Syed Noor is a well-known film director of Pakistan. He often talks about improving the film industry and how Pakistan can better project its cinema internationally. This time, he suggested in an interview that Pakistan should sign a contract with Iranian film industry, which has international repute and makes films of all kinds that cater to tastes of large entertainment-oriented masses.
He said that he had released his film Hum Aik Hain in Iran and it was included in the Iranian Film Festival (IFF).
Syed Noor said:
“Iran is our neighboring country and we can make good films with the support of Iran. Pakistani film industry would find a massive market for films in Iran as there are 45 high-tech studios available across Iran which are also used by Bollywood for the shootings of films.”
Being a neighbouring country does not in itself make a neighbour-state responsible for improving a country’s film industry. In Pakistan’s case, none of its neigbhouring countries can do anything regarding the state of Lollywood unless Pakistani filmmakers and Pakistani acting talent takes charge to make a change in the on-going downward trend of making cheap movies. There are exceptions however in Shoaib Mansoor and Mehreen Jabbar.
The audiences in Pakistan are tired of watching such low-budget and pathetic movies that they have casually turned to the entertainment industries and products of the neighbouring countries, especially India, to fulfill their appetite for better entertainment.
Though, Indian film industry does not give the best of products, but still it is way better developed and equipped than its Pakistani counterpart. What Pakistani government can do is to provide proper budget support for something that can not only give talent a chance, but also respectable livelihood, and in the process soften Pakistan’s image internationally.
