Re: Pakistan’s film industry is in collapse!
There are probably still many potential Waheed Murads around, only if the Lahore industry would open its eyes and actually make films which audiences with decent taste would like to see (I’m not sure if that audience actually exists in Pakistan, but for the sake of making this hypothesis, lets assume it does). Many have already demonstrated their talents at various levels – fashion, television etc. But the Lahore industry and Pakistani audiences require melodrama, shouting and skills you would think are required for strippers e.g. dancing from actors which a lot of these guys are incapable of.
Waheed Murad was an example of controlled melodrama, his acting was great in its day but cinema has moved on and actors today atleast in world cinema focus on giving a sense of realism to their characters and melodrama and formula-perfected takes on dialogue do not work anymore – unless you’re a Shaan doing a Gujjar flick.
Pakistani cinema can unearth lots of superstars but for that to happen, you need decent films from decent directors with good storylines. Fawad Khan, Ali Zafar have all proven their mettle and we need to see these guys in films. They can bloom into superstars given the platform which the Lahore industry cannot give them – atleast for now.