History of Film in Pakistan

Introduction History of Pakistan film industry is almost from a

scratch soon after the political division of the Sub-continent, it gradually progressed to achieve self-reliance and prosperity.

The golden era of Pakistan cinema was the period which spanned the decades of the 60s and 70s.

Although a number of good movies had already been produced in Lahore studios during the second half of the 50s.

A large number of dedicated workers and movie-makers, who had made names during their stay in Mumbai.

The Silent Era(1896-1913) The United States, France, and Germany, l invented the motion picture as a commercially viable form of recreation in 1895.

The Lumiere Brothers of France exhibited their short films in December 1895 at Grande Cafe, Paris.

The following year, they brought the show to India and held its premiere at the Watson Hotel in Bombay on 7 July 1896.

From 18 July 1896, films were released at the Novelty Theatre regularly on a price of 25 paisa to 2 rupee

In the next eighteen years, many cinema houses were built all over the country, exhibiting silent films from the West, mostly from the United States.

However, in 1913, Raja Harishchandra, the first film, was produced in Bombay by Dhundiraj Govind.

He is the undisputed father of Indian cinema, and his Raja Harishchandra (1913) can be regarded as the first full-length feature film though it had no sound and music.

Existence of Lollywood

Lahore’s first silent film, The Daughter of Today, was made in 1924, was the brainchild of G.K. Mehta, almost eleven years after the release of Phalke’s maiden venture.

In Lahore, Bhati Gate’s Mian Abdur Rashid Kardar (A.R. Kardar) should be given the credit for establishing film-making in this city, which was later to become Lollywood.

With him was Bhati Gate’s M. Ismail, another name among the pioneers of cinema in Lahore

With no work left after The Daughters of Today, A.R. Kardar and M. Ismail sold their belongings to set up a studio and a production company under the name of United Players Corporation in 1928 .

United Players produced eight successful films:

1. Mysterious Eagle.2. Brave Heart.3. Safdar Jang.4. Gudaria Sultan.5. Sunehri Khanja.6. Aawara Raqqasa.7. Mistress Bandit.8. Qatil Katar.

This marked the end of the United Players Corporation.

The Pre-Independence Period(1931-1947)

11 March 1931 will remain as the second most important date in the annals of the region’s history of cinema. On that day Alam Ara, the first full length locally-produced talkie film, was released at the Majestic Cinema, in Bombay.

The public response was overwhelming and for the first time tickets were sold in the black market for as much as twenty rupees .

The film had a few songs, sung by the actors themselves and recorded at the time of shooting.

The first talkie of the Punjab was Heer Ranjha and it came within a year and a half of Alam Ara. It was produced under the banner of a newly-formed studio called Play Art Photo Tone.

The story of Heer Ranjha was written by Syed Abid Ali Abid and the screenplay by M. Sadiq. The film was major box-office hit and Kardar’s fame reached Calcutta, his next destination.

Lahore talkie productions found easy access to the mainstream distribution market and attracted many entrepreneurs including a rich Lahorite, Dr Daulat Ram, who invested in a film studio at Muslim Town.

He made three films: Sacred Ganges, Suhag Din, Swarg Ki Seerhi directed by Imtiaz Ali Taj .

The years 1942-43 Lahore reaching the zenith of the Indian film industry when more than one dozen production units were set up.

The success of Pancholi’s films can be mainly attributed to the enchanting musical score of Ghulam Haider. The team worked well through five films but then Pancholi broke away from the maestro.

The Formative Period(1948-1955)

Pakistani Film Industry was trying to recover from the debris of social, political and economical catastrophe.

Lahore was also producing a few Urdu and Punjabi films during the pre-independence days. Four full-fledged studios catered to the needs of the regional industry in Lahore till 1947.

With the return of normalcy, cinema houses which had been sealed, were allotted to Muslim refugees in Lahore, Karachi and Dhaka. Indian films were then openly allowed, because there was no local film production.

Meanwhile, Muslim film personalities started pouring in from various parts of India. However, credit goes to Dewan Sardari Lal, who completed Pakistan’s first full length feature film Teri Yaad in the romantic lead.

Pakistan film industry witnessed upward growth in 1949. Noor Jehan and Syed Shaukat Hussain Rizvi’s arrival and Lahore as the only film-making centre of the new state started buzzing with activity again. Shori Studios started working as shahnoor studios under Rizvi and Noor Jehan.

Do Ansoo (1950), a tragic tale in which the father’s crime completely ruins the lives of his daughter and wife. Do Ansoo was the first Silver Jubilee Urdu film of Pakistan in which the romantic couple of Sabiha and Santosh was displayed for the first time.

Fazli’s Dopatta, starring Noor Jehan and Ajay Kumar, was the major hit of 1952. The film was also released in Calcutta, India where it played in nine cinema houses and grossed well at the box office. Its songs, sung by Noor Jehan and brilliantly composed by Feroze Nizami, were hits on both sides of the Waagah border.

Ghulam, Shehri Babu and Gulnar were classic films of 1953.

1955 saw the release of two classic Urdu films Qatil and Inteqam, directed by Anwar Kamal Pasha. Pattan, Naukar, Heer were other hit films of the year.

Ajay Kumar and Noor Jehan in Dopatta (1952)

The Golden Era (1956-1966)

The restriction on Bombay films opened a new free and non-competitive market for local productions.

Nayyar Sultana, an accomplished actress, played mostly dramatic roles in the 60’s. She played the title role in Baji (1963).

Many Indian artists including Shiela Ramani and Timir BaranBhattacharya came to Pakistan to work in Pakistani Films.

This period also saw the birth of Bengali and Sindhi cinema in 1956, and marked the addition of Karachi and Dhaka film centers in the country.

A.J. Kardar’s Jago Hua Savera (1959) earned Pakistan whatever international prestige it has in the realm of cinema when it won gold medal at Moscow Film Festival.

The Period of Great Change(1967-1978)

During this period, Pakistan witnessed great political and social upheaval. The country lost its other half. Nurul Haq’s Jalte Suraj Ke Neeche was the last Urdu film from the golden land of what was known as East Pakistan.

The former eastern wing (now Bangladesh) was an important film market for the Urdu films of Lahore and Karachi and contributed around thirty-three percent of the total investment in a production.

On the other hand, it became a turning point for the development of regional cinema as the producers looked into the financial viability of making more films in the provincial languages – Punjabi, Pashto and Sindhi.

The seventies also brought the husband-wife-cum-director-star team of Hasan Tariq and Rani to the forefront of Urdu cinema. The Rani-Tariq team’s filmography consists of almost two dozen ventures including such classics as :

1. Mera Ghar Meri Jannat (1968)

2. Anjuman (1970)

3. Umrao Jan Ada (1972)

4. Ek Gunah aur Sahi (1975)

5. Aina (1977)

Also during this period, a small group of influential film makers managed to get away with some explicit scenes, which normally would not have been allowed by the Censor Board.

Eager male audiences thronged the theatres to watch a series of yellow movies like Khatarnak, Khaufnak, Khanzada, Nawabzada, and Malikzada.

Lewd dances and songs, rape scenes, and semi nude actresses dancing in the rain were common ingredients of such blockbusters.

The Period of Crisis (1979 – 1990)

Movies of the eighties increasingly focused on violence; films featuring gangsters and the mob started taking center stage.

Pakistani Cinema became loud and localized, wanting in artistic or aesthetic merits.

The cancellation of all censor certificates of all films issued prior to the imposition of martial law, the new code of censorship, Indian television and finally the influx of uncensored pirated movies from Hollywood and Bollywood resulted in the overall decline of film quality and good number of cinema houses were closed down.

Maula Jatt 1979 Pakistani Punjabi language action, musical film directed by Younis Malik and produced by Sarwar Bhatti.

Film starring actor Sultan Rahi in the lead role and with Aasia and Mustafa Qureshi as the villain Noori Natt.

Such was the impact of the film that it was copied by film makers in Pakistan where several films were given names with the suffix "Jat".

This film's success set the trend of Action films being popular in Pakistan and cemented Sultan Rahi as Lollywood's main hero.

The Period full of Ups and Downs – (1991-1999) The nineties saw complete downfall of the film industry with the demise of Nazrul Islam.

There were no good directors to make good films, the situation nose-dived further as satellite TV, cable and CD invaded the market.

Syed Noor who has scripted around two hundred films in the 70s and 80s, came out with Qasam, Sargam, Sangam, Ghoonghat, Deewaney Terey Pyar Key, and Daku Rani.

The decade also saw rise, fall and rise of Shaan who made Bulandi (1990), but lost his way in the industry with time. The actor bounced back with Sangeeta’s Khilona (1996), and then ruled the box office throughout the decade.

The Period of 2000 to Onwards

Cinema was declining in all major cities of the nation and a need for revival was echoed in the media.

With privatization of television stations in full swing, a new channel Filmazia was broadcast, primarily to broadcast films .

It was during this time that Mahesh Bhatt, a celebrated Indian director visited Pakistan looking for talent, particularly singers who could lend their voices to his upcoming films in India. His visit to Pakistan was to attend the third Kara Film Festival, for the screenings of his film Paap in Karachi.

Later in 2005, industry officials realised that the government needed to lift the ban for the screening of Bollywood films in Pakistan.

The issue was voiced by the Film Producers Association (FPA) and the Cinema Owners Association (CAO) of Pakistan after the release of the colorized remastering of the 1960 classic Mughal-e-Azam.

When the government turned down the request, Geo Films, a subsidiary of Geo TV took on itself to invest in upcoming Pakistani directorial ventures, dubbed their efforts “Revival of Pakistani Cinema” and on 20 July 2007 released Shoaib Mansoor's cinematic directorial début Khuda Ke Liye (In The Name of God).

It would become the first Pakistani film since the imposition of the ban in 1965 to be released in both India and Pakistan. With its general release in India, the four-decade ban was lifted. The film was released in more than a 100 cinemas in 20 cities in India.