Salam
I have been a long time lurker on this forum. Without much to contribute I have normally just browsed this site. Today however I have something which I would like the members opinion on.
As we know Pakistan’s film industry has pretty much been run into the ground. There are modern films that have come out but have so far been unable to either revive the film going appetite for Pakistani films or build a platform upon which Pakistani films can springboard. Sure there have been films like Khuda Kay Liye, Bol, Ramchand Pakistani and most recently Siyah and Chambaili however they cannot bear comparison to the golden era films from the 1960-1980’s.
I wish all the success to the modern film makers however what I would like to draw attention to is the preservation of older Pakistani films. Currently I suppose if you want to watch a film like Aina, Heer Ranjha, Sher Khan, Arman or even a film like Jinnah if you live in Pakistan you will be able to find a DVD copy in the markets. Bar Jinnah the remaining films prints are awful, scratchy and nowhere near the standard of what a film should be. Ana DVD had originally released some films with English subtitles however the original print was not restored. Other release companies have neither provided a restored print or subtitles however Sadaf is the worst offender. It’s DVD copy of Maula Jatt stands out as being worse than the VCD copy. There are logos covering the screen and the film has been cropped from its 4:3 presentation to 16:9 which has lead to the majority of the shot being cut e.g. where Noori Natt is introduced by pulling the jailers face towards him in the DVD print his hands are cropped so you do not understand why he has turned that and furthermore it reduces the impact of the scene.
Older films like Dulla Bhatti are in horrible state. A film like Kartar Singh is so rare it cannot be found. To make matters worse the
trend of three films on a disc makes the prints seem so blocky you can hardly discern what pixels you are seeing.
I live in the UK and I find obtaining copies of Pakistani films extremely difficult. I remember growing up in the 80’s and every town had multiple shops where you could rent the latest films and dramas from Pakistan. Now the situation is that film shops here do not stock these films.
What I propose is the following:
. Buying the original prints (with copyright where possible)
. Film restoration as shown in this video: Rejuvenating the classics (6.3.2011) - YouTube
. Subtitling into various languages e.g. English, Arabic, Mandarin
. Release of these films on DVD worldwide (Pakistan if possible though I wonder if people will want to buy an original copy if they can buy the older print. In this case a DVD would need to be priced at between Rs 100-200 to attract and entice I suppose)
. Lobbying with the government to create a Film Restoration archive where these prints can be kept for the Nation similar to initiatives in America, Britain, France etc. The restored prints will then be donated there
A starting point for possible films would be these lists:
. Pakistan Diamond Jubilee Films
. Back to the classics -DAWN Images; August 14, 2005
. In defence of Pakistani films -DAWN Magazine; May 22, 2005
My initial test film choice would be Maula Jatt. OK, before you scoff I can say it is one of our highest profile films. I have been uploading Pakistani films online at: shehzadashiq - YouTube and I have tried to upload as many films as I could get my hand on. The only exception I have is that I do not upload modern films whose prints are available to buy e.g. Majajan (Despite the fact that Royal has watermarked the copy twice and it has no subtitles) or Yeh Dil Aap Ka Hua (Available on MovieBox in the UK legitimately). The statistics are shocking.
I list here the top 10 popular videos on my channel during the last 30 days
Title Views, Minutes Watched
Maula Jutt / مولا جٹ - Pakistani Punjabi Full Movie - 1979, 34,581, 538,507
Chan Veryam / چن وریام - Pakistani Punjabi Full Movie - 1981, 10,874,125,554
Kismat - Qismat / قسمت (Destiny)- Full Pakistani Punjabi Movie - 1985, 10,409, 136,441
Ziddi / ضِدی - (Stubborn) - Pakistani Punjabi Full Movie - 1973, 10,284, 118,117
Dhee Rani / دھی رانی - (Daughter Princess) - Pakistani Punjabi Movie Full - 1985, 9,184, 102,149
Lucky Luke - Ballad Of the Daltons (1978) - English 1/8, 8,808, 20,504
Mehndi / مہندی (Henna) - Pakistani Punjabi Full movie - 1985, 7,589, 90,870
Charda Suraj - چڑھدا سورج (Rising Sun) - Pakistani Punjabi Full Movie - 1982, 6,759, 147,476
Naukar Tey Malik / نوکر تے مالِک (Servant and Master) - Pakistani Punjabi Full Movie - 1982, 6,491, 78,074
Wadera / وڈیرہ (Lord) - Pakistani Punjabi Full Movie - 1985, 6,159, 97,243
Despite being uploaded last December it has become the third most viewed video on my channel easily beating a title (Lucky Luke) which has a much larger profile in the world. You have lies, damned lies and statistics however in this case what I would like to know is that can these statistics be translated into a viable effort.
The process of restoring these prints will be expensive and time consuming. This is something which cannot be done by a sole individual but would require an effort from a group of like-minded individuals.
Please let me know what you think. I appreciate any suggestions about which direction this project can proceed in. Please remember that these films belong to us as a nation, if we do not appreciate and preserve them then we will be the poorer for it. To quote Will Hays motives for starting the American film preservation project, “so that schoolboys in the year 3,000 and 4,000 A.D. may learn about us”
Wasalam
Shehzad
