Left out of Imran’s electoral promises, Lollywood is unsure if his new government will take care of its needs; hopes tension with Bollywood will ease.
New Delhi: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s long-drawn campaign up to the elections saw him make promises about employment, better bilateral ties, security, among others, to create what he called a ‘Naya Pakistan’.
While the whole country is rejoicing at his vision, Pakistan’s nascent entertainment industry fears being ignored by the new government of Khan who takes oath as prime minister Saturday.
Known as ‘Lollywood’, the Pakistani entertainment industry did not find any mention in Khan’s election manifesto.
“Our country needs a government that will help filmmakers, give subsidies in terms of equipment procurement, reduce taxes and make the process easy,” celebrated Pakistani actor Humayun Saeed told ThePrint.
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While sports figured prominently on Khan’s agenda, films remained absent in the manifesto with an obscure paragraph on arts and culture showing Khan is still not decided on what to do for the industry.
“The government needs to work on bringing in stricter regulations for cinema halls, television, cable, DVD and others so that they are accountable,” said Nadeem Mandviwalla, one of the top film producers and the oldest distributor in the country.
In the absence of regulations, producers have to rely entirely on screening of films as they hardly earn anything from the sale of rights to television, satellites and music unlike in Bollywood.
What previous govt did
The previous PML(N) government had for the first time introduced incentives such as lowering imports on film equipment, a budget of Rs 47 crore to build a ‘National Film Academy’ and slashing of income tax by 50 per cent for those investing in films. Whether or not Khan will take a cue from his predecessor is not yet known.
“For a producer in Pakistan, the budget is very low, forget profit margins. Recovering the money itself becomes a huge challenge,” said Sayeed, who owns production house Six Sigma Entertainment.
Unlike India, the Pakistan government offers little or no film grants making the industry entirely dependent on individuals and corporates for finances.
Revenue collection remains limited for the industry as the country currently has only 100 screens across the nation, said Nadeem. This is an abysmally low number compared to India’s 8,000 screens across all languages.
“Right now, it is like a handicraft shop. We make a maximum of 15 films a year and this is nothing. We have to be very smart and progressive,” said Jamshed Mahmood Raza, also known as Jami, an internationally recognised director.
Bollywood is the saviour
It’s Bollywood that’s credited with infusing a fresh lease of live in the Pakistani film industry.
“The industry fought for 25 years to introduce Indian films in the country,” said Nadeem referring to the fall of Pakistan’s vibrant film industry after General Zia-ul-Haq seized power in 1977 in a military coup, greatly restricting and censoring Pakistani films and banning Indian movies.
In 2008, former president Pervez Musharraf lifted the 40-year-old ban on Bollywood films. Since then, Hindi films have held higher box office numbers than Pakistani films, accounting for almost 75 per cent revenue for distributors. This year, Salman Khan-starrer Race 3 and Sanjay Dutt’s biopic Sanju created records with the latter crossing Rs 37 crore at the box office in Pakistan.
Nadeem agrees that Pakistani films cannot compete with the budget and quality of Bollywood and Hollywood films but fear of competition, he said, should not be a reason to ban them or lose out on the revenue they bring in.
Easing the tension
The change in the government also holds a beacon of hope for easing the tension between Bollywood and Lollywood that started after the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association banned Pakistani actors following the Uri attack and Pakistan placed restrictions on Hindi films.
“They have to be open to each other. Some of our Pakistani movies are of good quality and can be played in India but they are not getting there. India has to open up,” said Jami, whose movie Moor was the country’s official nomination for the Academy Awards in 2015 and was screened at the International Film Festival of India in Goa as well.
Tension may ease between the industries, but it will not happen overnight, say analysts.
“Things may become normal at a later stage, but it has nothing to do with Imran Khan. It will happen on a reciprocal mode,” says Girish Johar, an Indian film trade analyst.
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The censorship rot
Pakistan’s film industry has always lived under the shadow of censorship.
“Censorship is one of the major issues here. Every film goes to the censor board like in India, but we have an army guy who sits on the board and watches every film,” said Jami.
“They give the approval and also the civilian government. We don’t need to have an army guy sitting on the censor board,” Jami added.
Any mention of words like ISI and Kashmir is enough to invite censorship; for instance, earlier this year Alia Bhatt-starrer Raazi was banned for that reason because no distributor took up the film. But filmmakers hope that the idea of ‘Naya Pakistan’ will bring about some change.
“Nobody can fight the army here but if Imran Khan can slip through the finger and pass some amazing laws, then maybe there will be better days for the industry,” Jami said hoping for a few “aggressive” policies from the new government.
Nadeem is of the view that the Pakistani film industry is on its way to get back its former glory. The latest film distributed by him, Teefa In Trouble starring Ali Zafar collected over Rs 2 crore on the opening day itself whitewashing Bollywood movie Dhadak at the box office there. But this happy story remains only for big productions.
Until the government puts in place a support mechanism for the industry, filmmakers — both young and old — will continue to grapple with low budget, small profit and heavy censorship in this South Asian nation.