The past five years have marked a revival of commercial cinema, which has continually catered to the masses of Pakistan; whether it was a romantic comedy or a thriller, filmmakers are experimenting with genres and while some are succeeding, other attempts are falling flat. Veteran director Syed Noor believes that there used to be an era of star-specific audience, today people just want to be entertained.
In an interview with Dawn, the acclaimed filmmaker expressed that our cinema is in dire need of star power, which our films are currently lacking. He asserted that we need more stars to ensure that Pakistani cinema continues to prosper as right now, films are not applauded for the actors but for their entertainment value.
“We need to have stars to keep our films going and only then we will have a star-specific audience. Today, cinema-goers watch films for entertainment. There was an era when fans went to the cinemas for films of Nadeem, Mohammad Ali and Waheed Murad,” he said.
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He added that while we have promising and celebrated actors in the country, the ‘oomph factor’ is certainly missing.
“Humayun Saeed, Fawad Khan and Ahsan Khan are performing well but they lack star power that was the hallmark of seasoned film stars. They host shows on television and appear in dramas too. We need heroes like Waheed Murad, Muhammad Ali, Nadeem, Shaan, Moammar Rana, Ghulam Mohiyuddin and Shahid to give a boost to films.”
Speaking of young filmmakers, he expressed disappointment over their fixation with Bollywood films.
“They hate their cinema and tend to follow Indians when it comes to dresses of artists, colours and execution in films. Young filmmakers have to pay attention to it and promote their values.”
The Sitara-i-Imtiaz award winner has directed popular Lollywood films such as Choorian, Jeeva and Deewane Tere Pyar Ke to name a few and made a recent comeback in the business with the movie Chain Aye Na.
