At the trailer launch of Punjab Nahi Jaungi, it was a good sign to see other filmmakers like Jami Mehmood, Nabeel Qureshi and Yasir Nawaz, who were there to support the good work of the fellow filmmaker Nadeem Baig. There is no doubt that our filmmakers are doing immense hard work to make good and better films, in terms of quality and story despite having lack of resources and budget. But at the same time, we should not forget that in the name of revival one must not produce bad movies just to make their name as a ‘director’. Direction is something which requires a lot of talent, skills and perfection, it is not a piece of cake to direct a full fledge movie especially when our cinema, which was dead for more than 2 decades and has come back to life again.
Filmmakers often mourn about lack of budget, which I agree is very important as this business requires a lot of money but then we have ‘Shah’ and ‘Dukhtar’ as examples that a good story and simple movie can also engage the audience. One does not need glamour (Item Numbers) to invite a viewer to the cinema and by this I simply do not mean that our respected filmmakers should only work on serious films.
At the event, when our favourite host Ahmed Ali butt asked ace filmmaker Yasir Nawaz his views about the trailer of PNJ, he rather than speaking about PNJ, blurt out his rage on bloggers and media for their opinion about his recent release ‘Mehrunisa V Lub You’ and it surprised me when he himself couldn’t justify the title of his movie when Ahmed asked him about the secret behind putting LUB instead of love. I thought he chose to put LUB because the story was about a society of lower middle class people and that’s how he depicted in his movie. But then according to him there was nothing behind choosing this ‘title’. Ermm okay! According to him, bloggers and media have written negative reviews about MVLU which has affected the movie’s business. Why can’t we take criticism for the betterment of our own selves? Isn’t this a ritual all over the world? He even warned Nadeem Baig and Jerjees Seja to ignore the reviews of media and bloggers, as they ruin the whole system. This leaves a big question mark on the integrity of media and bloggers, who write their unbiased views. His request, which I think was valid, that before the release do not write harsh reviews as people follow their words and choose to watch the movie according to their opinion. But, in the end it’s all about revival of our cinema and we all are playing our part equally, be it any freelance blogger or a film critic.
