Reasons and consequences of the decline of the Film Industry of Pakistan

Humza Syed 10u543

During the Golden Era that is 1960’, movies were made in all languages and Lollywood was in direct competition with Bollywood. The black and white film reels brought good ransom to the industry and the film industry flourished. Pakistani film industry was producing the most talented and well known directors, producers, writers and actors. Stories were original and meaningful, and the execution was of good quality. The film industry was more than a source of entertainment; it was a medium for education. Today, Pakistani film industry has come to its decline because of the emergence of cable television, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamization, ban of Indian films in 1965 and eventually DVD piracy. Our research aims to look at revival efforts that are being made today, in order to restore the glory and standard of the Films that are being made today, in Pakistan.Today the Global entertainment industry is one the verge of its success, because of uniting various race, cultures and nations. Whereas the Pakistani entertainment industry, specially the film industry, has been facing a decline over the years. The Pakistani film industry is surrou8nded by a number of problems in various departments. A great attention needs to be paid on the scripts, music, producers, directors and actors, equipment and on the demands of the audience, in today’s world. Lack of talented people in the industry, is one of the major reasons, behind the decline. The scripts lack any sort of originality and fail to represent the culture of our society in truest essence. On the other side, the audience is not satisfied with what they get to watch today in the Pakistani films. The equipment that is being used in the films is obsolete, and the good quality equipment that is available, is not affordable. Today the actors do not have question what type of roles they would be doing, rather just do it for the sake of money. The producers are facing many budget issues and government support issues, and they suffer from the lack of knowledge regarding the changing trends in the audience preferences. 

The reasons behind the downfall of the film industry are not specific and precise; instead there are many reasons which are deep rooted. The causes and consequences of the downfall of the film industry  have been analysed time and over by taking interviews of representatives of respective departments namely: Producer/director Syed Noor, Actor Saleem Sheikh, Script writer Muhammad Tariq and Chairman of Cinema Management Association Pakistan, Qaiser Sanaullah Khan mostly. Along with mutually agreed upon views by all, there were some points that contradicted each other. According to Syed Noor, there is a dire need for government support in providing budgets and also technical equipment; whereas Sanaullah Khan stated that government has done whatever it could have in the form of tax exemptions from 150% in the 80s to 0% in 2010. Saleem Sheikh was of the opinion that the film industry will revive only when youngsters will come forward and a new wave will be introduced, which was the view of Syed Noor as well. We have arrived to a conclusion that it not one person’s task but a collective effort is required by the government, actors directors and producers to prevent the consequences of the downfall.