F E AT U R E
compete [with Indian films]. In the long run, we have to
be to Bollywood what British cinema is to Hollywood.”
Content, however is dependent on producers, and while
there are drama directors, ad filmmakers and individuals
from related fields (such as music and theatre) jumping
into filmmaking, the fact that the highest grossing film of
the year was essentially a Pakistani version of an Indian
film, does not necessarily bode well for a future of diverse storylines. However, it is early days yet and things
could go either way.
Show me the money
Content, however is just one part of the filmmaking
equation, albeit an important one. At the risk of stating
the obvious, making films is an expensive business, all
the more so when the industry is at a nascent stage
and filmmakers often have to learn from their mistakes.
Shah, which may well have been the cheapest film made
this year in terms of production cost, was delivered on a
shoestring budget of less than Rs 15 million. However,
large commercial releases had production budgets that
were easily in the region of Rs 50 to 100 million. From
cast and crew salaries to location and camera rentals
(most production houses rent cameras as it is too expensive to buy them) and a host of other big and small
expenses, all films (even the big budget ones) need outside investment. To ensure that filmmaking remains a
sustainable venture, production companies cannot afford to put all their money behind one film when there is
no guarantee of returns. However this uncertainty about
ROI is precisely why outside investors also shy away.
Unlike Hollywood and Bollywood, Pakistani films do not
have to contend with piracy, which Zulfiqar Ramzi, former Chairman of the Sindh Censor Board, says is the
result of many pleas and threats from local filmmakers
and has led to a sort of “honour among thieves” situation and an understanding that the latter will only sell
pirated copies of foreign films. This is a major advantage
for local cinema and ensures that local releases are not
screened on cable TV or released illegally on DVD. This
has certainly contributed to the growth of cinema, but
it is not enough. According to Seja, local films need to
run in the cinema for at least more than two weeks in
order for the producers to have any chance of making a
profit and therein lies the problem. Out of the 83 screens
in Pakistan, approximately 50 are in cineplexes and the
rest are standalone cinemas. Only two out of the 33 odd
standalone cinemas are equipped with the technology to
screen films made using digital cameras – the rest still
use 35mm reels. This in effect means that new films can
only be released on about 52 screens. With three to five
films released every week (including Pakistani, Indian
and Hollywood titles), many of which have international
star power as their greatest advantage, Pakistani films
are pushed off the cinema roster quicker than they would
like, and as a result do not get the screen time they require to secure their ROI. Additionally, local producers
feel that film distributers (many of whom are also cinema owners) are biased towards Indian films because
they require a lower investment and offer a greater and
more certain ROI. Producers like Seja think that while
Indian films are important for the survival of local cinemas, cinema owners need to facilitate Pakistani films.
He gives the example of Wrong Number (released by
ARY Films) which was on the screens the same weekend as India’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Despite the fact that
Wrong Number did good business, Seja believes that
had the cinema owners divided the screen time between
the two films more equitably (instead of giving Bajrangi
preference), ARY would have earned at least Rs 40 to
50 million more. Yaseen responds to this by saying that
if producers feel that there is competition for screen
time, they should produce more Pakistani films. He says
that most cinema owners will keep a film on for another
week if seat occupancy is 50% or above. “If it is below
that, then we have to inform the producer that it will be
difficult to continue screening the film because there is
a new one coming.” Not all the local producers, however, hold Seja’s view. Ali Murtaza, Founder and CEO,
AAA Motion Pictures and Digital Entertainment (and the
producer of Dekh Magar Pyar Say, which was in cinemas for less than a week), says that although Pakistani
cinema is a cinema owner’s market (as opposed to a
producer’s market), the solution is two-fold.“Investment
in film, whether it is individual or in partnership with others, makes more of a business case when there is more
than one film involved. You have to take a long term view
and produce two or thr YH;