Tanvir S.

FYI - Shaan was on Brunch with Bushra on the first day of Eid on GEO. On the show he strummed a guitar and sang something. But of course, just like clockwork, with our great Pakistani channels, the sound of the show failed exactly for the minutes while he sang. Also the show was never repeated.

PyariCgudia

lol

sTaLkEr

Thanks for sharing. I've been rooting for Pakistani films for the last 10 years of my life but all they have produced, excluding 4 or 5 films, is pure garbage. I hope Shaan means what he says coz talk is cheap and he did rant about his "vision" when he was working on his debut directorial venture (in 1996 I think), only later to resurrect the Gandasa culture with his disgusting Gujjar films.

PyariCgudia

Why don't you make movies, then? You seem passionate about it.

sTaLkEr

There are far more experienced, passionate people with the resources out there (Ahsan Rahim, Jami, Saqib Malik, Mehreen Jabbar) who ought to step in. My career path is not even remotely tied to film making.

KraziM3

Yes Shaan has been very contradictory throughout his career, I just hope that this time he really means to make a difference because he has a lot of potential.

sTaLkEr

I guess this is one positive aspect of screening slickly made trash from across the border...it puts the local creatively dead film makers in the spot to do something to capture the local audience, for once

PyariCgudia

She is an incredibly good choice. I am guessing the projects are good, otherwise, she would not have signed onto a trashy project.

sTaLkEr

Yup, she is indeed a good choice. I just hope they don't take forever to make and release these films...the local productions need a rapid rescue of sorts...

Which really makes me wonder why people like Syed Noor who have the resources and clout to make a decent film ever think outside the box. Possibly, they a re too rooted in the film culture of the past and will (hopefully) be dinosaurs very soon, along with the rest of their contemporaries. The new lot finally needs to step in with a new vision.

samb

none of these things are going to make an iota of a difference. Juggan Kazim isn't going to make any difference. she's no Roohi Bano or Khalida Riyasat. much better actresses than Juggan have tried films and failed. Roohi even did films and despite being perhaps Pakistan's greatest character actress failed to change anything. similarly, giants like Abid Ali, Shujaat Hashmi have done films without any impact unfortunately.

and all Shan is capable of is doing jack. what's the best he can do? improve the video quality? improve the dubbing? improve the songs? so what? it will still be the same old Bollywood style musical which I don't know how any person over the age of 12 and with a working brain can tolerate...

none of these old school filmi clowns can make a difference. I'm talking about useless people like Syed Noor, Sameena Pirzada, Shaan, Mubashar Luqman, etc. they are incapable of thinking outside of the box. their vision of improving the fortunes of the film industry is throw more money at the problems to improve the technical side of things... when that is not the real problem. it is a problem but not THE problem.

Pakistani film will be revived when people try to do creative, new work that is removed from the old musical formula. they need to make independent films without 13 songs and cliches stories. what Pakistan needs is more Khamosh Pani, more Ramchand Pakistani, more Zargul, etc. these films are interesting and can be made without crores of rupees.

Pakistani film will be revived by new blood or old but thinking directors like Mehreen Jabbar, Sabiha Sumar, Shoaib Mansoor, etc. not old hacks like Samina Pirzada, Mubashar Luqman and especially the oldest of them hacks, the king of hacks - Syed Noor. the idiot thinks he is Pakistan's Scorcese or Spielberg... when all he is - is a clown. his best films are at best better rip offs of Bollywood garbage. they talk about films like Nikah, Jeeva, Sargam, etc as if they changed the world. when all they really were were slightly better musicals. you can get a screenwriter trained by the best film school on the planet to write your screenplay but if you're going to remake an Indian film, then no one can help you.

the ideal blueprint for the new Pakistani film should be "Blair Witch Project", "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer", "The Black Balloon", "Khamosh Pani", "Primer", etc. I'm not saying that these films were easy projects or trivial to make... but the brilliance lied in the stories - not the equipment or the sets, etc. that has to be the way the new Pakistani filmmakers have to go. forget about the budget. focus on the storytelling. and it's not like there is a dearth of talent in Pakistan. look at 4 Man Show. look at Hasb-e-Haal. they're doing new, creative comedy instead of ripping off Anwar Maqsood, etc. get new people to make new, different films that don't follow the old, garbage romantic musical formula.

but if they keep trying to compete with Bollywood in terms of making big, better, louder, more stylish, more colorful romantic musicals, they will inevitably fail as they have been failing for the last several decades.

samb

forgot to mention Omer Khan (Shehryar Khan's son) the maker of Zibahkhana. haven't seen Zibahkhana... but he sounds like a very interesting guy with a new vision for Pakistani films. hope he does more work.

then, of course, there are people like Sarmad Khoosat and Adeel Hashmi... never been a fan of their TV work but at least they'd be new... maybe they can pull something off...

sTaLkEr

Samb, some valid points but overall a very cynical take on the state of affairs and future prospects. Commercial cinema -- popular cinema, that is economically feasible is what we're discussing here. Film makers are not philanthropists and neither should one expect them to be, for all of them have pure economic interests at the back of their minds. I would if I were to make a film. You've mentioned Ramchand Pakistani, which bombed, and Zibahkhana, which had a limited run at one multiplex in Rawalpindi. Khamosh Pani -- heck even the gora audiences didn't take too well too it, check out it's gross figures in three or four digits on IMDB.

The fact is that even Khuda Ke Liye, probably the most serious and path breaking film ever from our part of the world, was a musical. I dont know, but perhaps there is a cultural aspect to having music in our films. You take that out and folks would call your film a television play, and some of those are actually half decent films given their stories, plots and acting. And you can watch a play for free on tellie, whereas when you're paying quid to get into a theater, there has to be some novelty to it. Another possible reason could be that music compensates for shoddy plots and half baked storylines. Anyway whether you have music or you don't, strong storylines and scripts are the order of the day, with good visuals and acting. Shaan apparently is going in that direction with that film he's scripted that's based on some Paulo Coelho novel. It's a way forward which perhaps others can learn from.

I do agree with you wholeheartedly that using the bollywood model is simply not going to work. KKL attempted to create some new Pakistani-cinema specific genre. BUT post KKL, even bollywood has come up with so many KKL-spin offs that the line between what could be our type of cinema and bollywood is again very blurred.

anni66

gr8 info thanks alot
juggun is a gr8 actress....love her

KraziM3

Juggan is a great choice in my opinion....her acting in 'Pink Ladoos' is reli gud, despite it being a vry bold storyline.