope for local filmmakers to get cinemas for their movies. It’s up to these directors and producers to make efforts and do proper planning regarding the release schedule and availability of theatres, as no local filmmaker would want to experience any unpleasant situation when a Lollywood movie is on the show.

Lollywood is facing the biggest dilemma of its history that too has many folds. The ever decreasing number of movies and non availability of theatres are the main problems. So we will have to have the courage to convert our failures into success by our own selves. Our young lot can make amends along with seniors. Let’s hope the starting year of 2013 has the best in it for Lollywood!

Basic Input By: Husne Takhleeq

Editing by: Aayan Mirza