Eid-ul-Adha last chance for Pakistan’s film industry?

The banned cinema industry is on the way to recovery after the global epidemic of Corona (Corona) virus, but the failure of successive films in Pakistan has once again threatened its existence.

In the next few days, the success or failure of two Pakistani films ‘Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad’ and ‘London Nahi Jaon Ga’ will play a decisive role in this regard.

Since the easing of coronavirus restrictions in October last year, only a few Hollywood films have been the only recourse for cinema to open, while since November, there has not been a single Pakistani film with an enviable box office record.

When the Pakistani film ‘Khel Khel Mein’ was released last November, there was a lot of hope from this film, but this film by Sajal Ali and Bilal Abbas managed to earn barely 6 crores at the box office.

All the Pakistani films leading up to Eid-ul-Fitr, including ‘Kahe Dil Jadhar’, ‘Chole Asman’, ‘Thudi Life Thamhi Zindagi’ and ‘Ishrat, Made in China’, failed miserably at the box office.

‘Kehe Dil Jadhar’ earned 60 lakhs at the box office, ‘Ishrat, Made in China’ earned only 68 lakhs, while the business of the other two films is not worth mentioning.

Out of the four films released on Eid-ul-Fitr, only Saba Qamar’s ‘Ghabrana Nahi Hai’ has earned close to 15 crores so far, the other three films ‘Dum Mastam’, ‘Parde Mein Rahe Do’ and ‘Chakkar’ have box office business expectations. was much less than

‘Parde Mein Rahe Do’ earned around Rs 3.68 crores, ‘Chakar’ Rs 2.67 crores, while ‘Dum Mastam’ had a box office business of around Rs.8 crores.

All the films released after Eid-ul-Fitr, including ‘Rishte,’ ‘Thudi Setting Tutchi Pyaar,’ ‘Kheil,’ ‘Pechhe To Dekho,’ ‘Chaudhry’ and ‘Rahbra’, have all failed at the box office. . The business of ‘Rishte’ and ‘Khel’ is not worth mentioning, ‘Thoori Setting Tutchi Pyaar’ made seven lakh rupees, ‘Pechhe To Dekho’ made about 42 lakhs, ‘Chaudhry’ made about 20 lakhs and ‘Rahbra’ made Rs. 43 lakhs at the box office.

Only Sarmad Khost’s film ‘Kamili’ has saved some credibility by earning above four crores and the film was well received by the audience and critics as well.

It should be noted that 50 to 60 percent of the money of each ticket sold in the cinema is shared by the cinema while 5 to 15 percent is shared by the distributor. The producer gets barely 30 percent of the film. That is, if a film is made for five crores, the producer has to earn at least 15 crores to earn back his money.

Now, in this background, the importance of the two big films released on Eid-ul-Azha increases a lot because the progress of the Pakistani film industry now depends to a large extent on them.

It should be remembered that on July 8, two days before Eid-ul-Adha, Marvel’s ‘Thor Love and Thunder’ is also being presented for exhibition.

Here is a brief review of Pakistani movies coming on Eid-ul-Adha:

Long live the Quaid-e-Azam

Like its name, this film is unique in many ways. The film stars Mahira Khan and Fahad Mustafa who are working together for the first time. Both of them have not worked together in any advertisement, let alone a film or drama.

In this film, Mahira Khan will be seen on the cinema screen after three years and Fahad Mustafa after four years and this time both of them are not releasing any other film on this Eid.

Fahad Mustafa and Mahira Khan are playing the lead roles in the film ‘Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad’ (Photo: Publicity Poster).

In 2018, Fahad’s ‘Loud Wedding’ and ‘Jawaani Phir Nahi Aani 2’ were released together, while in 2019, Mahira Khan’s ‘Superstar’ and ‘Prey Hit Love’ were released together in cinemas, which made fans of both the films. I was divided.

The film has twelve scenes full of action, comedy and romance, with an anti-corruption social message featuring Fazah Ali Mirza and Nabeel Qureshi. Both of them have previously given hits like ‘Unknown’ and ‘Actor in Law’.

In the film, Fahad Mustafa is playing the role of a policeman while Mahira Khan is playing the role of an animal rights activist. The duo is being loved in the songs released so far and their chemistry is also showing off well. Javed Sheikh will be seen as a Sindhi police constable for the first time in the film.

With the star power of Mahira Khan and Fahad Mustafa and the big banner of ‘Filmwala’, there are high expectations from this film.

The trailer of the movie is interesting and makes you want to watch the movie, moreover the trailer uses modern technology (VFX) in a good way which is rare in Pakistani movies.

I will not go to London

This Mahwish Hayat and Humayun Saeed film seems to be a reboot of the earlier film ‘Punjab Nahi Jaon Gee’. The filmmakers say that its story is completely different, although there are similarities in some things, but that was the need of the story.

The duo of Mehwish Hayat and Humayun Saeed has already given two most successful films on cinema ‘Jawaani Phir Nahi Aani’ and ‘Punjab Nahi Jaon Gi’.

‘London Nahi Jaon Ga’ stars Humayun Saeed and Mehwish Hayat in lead roles while Kabra Khan will also be seen in the film (Photo: Publicity Poster).

Khalilur Rehman Qamar’s script has life in its dialogues, the music is somewhat traditional but full of chants and songs. The film is directed by Nadeem Baig.

If you look at the trailer, it seems that the big surprise of this film could be Kabra Khan, who has played the role of a Punjabi girl from a small town. His dance performance in the song that has been released so far is being liked a lot.

Humayun Saeed’s character is similar to his previous character Fawad Khagga, but he was a very popular character. So there is a possibility that people will like it, anyway in the last seven years no Humayun Saeed film has failed except one (Project Ghazi).

The biggest highlight of the film is Mehwish Hayat who is the most successful heroine of recent times. His name alone is a guarantee of success so far. In recent times, she has gained international fame after her work in Miss Marvel, which could serve her well in this film.

The film also stars Gauhar Rasheed and Wasee Chaudhry. According to Humayun, there is a lot of humor in this film which is kept on the occasion of Eid.

Luffinge

After falling prey to the Censor Board, the film was allowed to screen at the Full Board Review at the last minute with several dialogues and some scenes cut. It is a horror-comedy film starring Sami Khan, Mubin Gabol, Salim Miraj and Mani as well as Nazish Jahangir in lead roles, while Behrooz Sabzwari is also acting in the film after a long time.

The filmmakers claim that the film is Pakistan’s first horror-comedy film and is the story of four men who have dreams but no way to achieve them.

The special thing about this film is that it is on a very different subject from the other two films but neither film has a box office hit to its name. In this sense, it may be difficult for this film to attract the public in the beginning.

The filmmakers claim that ‘Lafange’ is Pakistan’s first horror-comedy film (Photo: Publicity Poster)

Background of Pakistani cinema issues

The main problem of Pakistani cinema is the lack of films. Cinema needs one film every week and there is no such capacity in the Pakistani industry.

Pakistani cinema has been dependent on Bollywood films since its inception. After the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the government of Pakistan banned the screening of Bollywood films in the country, which was relaxed in 2007 by the then military dictator General Pervez Musharraf and later the People’s Party government made the screening of Bollywood films conditional. allowed

But in this 42-year ban, hundreds of cinema houses were broken and the number of films decreased until in 2005, not a single film was made.

It should be remembered that Bollywood films were included in the list of prohibited import goods in Pakistan and under the 2008 policy, Indian films were given special exemption for screening in Pakistani cinemas, after which the film was imported and brought to the Censor Board. The certificate was issued from

After 2008, the benefit of showing Indian films was that new cinemas were built in Pakistan and modern multiplexes were built in major cities. As the number of cinemas increased, Pakistani producers got courage and started making films.

But in September 2016, two weeks after the attack on the Uri camp in Indian-administered Kashmir, the Indian Motion Pictures Association banned Pakistani artists from working in India, prompting cinema owners in Pakistan to stop showing Indian films. This self-imposed ban was lifted in December 2016, but no Indian film could be screened in Pakistani cinemas for another two months due to government paperwork and various permits required.

During these five months, the number of Pakistani cinema-goers dropped to less than a quarter. According to the cinema owners, the Pakistani films that were playing also suffered a lot as the number of people in the cinemas decreased drastically, which resulted in the loss of Pakistani films and the cinemas under construction in many cities were also stopped.

Indian film producers have refused to screen their films in Pakistan following the tension following the attack in Pulwama (Indian-administered Kashmir) on 14 February 2019. This time, Pakistan reacted immediately, but on February 26 of the same month, Pakistani cinema owners boycotted Bollywood after the alleged airstrike by India in Pakistan’s Balakot region.

Since then, Bollywood movies have been banned in Pakistan and no significant progress is being made. Meanwhile, the global epidemic of Corona also hit Nahle and put the struggling film industry in more trouble.

A large majority of cinema owners and people associated with the film industry agree that Bollywood is very important for Pakistani cinema, but the political situation is a hindrance.

(Films’ box office figures are given by the distributors of those films)