Yasir Nawaz calls out bloggers for negative reviews

Criticism rarely goes down well with our local movie directors or actors. After his film Lahore Se Agay received negative reviews last year, Wajahat Rauf took to Facebook to write “Since everybody has an opinion, here is mine: watch all Pakistani films and form your own opinion. Do not get influenced by people who are focusing only on the negatives and trying to damage our industry, that too in its teething period…”

Recently Gohar Rasheed took to Instagram to declare in a video, “Baqwas bund kero,” to those who provide negative criticism.

And then there was Dr Hasan Waqas Rana, who also responded (quite sarcastically) to Rafay Mehmood’s review on Express Tribune.

It seems that our film fraternity has still not opened up to criticism, despite serving us with films that fall below the mark.

A highlight of the star-studded trailer launch of PNJ was when Yasir Nawaz, who has directed the recently released Mehrunisa V Lub U, took a (very long) moment to call out bloggers who write negative movie reviews.

(Read here: Punjabi Nahi Jaungi’s trailer promises full-fledged entertainment)

“There are some bloggers here who only want to write negatively,” he said in a not-so-professional manner. Mehrunisa V Lub U’s crass humour and ribald innuendos may not be everyone’s cup of tea, hence the negative reviews which have clearly not gone down well with Nawaz. “We put a lot in our projects, and when you write negatively about them audiences decide not to watch the movie, instead of forming their own opinion,” he stated. Jerjees Seja, CEO ARY network and co-producer of Punjab Nahi Jaungi however contradicted his opinion and clarified that everyone is entitled to express their opinion and constructive criticism is always welcome, but it would be appreciated if journalists and bloggers waited for a sufficient time to release their reviews so audiences have the chance to watch and judge the films for themselves.

(Read our verdict on MVLU here: Haute review: Mehrunisa V Lub U)

Well, we certainly will be updating you with our constructive criticism, since we’re eagerly waiting to watch the movies coming out this year, most of which look promising.