In my political experience of 15 years, having thrice stood up for tenure when I put my name up for candidacy in the general elections, I would always do a run across my constituency on polling day to witness the outcome of voters.
Apparently, everyone who voted would come back at the day’s end with roses and congratulatory feedback pretending I had won. Nice of them, but I knew I hadn’t. It was the fight and learning which mattered for me anyway, and I figured the ones congratulating with roses were the real frenemies, however, it was always good to keep them close for their hypocritical excellence and personal experience.
I never figured out what happened inside the polling stations, after a voter had cast their very precious vote. I lost each time, coming in second place. The news on all channels had already predicted who would win before the polling would even begin, based on which political party had paid more for their promotions. No one knew what happened inside ‘counting numbers of votes’. Next time I would really to find out, though. I knew the ones who are meant to win get exclusive access.
Politics & the film trade have much in common
As much as I would not like to mix political outcomes with the film business, it appears both of them have a lot in common. From the part about producing a commercial film, to marketing and promoting it with inept strategies — all of these are comparable to launching a politician and branding him as the next savior.
A film jumping between already announced projects (to disrupt the market) was similar to an independent candidate coming out of nowhere to contest elections. And the flawed and wrong reviews by tabloids who base their coverage on up close and personal relations with either the artistes or producers or the amount of ‘lifafas’ they receive.
This is what our industry has turned into, in a nutshell, and that’s how united we are within our ‘choti si media industry’ — all eerily familiar to someone who has run an election campaign.
Somewhere down the line in the world of films, we have forgotten the basic principles of ethics, professionalism, healthy rivalry, and above all, of learning. It’s almost similar to how our politicians have been fooling the public with their below-par performance time and again. We know they have been lying, and thanks to them we have no system.
You know how Shahbaz Sharif used to shout out loud in his political campaigns “5 saal main load shedding khattam hojayegi“? It never happened – and just like that, 5 to 6 years later commercial films share the same fate. They are just not getting better, and I don’t even know why.
Films need to improve
After openly bashing the not-so-great films that came out this past Eid, bashing them because I paid to watch – distinctly recalling that a filmmaker once told me, one should watch all Pakistani films to learn. To learn what? Not to waste my time? I think I learned more by making a bad film, and all the experience that came with it.
The bashing cost me disassociation from the film fraternity. But that’s okay as I never knew there was one till this year, that is how important the so-called ‘fraternity’ is, and frankly, it’s of no use anyway.
You may ask why? Well, the film fraternity’s productions speak for themselves. If this community of filmmakers and associated personnel cared, we would have slightly improved our films every year. But most members of this fraternity are saying untruths, trying to motivate each other even though public shaming is everywhere — and then they secretly laugh about it in behind closed doors.
Open criticism, it seems, isn’t for everyone. Look how Martin Scorsese just destroyed 22 years of Marvel cinema by calling them theme park rides – that was one stunning moment. According to him, Marvel films are not cinema. After his statement, I kind of agree. But then again that’s Hollywood, and we don’t really have any “wood” yet.
Corrective measures
How about introducing some screenplay classes or filmmaking classes from experts for our wider filmmaking community? How about highlighting film technology and crews in freely accessible information about how to go about doing things right? How about teaching how NOT to do branding in films? Rather, we are caught in negative feedback where we congratulate each other hypocritically, secretly hoping the other party’s film dies.
On a serious note, I’ve been immensely supportive of all films good or bad, hoping for an improvement. Mind you there’s also a television producers association which also likes spending time having chai and biscuits rather than working towards improving systems within the huge television industry and making it more professional. Minus the “do takay” ke dialogues, I think we’re doing fine otherwise.
Inaccurate box office figures
Similar situation prevails as far as box office figures are concerned — over countless and unauthentic reviews, for a very bad content season for the umpteenth time at the cinemas, one entity says 1 rupee earned, half an hour later the other one has earned 2 rupees – an hour later the third one has broken Avenger’s, Titanic’s and Bahubali’s record. It’s as bad and as manipulated as the ratings charts for television serials and their 1500 meters in Narnia. Also could we please stop with the ridiculous YouTube milestones of views, please. Focus on the content, Einsteins.
Some neutral and unbiased publications have claimed a “low footfall” recently. The chairman of distributors’ association labeled this year’s content as average, and better content is required to actually make a mark. One expert distributor also claimed that the films released this past season, won’t be able to break last year’s records and everyone’s putting jaali paison walay haar on producers. I didn’t get any jaali haars on my election losses mind you, but the resemblance between both the outcomes is outstanding.
The quandary
This is a troublesome situation for the current crop of filmmakers as well as the upcoming professionals. I don’t think we have a mechanism in place for honest and systematic collection of box office numbers, and I don’t think we are doing anything to streamline it either. But what we are good at is graphic designing and photo-shopping amazing flyers, and giving mithai to each other in WhatsApp groups. Full marks there on that for the jugaar and effort.
Importantly, we are not mastering the art of making good content, and neither are we working on improving the inefficiencies of our system. We are ripping people off in the name of “support Pakistani cinema”.
Why? It’s like the beggars on the street, you know they’re lying but you feel sorry for them and still give them money. Funny how most of our so-called expert filmmakers are Naya Pakistan lovers but have zero tolerance of incorporating naya values for themselves.
As an experienced filmmaker who has seen his film flop, and who has incurred losses, I went out of the way to give myself a chance to learn and improve, and above all participate in the practices of the industry.
I still remember there was a voice two years ago (when my film came out) where everyone would chant, not to support bad cinema, and let the weak ones learn and bounce back, and the very same experts are actually supporting the very bad cinema, and crying out loud to “support Pakistani cinema”.
Who are these people? Definitely not the benefactors of the industry. They thrived and shined on honest criticism before but now they value friendships, paid lobbies, and selfies with the artists and powerhouses more.
At first, I thought that unprofessionalism was the problem, but now it’s gotten worse. We aren’t attempting to fix what is wrong either. We will mock, and drag each other down, rather than support. And that false support is from the ones who are in the ‘business cycle’. The guys who provide ENGs, post-production services, crew services have to pass compliments on these flawed products because they get business. I don’t think they get paid on time though. We need more unions of cinematographers, actors, art directors, writers, etc. to grow.
As a filmmaker, I and the rest of the filmmakers would expect genuine and authentic box office numbers and returns – figures that have never been presented to date. If you don’t believe me, just ask any indie Producer. In fact, a shoddy excel sheet is presented on a number of people who turned out to watch the film backed by no receipt numbers, no automated counts, and no centralized data. If one wants to investigate, you might find kachi raseedon ka hisaab.
How on earth do some certain “unverified blogs” report box office figures anyway? I would really want to know. Is anyone auditing these guys? Yes the powerhouses who themselves become producers, distributors and exhibitors keep the real numbers in check for themselves only.
Are we ready to change the system?
Funny thing is the so-called association which governs the body is in no mood to have this system fixed either because real box office numbers will have to be put forward and resultantly accountability with the taxman would have to be legitimate, while the producer would actually get true feedback, too.
I was the only one voiced my discomfort at not having any automated system (CinemaScore / Rentrak) to represent real numbers in front of the so-called ‘fraternity’ and was shunned or ignored by them, and what hurts me the most is that the majority members of the fraternity are just spectators and no one cares. Just like the Pakistani awaam witnessed democracy in it all it’s glory last 15 years, and kept quiet.
It’s funny how powerhouses unite only to protect their vested interests, but would never do the same in strengthening our so-called immature film and media association. There are no rules, regulations, and frankly no knowledge about legitimate governance either. Instead, we crib only about Indian cinema being not around (which is a good thing for the local cinema industry, but aids in no manner towards a systematic approach to calculating real, true box office figures).
The negative loop continues
Hence heavy delays in payments occur between exhibitors and distributors and sometimes international films don’t even make it in time for an actual release. Ticket prices at theaters are absurd for local releases, they should be less so that the public doesn’t feel that bad while viewing average content. Do we even have “neutral” representatives who are totally authentic to chair such an industry? If you ask me no.
When you question film fraternity’s intellect and their tiny frail ego, you become the bad guy and are told “we are just learning.” Oh please. Experimenting on public money and looting them is as big a lie as presented by our so-called “democratic leaders”.
The only thing our film fraternity is an expert in is, keeping good ties with the active government so there are no taxes applied to films, so everyone one goes home happy other than the public, and won’t work on having transparent systems in place. Some of them even say “we have made more films so we’re in a better position to talk to the government”. But behind closed doors, they only long for personal growth and connections. However, I do hope Firdous Aashiq Awan our minister of information and broadcast will save the day, someday.
Likewise, our film industry also needs to restructure its objectives, based on original content, which appeals to viewers, with a centralized box office systems which help independent producers, analyze authentic returns.
Bring in some technical people to teach current filmmakers how to make films, invite in screenplay writers, give a chance to film graduates to become part of production houses, value real talent and focus on MERIT. Our international audience longs for good commercial content, authentic reviews, and transparent business figures. So far indie cinema has been producing the right kind of content, pushing and representing us on an international level.
Is there hope?
All is not lost though, I’ve seen some damn good films come out of our cinema Khuda Kay Liyay, Bol, Manto, Shah, Actor in Law, Jawani Phir Nahin Aani, Punjab Nahin Jaungi, The Motorcycle Girl, Cake, Lal Kabootar, and they have showcased promising numbers, in the toughest of times. Even though it’s not very hard to make a choice judging from the trailer of a film, somehow I made it across to watch the names mentioned above, and I’m glad I watched the right ones. The fraternity should highlight these champion filmmakers and make them mentors for the association and industry combined. If our self-inflicted ego allows us to.
I for one have no intentions to return to this flawed system as a filmmaker till the system itself is audited and fixed, and unbiased reporters and journalists can maintain their integrity, so that honest reviews, results, and box office numbers can act as a source of learning for an industry which is “growing” (apparently). For someone who accepted the criticism, and depended on the system to grow all of this is quite disappointing. Plus I’m still learning, so I think I’ll just wait it out, and get more experience so that karma doesn’t hit me the way I bashed bad films.
Keep an eye on all real independent producers and their survival techniques. They’re having a hard time coming back with full force and they need more support. Does the fraternity or the industry care? I think not.
So for now, you can enjoy Kaaf Kangana, or you can always save your do takkas. Also can we please release The Legend of Maula Jatt please, because I’m pretty sure the box office flyers and numbers will be worth looking out for.
