What makes the revival of Pakistani cinema an uphill task

[Hithchiker]

Yea he really needs to do something about it hahaha

Lol yes i am doing this

 

[Hithchiker]

I got a shock.

When I looked through the Internet, and particularly through the Wikipedia article on Iranian cinema, I realised how little I'd seen. I thought Kiarostami and Makhmalbaf (I can't remember their names for the life of me) was it; they are just part of a tidal wave - OK, they are the highest, most awesome parts - of modern cinema.

I started watching with Makhmalbaf (he has been to India and experimented with film-making in India, to the great delight of film buffs here - I am strictly an amateur, those are dedicated Film Society types), and realised that everyone discussing his films kept talking about Kiarostami with awe and reverence, so went ahead to watch him. Let me list a few films of Kiarostami, then some by Makhmalbaf, and then give you the URL for the Wikipedia article so that you can see for yourself the totality of the scene.

By Kiarostami (not in the order I watched, these are listed by the date of their making):

• Where Is My Friend's House?
• Close Up
• Through The Olive Trees
• The Taste of Cherry
• The Wind Will Carry Us
• Certified Copy

There are many more I want to watch, but don't know how to get them.

By Mohsen Makhmalbaf

• The Boycott
• The Cyclist
• Time of Love
• Gabbeh
• Kandahar

Three of these, The Cyclist, Gabbeh and Kandahar, are about the Afghans or about nomad tribesmen; Kandahar made a huge impact on me. It is said that The Boycott is in some ways autobiographical.

Makhmalbaf believes that cinema has to be done. He is not a convention film-maker, and believes that all of us are actors, and that all of us are doing cinema as we lead our lives, and that converting our lives into film is the stripped-away summary, the core, the kernel of cinema. That is what I concluded, it is not stated as such anywhere. I could be dead wrong, and a truly informed cinema critic will probably rip this to pieces. I think you will enjoy watching them, and would like your reactions if you get to see any of them.

It was almost humiliating to see what I knew nothing about when I told you grandly and with an air of authority about Iranian cinema; that happened when I read the Wikipedia article below and realised how little I knew about how little I know. Read for yourself, if you care to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_of_Iran

I do hope you enjoy watching; Makhmalbaf was a liberating experience, sometimes cathartic in the Aristotelian way, sometimes engaging in the manner of a Brecht play. But to each his or her own; you will no doubt react to it in your own way. I look forward to hearing about it.

Thanks you ..Provided me with good weekend activity will focus on this instead on seasons

 

[Joe Shearer]

I am going to ask the management to change it ...Apart from that Bolloywood is quite suceeful i beleive in

1) Entertainment
2) Creating soft image and
3) Propaganda tool to some extent

Pakistani cinema is infant compare to regional

You will have noticed - most sensitive observers will have noticed - that Bollywood is not a single beast, it is a menagerie. That is to say, some of our film-makers have generated propaganda as a by-product; the primary aim always is to make money. Certainly, it can be argued and it has been argued that making a jingoistic or patriotic film itself addresses a niche that will probably make money; perhaps instead of calling it a by-product, it should be described as a conjoint objective.

Again, for reasons that really need some decent investigation, Indian (=Bollywood) cinema has got the attention of a world market, outside the US and UK, to some extent outside Europe, to a remarkable degree. It is startling to find a respectable Russian gentleman of a middle-aged, or, even more likely, an elderly vintage breaking into a Raj Kapoor routine on learning one is Indian. Even more significant is that by-standers understand perfectly well what is going on; they may look on indulgently, but not with surprise. So the memory has lasted.

Apart from that, and I say it as shouldn't, Bollywood has had distinctive phases and stages. This is not the place to go into it, but those who are better versed in the genre (=those who have serious watched Hindi movies) can take one through four or five distinct stages of development. However, a survivor is the two-hour long extravaganza, the Bollywood formula film. It continues with saurian persistence through the attacks by new wave cinema, realistic cinema, modern cinema, the lot, without missing a step. Fortunately, government has had nothing to do with it; the Bollywood industry is a different slice of India, the government can only harm it, not nurture it, unless one counts the Film Institute in Pune.

I hear from Pakistani friends (and Arab and Iranian friends) about their familiarity with Bollywood with a lot of curiousity. How do people relate to these quintessentially Indian themes? I can understand a perfect acceptance of Pyaasa in Pakistan; what about Teesri Kasam? Does it make sense? I suppose it does, but I am vastly curious. Especially about our neighbours in Arabia and in Iran.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Lol we can debate and agree to disagree on this ... at-least we declare while some kidnapped and never speaks out..We can kidnap Iranian provided they kept Saudi passport and start roaming in Balochistan

<Gulp!>

You knew this?

 

[Joe Shearer]

Thanks you ..Provided me with good weekend activity will focus on this instead on seasons

Kandahar made me sad and emotional, but deeply moved. The Cyclist was also moving, in a very different kind of way, as a reflection of the human condition.

 

[Hithchiker]

You will have noticed - most sensitive observers will have noticed - that Bollywood is not a single beast, it is a menagerie. That is to say, some of our film-makers have generated propaganda as a by-product; the primary aim always is to make money. Certainly, it can be argued and it has been argued that making a jingoistic or patriotic film itself addresses a niche that will probably make money; perhaps instead of calling it a by-product, it should be described as a conjoint objective.

Again, for reasons that really need some decent investigation, Indian (=Bollywood) cinema has got the attention of a world market, outside the US and UK, to some extent outside Europe, to a remarkable degree. It is startling to find a respectable Russian gentleman of a middle-aged, or, even more likely, an elderly vintage breaking into a Raj Kapoor routine on learning one is Indian. Even more significant is that by-standers understand perfectly well what is going on; they may look on indulgently, but not with surprise. So the memory has lasted.

Apart from that, and I say it as shouldn't, Bollywood has had distinctive phases and stages. This is not the place to go into it, but those who are better versed in the genre (=those who have serious watched Hindi movies) can take one through four or five distinct stages of development. However, a survivor is the two-hour long extravaganza, the Bollywood formula film. It continues with saurian persistence through the attacks by new wave cinema, realistic cinema, modern cinema, the lot, without missing a step. Fortunately, government has had nothing to do with it; the Bollywood industry is a different slice of India, the government can only harm it, not nurture it, unless one counts the Film Institute in Pune.

I hear from Pakistani friends (and Arab and Iranian friends) about their familiarity with Bollywood with a lot of curiousity. How do people relate to these quintessentially Indian themes? I can understand a perfect acceptance of Pyaasa in Pakistan; what about Teesri Kasam? Does it make sense? I suppose it does, but I am vastly curious. Especially about our neighbours in Arabia and in Iran.

Simple for Pakistan its cultural affinity to some extent and then language ....along with lack of own reputable industry capable of producing stuff to spend on..I am not sure of others but i have seen its impact in MIddle East ..

 

[Hithchiker]

Kandahar made me sad and emotional, but deeply moved. The Cyclist was also moving, in a very different kind of way, as a reflection of the human condition.

You know most of SA love Mirch Masla, phadday Bazi ,suspense and action ...Art movies though "Real Movies" but fails to attract audience and generate money (core purpose)

 

[Hithchiker]

<Gulp!>

You knew this?

 

[Joe Shearer]

Simple for Pakistan its cultural affinity to some extent and then language ....along with lack of own reputable industry capable of producing stuff to spend on..I am not sure of others but i have seen its impact in MIddle East ..

For Pakistan, understandable; even the rural, UP-ish movies (Teesri Kasam) are comprehensible, given a mental gear-change to accommodate the change of clothing, and maybe some rather greater visibility of women in public spaces.

But what is the impact in the Middle East that you saw? Why do you think they relate to these?

 

[Joe Shearer]

You know most of SA love Mirch Masla, phadday Bazi ,suspense and action ...Art movies though "Real Movies" but fails to attract audience and generate money (core purpose)

Very true; the 10 anna wallahs definitely prefer these. But the fun thing is that with our huge population, even getting one percent of 1% to see a movie on the art film circuit would mean that 130,000 people would have seen a film.

 

[Hithchiker]

For Pakistan, understandable; even the rural, UP-ish movies (Teesri Kasam) are comprehensible, given a mental gear-change to accommodate the change of clothing, and maybe some rather greater visibility of women in public spaces.

But what is the impact in the Middle East that you saw? Why do you think they relate to these?

Do you know Zee Aflam is one of the popular channel..Most of the people know who is Shah Rukh, Salman Khan and you name India "aha Bollywood" ..For UAE its simple most of the locals understand urdu or hindi there...Once i passed the comments in UAE and old 60 plus aged men step out and start speaking urdu in-front of me...Bahrain i need not to mention is like mini Kerala..
@Khafee can explain better on this..

 

[Hithchiker]

Very true; the 10 anna wallahs definitely prefer these. But the fun thing is that with our huge population, even getting one percent of 1% to see a movie on the art film circuit would mean that 130,000 people would have seen a film.

Agree in india it can ...Though i like the trend set by Sanjay about historic movies, definitely not i agree with his portraying history one sided with biased (but that is how it makes money) but personally i tend to like historic movies

 

[Joe Shearer]

Do you know Zee Aflam is one of the popular channel..Most of the people know who is Shah Rukh, Salman Khan and you name India "aha Bollywood" ..For UAE its simple most of the locals understand urdu or hindi there...Once i passed the comments in UAE and old 60 plus aged men step out and start speaking urdu in-front of me...Bahrain i need not to mention is like mini Kerala..
@Khafee can explain better on this..

 

[Joe Shearer]

Agree in india it can ...Though i like the trend set by Sanjay about historic movies, definitely not i agree with his portraying history one sided with biased (but that is how it makes money) but personally i tend to like historic movies

I HATE that mutt and his distorted movies.

For instance, Devdas needed to have been a minimalist piece, even perhaps a sepia or black-and-white piece (I'm exaggerating; a good cameraman could probably achieve the same effect in colour); instead it became a bimbo movie, and two classy actresses were converted into objects of sexual desire (not exactly the same as sex objects; only to be wanted for eternity).

Padmaavat was revolting; it was a badly made movie with a distorted treatment, one that should have been despised (but nothing more strenuous) by Hindu and Muslim alike.

 

[Khafee]

Do you know Zee Aflam is one of the popular channel..Most of the people know who is Shah Rukh, Salman Khan and you name India "aha Bollywood" ..For UAE its simple most of the locals understand urdu or hindi there...Once i passed the comments in UAE and old 60 plus aged men step out and start speaking urdu in-front of me...Bahrain i need not to mention is like mini Kerala..
@Khafee can explain better on this..

Very well said! Before that it used to be Amitabh, Rajesh Khana, Shatrugan Sinha, Amjad Khan, Prem Chopra etc.

The UAE has been a cross road of trade for ages, with the sub continent being its biggest trade partners. Most of my fathers generation studied in the Sub continent, since we were a British colony upto 1971, hence no universities.

His generation, the educated ones, can speak fluently, while mine can, to a very great extent, and those who can't speak, understand it at least. The cinema, has played its part in it as well.

If I'm not mistaken, we have about +/- 4.3m from the Subcontinent, out of a total population of 9.5m/10m.