Celebrities, particularly from the film industry, took a stand against the release of foreign films such as Doctor Strange 2 during the initial release period of local films. They said if they stayed silent, “our own will keep bulldozing over us till there are no local films left.”
This Eid, five Pakistani films were scheduled for a release and they were promoted for months before the launch. The release date of Marvel’s Doctor Strange 2 coincided with the local films’ early days in theatres, which filmmakers believe led to a drop in ticket sales. There was a lot of backlash from the directors, who demanded change in order for local films to prosper. The released movies included Dum Mastam, Parde Mein Rehnay Do, Ghabrana Nahi Hai. and Chakkar.
Actors and directors united to put their stance on the matter forward, claiming that foreign films are going to lead to the death of Pakistani cinema. On Saturday, a group of producers and directors held a press conference at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi and asked the authorities to give them some relief.
Badar Ikram representing the Hum TV Network said they had earlier requested the authorities to give the Pakistani films three days (Friday — when the English film was to be screened — Saturday and Sunday) after Eid. “We were given assurance by the ministry through different quarters that we would get that. We must clarify here that we’re not against foreign films nor do we want to ban any film. We want cinemas to earn money. If they earn, the film business will increase, and Pakistani films will benefit from it. Our plea is that we have given five films which have been very well received. After a long time Pakistani films have performed well. Until 3pm yesterday [Friday] we were going great. Immediately after 3pm, 50 per cent of the shows were dropped. We don’t know what’s going to happen today.”
Actor Adnan Siddiqui, who produced Dum Mastam, said it is his first venture as producer. “Through our life savings (umr bhar ki kamai) we put the film on the silver screen only because it’s our passion. I’m not saying that I should get profit out of it. If I get in return what I’ve invested, it’ll be a big thing for me. But it doesn’t seem like it. That foreign film had already raked in big money through advanced booking, so even if it was released a little later, it’d have attracted the same crowds. We had only asked a week for that film to delay… How can our cinema become big? Only if you support us.”
Yasir Nawaz, the director of Chakkar, said he’d begun shooting for the film a few days before Covid hit the country. Nobody knew how long the pandemic would last. “We said let’s bear this three to four-day loss and not make the film. But then we thought that if we don’t make films, how the industry will move forward. We do a great deal of work to promote films so that people walk into cinema houses. So we should support each other. Someone informed me that he had bought the ticket for our film but when he went to the cinema he was told that either he get a refund or watch the foreign film,” he said.
