Spotlight: What do movie audiences want? – Newspaper

The icon last spoke to Haris Hussain earlier this year (January 8, One Swallow Does Not a Spring Make), when he and his friends finally filmed The Legend of Maula Jatt at Capri Cinema. I had decided to watch (TLoMJ). Karachi.

Their plan came to fruition just days before movie theaters temporarily closed. Today, nine months later, Capri is closed semi-permanently after briefly opening to the public (cinemas may or may not open in November), and Harris and his friends has not yet returned to film.

“It’s not about going to Capri,” Harris says, shaking his head at the idea of ​​favoring a particular movie theater. “There’s little to look forward to. What are you watching when there’s so little to see!” he says matter-of-factly.

Harris is 40 years old and works for a multinational company. He should be the main audience for Pakistani filmmakers, but he still isn’t.

Despite getting a shot in the arm with the blockbuster The Legend of Maula Jatt, Pakistan’s film industry seems to be in the doldrums once again. Attendance at movie theaters has fallen by just 20%. Why are movie fans turning away?

“No, I don’t go to see Pakistani films,” he added with disdain. “They look like knock-offs of Indian films, but in that respect they are bad versions of them.”

This comparison has been at the center of articles, reviews and public opinion since 2013, when Pakistani films started winning the trust of audiences. But the one exception Harris brings up, and it happens often, is TLoMJ.

As well as comparisons to Bollywood, it’s no wonder that movie-going audiences always refer to TLoMJ. Because this film is the first film in Pakistan’s history to cross his 300 million rupees mark worldwide.

When Harris and his friends went to see TLoMJ, it had grossed 100 million rupees in Pakistan and had just reached boss-level territory — its distributor Nadeem Mandviwala He said it was a miraculous milestone he had longed to witness in his lifetime.

Last week, the film reached a new milestone after being screened at multiplexes in Pakistan for a year. Till October 12, the film’s domestic box office collection stood at Rs 1,163,626,238, or Rs 116.36 million.

To put this number in perspective, the $160 billion that TLoMJ (released in October 2022) earned at a snail’s pace from just a few screens this year is the highest-grossing Pakistani film of the year. exceeds.

The latter title belongs to Money Back Guarantee (MBG) with a total of Rs 12 billion, followed by Teri Meri Kahaniyaan (TMK) with Rs 100 billion. Both films are separated by their respective eid. Considering the budget, MBG was a box office failure, but TMK was able to recoup its investment by selling the TV and streaming rights.

Exact numbers aren’t available yet (most sources are too embarrassed to say it out loud), but the 15 or so titles released in 2023 squeezed a total of 7 billion from movie theater audiences. It is only 100 billion rupees from rupees.

At a time when the occupancy rate per showing for Pakistani and foreign films is well below 20 percent, Icon theater owners say that’s what they say on a good day. The audience finally seemed to stop caring.

So why has the number of movie audiences decreased?

Harris’ appeal resonates widely with the diverse group of people Icon spoke to. A poll conducted among a private WhatsApp group comprising people from all walks of life in Karachi corroborates the views of BBA student Aisha His Moin and event planner Tooba Zahid. The consensus is that Pakistani cinema needs to step up its game by making films that grab the attention of the audience.

Maham Qasim, a university lecturer, says going to the movies rarely crosses her mind. In fact, she can’t even remember the name of the last Pakistani movie she saw. “It’s been two years now,” she admits, but there is little sense of regret in her words.

“I remember when my father saw a movie poster with the Fall of Dhaka or a related tagline. But then he saw the trailer and he said, ‘Cholo yar (forget it), why?’ Why do we need to spend so much money?’” Is there a lot of that? The film is Huay Tum Ajnabi, written and directed by TV presenter Kamran Shahid.

Maham and his friends were open to Pakistani titles from 2016 to 2018, when the industry was at its peak. Back when Millennium Mall was the only multiplex in the neighborhood, movies were the center of attention for his every 15 days. By the time Nueplex Askari opened, their movie nights had been reduced to once every two to three months.

And yet, for years, she has been watching Sherdil. “That’s also the result of a lot of research,” she declared with an inward smile on her face.

‘Superstar’, ‘Karachi Se Lahore’ and ‘Teefa in Trouble’ were good, but the sequels ‘Wrong No.’ and ‘Na Maloom Afraad’ and ‘Kramer Vs Kramer’ were toothless. I didn’t like the version ‘Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai’. Kramer.

Maham believes that Pakistani films need to be balanced when it comes to emotions.

“There’s no need to over-dramatize the story,” she says. And, of course, entertainment value is paramount, and the lack of it has led to the recent dismissal of Pakistani films.

Numer Chishti, a procurement manager at a giant mart whom ICON spoke to in 2020 (“Binge Watching Television…But For How Long?” aired on April 12, 2020), said that he actually went to see the movie. I immediately pointed out that it was going. Not just Pakistanis.

Numer last visited a movie theater for this year’s Fast X with his wife, customer care worker Somaya Chishti. The last Pakistani movie they went to the theater to see was “Waal” 10 years ago.

“I don’t think Pakistani films are worth watching in theaters,” she says flatly. Ms. Icon understands that the couple watches local movies when they have access to the Internet, or previously she was on Netflix.

Her husband, who claims to be an admirer of Shoaib Mansoor and Bilal Lashari, seems unable to convince Somaya to watch TLoMJ.

“I had heard good things about TLoMJ, but it’s not my type of genre,” she says.

Director Somayya’s advice to Pakistani filmmakers is to “learn something new…We are so far behind our neighbors that even one of their sub-industries, South Indian cinema, we are It’s better than the movies they make.”

Numer is of the opinion that Pakistani films still smell like rehashes without an identity of their own. “Even though Bollywood tries to imitate South Indian films, the style and storytelling of the final product never looks like an exact copy of the original,” he says.

The couple’s other complaint is technical, particularly regarding sound clarity. Even subpar movies need great sound to make sense. Pakistani filmmakers seem to have forgotten this basic fact.

The couple prefers Netflix and the diverse collection of content it offers. Their current selection spans English and Korean titles, including The Witcher, The Money Heist, and The Good Doctor (Korea).

They say the language barrier is the least of their worries. If you don’t want to read subtitles, you can turn on the dubbed option (Hindi).

Speaking of Hindi, Indian movies and series are not my cup of tea, even though they’re on my watchlist.

Numer said the problem with India’s current film production trends is the inappropriate use of dirty dialogue and adult content.

A modern touch in the story is a must for today’s audience, but it must not compromise the cultural, social and familial morals and values ​​that are naturally inherent in Pakistanis, says the food photographer. says videographer Mohammad Mohsin Khan.

Mohsin, a Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriber, is interested in narrative content. He is also a big supporter of movies, and even in this recession he still watches at least three movies a month. Just a few years ago, there were more, he says.

The last time Mohsin appeared in a film, he was taken aback, he says. That movie was “The Exorcist: Believer.” The last Pakistani movie he saw – twice – was TLoMJ. This revelation was no surprise to me.

Mohsin would have loved to go see Pakistani movies, he says, but there simply wasn’t one that would motivate him to spend his hard-earned money.

The exception may have been Camry, but by the time he heard about the film, it was no longer welcome in theaters.

Icon finds that lack of promotional funds is a major factor in some films’ poor box office performance, despite extensive promotional campaigns by media partners. Most of the time, people don’t know when movies will be released in theaters.

However, advertising is only part of the equation for capturing your audience’s attention. Another and much more important aspect is the trailer. As with Harris, the trailer for TLoMJ was enough to grab Mohsin’s attention. The same is not true for other Pakistani productions, he says.

Mohsin loves comedy and the trailer perfectly depicts the story of the film.

“These movies look like bad versions of overly commercialized Bollywood movies and contain obnoxious songs.” As mentioned earlier, the comments remain a constant in every conversation.

Mohsin and others Icon spoke to want filmmakers to explore genres other than comedy and drama. Action movies are in the highest demand, followed by romance, thriller, fantasy, and horror. Drama movies are the least popular, probably because this genre reigns supreme on television.

Surprisingly, there is also some demand for stories with themes and messages that are relevant to contemporary issues, but again, not at the expense of entertainment.

Naturally, audiences are very interested in historical films with big budgets and design, or in fantastical films set in a historical setting. This is believed to be a result of his two titles in particular, TLoMJ and the mega-series Dirili: Erturul (almost everyone the icon spoke to mentioned the latter).

Harris said she finished the series before it aired on Pakistani television and watched it again when it was dubbed into Urdu.

Also, according to most opinions, and quite surprisingly, conventional wisdom often cites high ticket prices as one of the main reasons for declining cinema attendance; It doesn’t seem to be a decisive deterrent to the public.

“Forget about Rs 1,000. If the film is worth the amount I spend, like Mawla Jat, I will spend Rs 5,000,” Harris says.

It seems all he and the rest of Pakistan need is a good reason to spend their hard-earned money.

November 5, 2023 Dawn, published in ICON