Pakistani Cinema: A Seventy Years Study of Rise and Fall

Abstract

Pakistani Cinema is now more than 70 years old but it is not an established one as it must be. Pakistani film industry is still struggling to get a prominent position in comparison with the neighboring countries. Its history is full of success and failure stories. The industry was not fully recovered from the shocks and after socks of partition of India when a number of artists moved to India. There was another blow of partition dividing Pakistan into two halves Bangladesh and the present Pakistan. Again, Dacca having a prominent cinema culture was gone with some of the best artists. The films produced clearly shows that the local film industry has a lot of talent in every area of film production but there are a lot of reasons due to which successful combinations have not been able to sustain themselves long enough to contribute significantly. That is why there are a very few super hit productions. The objective of this study is to collect and present the historical evolution of Pakistani Cinema and to give an overview of the factors that evidently contribute to the rise and fall of the cinema industry in different eras. This study follows Qualitative survey as the method of research. The study is divided into seven decades and convenient random sampling technique is used with the help of questioner to get the public view of the Pakistani cinema under study. Further different available literature, magazine articles, various reviews and books were referred through online database for the analysis of the films. Convenient random sampling technique is used for the selection of the literature, reviewed. It is apparent form the study that due to absence of new ideas, old themes, prohibited screening of Indian films on cable, political unrest in the country, technological innovation promoting home theater culture and conveniently available pirated foreign films are the main reasons for the downfall of Pakistani film industry. The study recommends that Pakistani cinema should explore the niche market and develop itself on international standards. The current scenario of the Pakistani cinema demands a multidimensional approach to improve quality and quantity economically at the same time.