I'm so SICK of Pakistani dramas these days. I had some hope from telefilms, but I don't even think they telecast those anymore on GEO or ARY.
For those of you from the entertainment industry that come here from time to time, here's some feedback.
1. Acting is horrific. You CANNOT keep hiring these models to do acting. They are first and foremost models. You need to recruit people who have a flair for drama and acting. Is this not common sense? You can always slap on make-up onto their thopras if they look that bad. But our most memorable dramas didn't have gorgeous models in every scene. Pakistani people, overall, are not a good looking group of people, so I don't see the need to have loads of models in every serial.
2. What happened to the old 13 episode dramas???? I don't know why Pakistani channels moved towards 100 episode dramas, but no one cares for them. If anything, people watch them to make fun of them. Like no one really takes Tere Pehloo Mein seriously, and that stupid thing is still running on what ? episode 213? ??
Keep them short and sweet. It takes out the need to add fluff to the drama just to give you more filming minutes. Each episode in a 13 episode drama has SUBSTANCE to it, and people are GLUED to their tv's.
3. Scripts. I don't know who is writing scripts tthese days, but they're awful. There are better writers out there who would do a better job, but it looks like producers are more interesting in hiring their Khalas to write these scripts, as oppose to people who really know how to write. Script writing needs to be made part of the Urdu curriculum in all universities so we can produce better script writers. It is an industry in and of itself, and it needs more respect. Seriously, quit hiring your khalas to write retarded scripts. They're unrealistic, do not show how life works. It's all over-dramatized silliness. And even the actors are tired of it.
4. Get a wider diversity of actors. It can totally be done, again, if you were to make the field an equal opportunity field. Right now, there is too much nepotism - you get a drama serial if you know someone. I know plenty of people who are studying acting and film, and they have no chance in the industry, because they don't know anyone.
I believe in dragons, good men, and other fantasy creatures.
it looks like there are bunch of rich kids who have a pile of their dad's spendable money. They start a production company, write and direct the play, have their GFs (or those who promise to become their GFs) do the female lead and that is all.
No quality, no substance, no originality.
"Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe."~Lex Luthor
ya can't seem to sit through any of the stuff on pak tv these days. telefilms are a saving grace though, i have seen some on youtube which were pretty good. talent is there its just that this is an industry which is seeing a very lucrative boom after decades of a stifled single state run channel. everyones trying to make some money any which way, like any other industry/business but in the end only talent will survive because the audience decides.
already those filmy indian soap style dramas are off-air (most of them!), because unanimously everyone hated them. now slowly the episode numbers are decreasing and theres more emphasis on the story and script, not just the sets or the costumes.
and for those who love the PTV classics, here's a classic long play by Amjad Islam Amjad starring Qavi, Firdous Jamal and Samina Peerzada. depressing but so relevant even today.
you are so right about everything.
i specially like your point about 13 episode drama. i actually loved Doraha because of that.
ever since we started school, like 1st grade, we are being told that a story needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end. but those stupid tv drama writer need to repeat 1st grade, because none of those drama have well defined beginning (they start with some stupid mystery that never get solved, actually get lost in those 200 episodes) the whole drama seems like a middle without an ending.
i hate hate hate tere pehlo main. they never finishes a story. i mean what happened to ashir? they just left things in middle and start off with something new and equally crappy.
it's like they start a story but since they are not good writers, they can't carry the story any further so they just show crap so people forget the real story and then just end the drama where producer refuse to sponser it anymore. and that doesn't mean they are going to finish the story too, most of those crappy dramas never finish their stories, they just end the drama.
Some of the television producers/directors need to go towards film-making, because their dramas are more like films, except with a non-ending number of episodes.
dumbasses who make garbage like Teray Pehlo Mein, Mehndi and various mutated forms need to stay FAR AWAY from film... these are the very retards who first defamed the genre of films and destroyed any hopes for serious filmmaking in Pakistan... I'm talking about the likes of Javed Fazil, etc... the dude sounds reasonable when you listen to him... but if you have the misfortune of watching his work, you just shake your head...
my problem is with the promotion of drama as a whole at the expense of film (serious film). I would really like to question the policymakers who came up with the brilliant idea of promoting PTV and its dramas as the highest form of art... bringing in the best of artists, writers, etc... and treating film as the redheaded stepchild and leaving it to uneducated morons and kothay walas... the idea doesn't look so smart now does it a few decades later now does it?
but I guess in a country where strategic thinking has been absent in areas as critical as defence, foreign policy, financial planning, etc, to expect some strategic thinking in area of art, film, music is like asking Shahid Afridi or Imran Nazir to use their nonexistent brains...
dumbasses who make garbage like Teray Pehlo Mein, Mehndi and various mutated forms need to stay FAR AWAY from film... these are the very retards who first defamed the genre of films and destroyed any hopes for serious filmmaking in Pakistan... I'm talking about the likes of Javed Fazil, etc... the dude sounds reasonable when you listen to him... but if you have the misfortune of watching his work, you just shake your head...
my problem is with the promotion of drama as a whole at the expense of film (serious film). I would really like to question the policymakers who came up with the brilliant idea of promoting PTV and its dramas as the highest form of art... bringing in the best of artists, writers, etc... and treating film as the redheaded stepchild and leaving it to uneducated morons and kothay walas... the idea doesn't look so smart now does it a few decades later now does it?
Haha...I thought I was the only one who noticed that about Javed Fazil....seriously, the kind of douches they have left film making to are not even capable of directing a decent 35 mm commercial for television, forget a whole drama. Whenever these folks turn to television they produce pathetic over done with zoom-close ups stuff. And yes, they sound like they are the unquestionable authority on film making when they open their mouths.
The audience is to blame partly for the whole mess too. Whenever milder themes have been explored in films (and yes, there were some attempted) folks start labelling those films "dramas" so perhaps in some twisted way, in the absence of decent plots, the audience needs that kind of melodramatic crap, bad zooming every 2 seconds (probably the only thing that works on those 50s cameras), shouting and bad dancing to call a film a film. I mean, if you take the Spanish setting and songs out of Yeh Dil Aap Ka Huwa it wouldn't be too different from a "drama." The more urbane Pakistanis only accept films when they explore new territory beyond the interesting stuff that is shown on television(such as terrorism (KKL), marital rape (Inteha) romance abroad with swiss alps songs (Dil Aapa Ka Huwa). Even the swiss alps novelty wore off when the director of that film attempted the same stuff in Australia. His film (Khulla Asman something) bombed. I mean, when television explores such diverse themes with decent production values, there isn't much novelty left for the audience when they go to the theater.
The point is, let films be films, and let dramas be "stupid." That is the way they are meant to be. Our dramas have been doing what films should have done and as a result film making has been left to the hands of those unscrupulous elements that exist at the fringes of the society.
Pakistan should continue making dramas because this is our speciality. We used to have a thriving film industry but basically our dramas are more popular. To write a gripping drama you need competent writers not freelancers. No wonder not many countries can produce the kind of stuff that pakistan television did. After all, there can only be one ashfaq ahmed or bano qudsia.
Only we (as in people who are involved in this field) are responsible for ruining our dramas . Blind imitation and involvement of unskilled lot has led to its downfall.
I think overall we have a good catalogue of dramas available and the ones that are coming out or being shown now are good. I especially love ishq junoon deewangi.
I'm so SICK of Pakistani dramas these days. I had some hope from telefilms, but I don't even think they telecast those anymore on GEO or ARY.
For those of you from the entertainment industry that come here from time to time, here's some feedback.
1. Acting is horrific. You CANNOT keep hiring these models to do acting. They are first and foremost models. You need to recruit people who have a flair for drama and acting. Is this not common sense? You can always slap on make-up onto their thopras if they look that bad. But our most memorable dramas didn't have gorgeous models in every scene. Pakistani people, overall, are not a good looking group of people, so I don't see the need to have loads of models in every serial.
2. What happened to the old 13 episode dramas???? I don't know why Pakistani channels moved towards 100 episode dramas, but no one cares for them. If anything, people watch them to make fun of them. Like no one really takes Tere Pehloo Mein seriously, and that stupid thing is still running on what ? episode 213? ??
Keep them short and sweet. It takes out the need to add fluff to the drama just to give you more filming minutes. Each episode in a 13 episode drama has SUBSTANCE to it, and people are GLUED to their tv's.
3. Scripts. I don't know who is writing scripts tthese days, but they're awful. There are better writers out there who would do a better job, but it looks like producers are more interesting in hiring their Khalas to write these scripts, as oppose to people who really know how to write. Script writing needs to be made part of the Urdu curriculum in all universities so we can produce better script writers. It is an industry in and of itself, and it needs more respect. Seriously, quit hiring your khalas to write retarded scripts. They're unrealistic, do not show how life works. It's all over-dramatized silliness. And even the actors are tired of it.
4. Get a wider diversity of actors. It can totally be done, again, if you were to make the field an equal opportunity field. Right now, there is too much nepotism - you get a drama serial if you know someone. I know plenty of people who are studying acting and film, and they have no chance in the industry, because they don't know anyone.
I know one thing that this aag tv guy's son hires his friends only....similarly almost all the other channels owners hire their kids friends (these models etc you talking about) its all about sources in Pakistan now...so you can expect much more crap coming your way.
PAKISTAN not only means freedom and independence but the Muslim Ideology which has to be preserved, which has come to us as a precious gift and treasure and which, we hope other will share with us. Mohd. Ali Jinnah.
I agree most dramas are crap, but it seems like all the protesting is finally getting to them. Geo is showing clips from alot of upcoming shows and they look very promising.
Right now the only drama I watch on Geo is Dil-e-Nadan. I think I am partial to it because of Fahad Mustafa. LOL. But I do like the storyline and the fact that it does not have a thousand actors in it.
I am looking forward to one of the dramas with Naheed Shabbir and Nabil, where Nahed Shabbir is obsessed with marrying rich.
In England, you are innocent until proven guilty. In France, you are guilty until proven innocent. In America, you are innocent until the papers come out the next morning - Mark Twain I even have hair on my butt - Shikra
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