MASS MEDIA IN PAKISTAN
Topic:
Film/Motion Picture
Film or movie is a form of entertainment that enacts a story by a sequence of images giving the illusionof continuous movement. They are also called motion picture because a film or a movie works on thetheme of pictures in motion.
Film in Sub-Continent
The Lumier Brothers of France exhibited their short films in December 1895 at Grande Cafe, Paris. Thefollowing year, they brought the show to India and held its premiere at the Watson Hotel in Bombay on7 July 1896.
Raja Harishchandra (1913) was the first silent feature film made in subcontinent. It was made byDadasahebPhalke.By the 1930s, the industry was producing over 200 films per annum. The first Indian sound film,ArdeshirIrani'sAlamAra (1931), was a super hit. There was clearly a huge market for talkies andmusicals; Bollywood and all the regional film industries quickly switched to sound filming.
Film – a popular medium of communication
Film is an important and a very popular mass medium of communication particularly persuasion andentertainment. Although in our society it has not been used in such a planned and systematic way whereit could help in addressing social evils and other problems but in developed societies and even in manydeveloping countries this medium is being utilized to it fullest and have given very positive results.
Films have been produced on different subjects and topics in different parts of the world but the topicthat has always been a center of attention since the early years of motion picture is “War”.War films have often been used as 'flag-waving' propaganda to inspire national pride and morale, and todisplay the nobility of one's own forces while harshly displaying and criticizing the villainy of theenemy, especially during war or in post-war periods.
Experts concluded that generally when people watch movies they assume themselves as their favouriteheroes and it takes them away from their real lives where they are facing many problems. It also helpthem sometimes in seeing their unfulfilled dreams being fulfilled on screen which gives them a strangesense of satisfaction and despite the fact that they know what they are seeing on screen is fabricated andnot real but still they spend money and time to watch it and enjoy it. Deprived people when see peopleliving luxurious lives on screen, they dream themselves in place of protagonists, it gives them anunconscious feeling that they themselves are present at those beautiful lands or living that extraordinarylife which is nothing but a trance.
Film is a very strong medium of communication. Usually the films that are declared best movies of theyear are those that have something for everyone. These movies have strong subjects and story lineswhether they are war movies or religious movies. Their story, camerawork, editing, script, dialogues,acting everything is of quality which makes them best.
PAKISTAN FILM INDUSTRY
Till 1931 all movies were silent/mute films. Among the famous films that were produced in that era,Charlie Chaplin’s films are given classical status. He was a producer, director, writer as well as a verygood actor. He addressed very serious issues in his comedy films. Comedy is basically divided intothree main categories: (i) Dialogue-based comedy (ii) Situational comedy i.e. sit com, and (iii) Gesturebasedcomedy. As those movies were silent films therefore Charlie Chaplin used later two categories of comedy and entertained his fans and viewers. He also made many movies on violence and EconomicDepression that Europe was facing in those days.
Film in Sub-Continent
In sub-continent films started in 1913. Calcutta, Bombay and Lahore were three main hubs of filmindustry in India. Initially the films that were produced either were religious films or wars or violencebased films. The movies that were produced in Calcutta had an element of music too. The first talkyfilm that was produced on Indian soil was AlamAra (1931).
From 1931 to 1947 in addition to Lahore, Bombay and Calcutta, Madras also became a hub of filmindustry and a lot of the movies produced in this region appeared on the film world. Among thedirectors that got international fame, SatyaJeetray, is a big name. He was a Bengali director and theonly person from this part of the film world who got international acclaim.
Film in Pakistan
In Pakistan, along with Lahore the city that became a hub was Karachi. New studios were built here anda lot of the actors and directors migrated from India and started their work on Pakistani soil. Thirdcentre of Pakistan Film Industry was Dhaka, in Eastern wing of the country that has now becomeBangladesh.
Indian movies also kept coming to Pakistan, as they were a big source of entertainment to people andPakistan Film Industry was not so developed and very few films were being produced here. Butwhatever the films Pakistani Directors and Producers were producing, under the trade policy signedbetween the two parties, Pakistani films were also sent to India.
Initially, in spite of lack of facilities,Pakistan produced some really good movies that competed with India films.Under the agreed trade policy, exchange was taking place on the standard that our A class movie wasexchanged with their B or C class film. It continued till 1962. In 1962, film producers protested that ourfilms industry cannot flourish until and unless Indian movies will keep coming here. This movement isremembered as Jaal Film Movement because it was launched when a very successful Indian film Jaalwas to be released here. At film producers, directors and actors strong protest government finallyaccepted their demand and put a ban on the import of Indian films. After that Pakistan Film Industrystarted flourishing and almost 120-125 films were released in a year. At that time there were almost 850picture houses in the country.
Ban on the import of Indian films, where gave a boom to our film industry, there it also affected it in anegative way. From 1962-1973, all the hit films produced by Pakistani producers were plagiarizedversions of blockbuster Indian films. And people came to know it when Indian government fixed itsboaster in Amritsar to make their TV broadcast reach to Pakistani border areas and started telecastingtwo films in a week. It was a great shame for the whole nation when they came to know that theentertainment provided to them by their great directors, producers and writers was all plagiarized.
Mediaparticularly newspapers criticized it very openly and brutally and started publishing lists of allplagiarized films, song’s lyrics etc. Showing their reaction towards this open criticism film producerspassed a collective resolution and stopped giving their ads to Pakistan Times and Daily Mashriq. It wasone reason that why our film industry could not flourish because they never trusted in their own abilitiesand preferred copying over producing original stuff.
Very few of our film producers and directors tried to produce original and creative stuff, most of themhave been copying others’ creativity that did not let them grow in their creativity and now they are notable to survive in this competitive word.
DOWNFALL OF PAKISTAN FILM INDUSTRY
Pakistan film industry is facing artistic as well as financial crisis. After a ban on Indian films, filmindustry started progressing but their plagiarizing attitude restricted their creativity from further growth.However that’s not the only reason of the present crisis that industry is facing. There are many otherfactors that are responsible for the downfall of the industry.
In late 70s and early 80s when VCR culture flourished, once again it provided a market for IndianFilms. As there was no apparent ban on watching Indian films at homes and easy availability of VHStapes and VCRs on minor rents, a whole market for Indian Films developed. People preferred watchingoriginal stuff than plagiarized versions. Although most of their films were also copied from Hollywoodor English films but still they were producing some original stuff too and along with that, technicalquality of their films was also very good, this moved people towards Indian movies and than from habit,it became a culture.
Another reason is lack of any training or educational institute where producers, directors, actors,cameramen, set designers, script writers could be given any training. In Pakistan, film has never beenaccepted as a true Art form and therefore no step has been taken for its growth and development. Nowin 21st century some private institutions have started some degree programs but still nothing could besaid on the quality of the education or training they are going to provide. Still, over all as a beginning itis a good step and hopefully public institutions will also be taking such steps to add fresh blood to theindustry. Unlike Pakistan, in India there are many institutions from quite a time now where actors,producers and directors are given proper training and then as a professional they join the industry.
In Pakistan, lack of technical facilities that are important to compete internationally, are another reasonof its downfall. Advertising companies make short films for TV but they don’t process their films hereas they are not satisfied with quality of the equipment available. They have to send their films toThailand, Singapore and Turkey for processing. This has affected Art films production in the country.
Another problem of our Film industry is finances. After 1971 East Pakistan separated from us where56% of the population was living. That tragedy affected the market and viewership of the industry. Thendue to Indian films people also stopped coming to cinema houses and as a result producers stoppedinvesting into this business. It also affected the owners of Cinema Houses who later started convertingtheir Cinema/ Picture houses into Theatres or marriage halls or shopping centers etc.
In 1973/74 countryhad almost 850 cinema houses and now they are almost 350, others have been converted into otherbusinesses. By laws of the government are another reason because they have made owning a cinemahouse a heavy business for the people. Most of the cinema houses have been converted into commercialtheatres, which are getting popular day by day despite their low quality and standard.
Initially in theatre we had big names like Imtiaz Ali Taj, Rafi Peer etc. but theatre never had a status of amedium of mass entertainment particularly in our society. Serious theatre was the only form of theatreavailable to people. Commercial Theatre began when cinema owners particularly in Lahore startedconverting their cinemas into Theatre Halls. The theatre that started here was mostly comic but due to
the cheap and substandard content negative criticism arouse against theatre plays’ producers, directors,writers and actors and government therefore decided to censor the plays and theirs scripts. As danceswere also a permanent element of these plays therefore government also adopted a strict stance overthese dances and many actresses were fined and at times even banned for performing vulgar or obscenedances on stage.
Experts say that although in this 21st century everyone around is talking about freedom of expression butthe kind of entertainment these plays are providing to people is worth censoring. However, the laws thatgovernment is using against them need to be updated or revised. Still 1874’s law is being used to censorthese theatre plays.
Theatre is a very strong medium of communication. People buy very expensive tickets to see theseplays. If used sensibly and seriously it can bring better and constructive results. The reason why it hasnot been used seriously here is that unlike England, we don’t have a culture of watching theatre plays.
We did have a culture of watching cinema but it has also almost diminished now.If seen in over all scenario film and theatre actors particularly in comparison to TV actors are not givenrespect and honour in one society. It is still not an accepted art form here. People watch their moviesand plays, get entertained but don’t give back anything other than money. Some people even think thatthe people who invest money in these businesses invest for the purpose of turning their black moneyinto white money. There might be some truth in it but still they are art forms and they should be treatedlike other mediums of communication and entertainment.
In civilized countries media of communication give support to each other. In Pakistan PTV has alsotried to perform this job and has filled the space left due to the non-availability of good films and haseven competed with Indian Art Cinema but it could not do anything in developing the industry orgetting it out of the crisis it is facing, may be because people in film industry are themselves not united and not doing anything in getting out of the present crisis.
In our country the concept of Art Cinema or Parallel Cinema is also very vague. People don’t knowmuch about them Art films are formed for a specific audience and not for general audience. Anotherform of film making is Amateur Film making, which is very developed in our neighboring country.
Here in Pakistan some people have now started taking interest in it but still due to the lack of goodinstitutions they are not capable of competing at international level. However some of them are reallygood and show a spark that if given some support and training can do much better.
Film Industry’s Improvement
Investment/commercial support
Ideas/stories
Governmental Support
Cooperation with known international production houses
Specialized Education
Making New Quality Films
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