Editorial
The debate was
whether the celebrations in India were about hundred years of Bollywood or
of Indian cinema. The clumsiness of the situation was nothing new for us in
Pakistan; we who already have seen our history subjected to this clumsiness,
understanding it with reference to geography alone.
Truth is that May 3, 2013,
marks a century of Indian cinema. We in Pakistan as well as those in the
country we know as Bangladesh (East Bengal of yore), too, have remained a
major part of this history that has brought us to this historic occasion.
May 3, 1913, it was when the first ever film Raja Harish Chandar was
released in what was then united India. Soon, Lahore became one of the three
biggest centres of film production in the subcontinent and persisted with a
mutually beneficial relationship especially with Bombay and less so with
Calcutta.
To say that Pakistani film
industry began with the release of the first film after 1947 may be true for
some narrow nationalistic or academic purpose but the ties that bind this
part with that could not have been severed so easily. Why should Pakistan
not celebrate one hundred years of cinema in the subcontinent is then a
legitimate question.
We have partially tried to
address this question in today’s Special Report by remembering the Indian
cinema’s contribution in providing entertainment to billions of people,
and looking once again at the connections we had with wonder and awe, one
must admit.
Till the mid-1960s, the
Indian films were shown in Pakistani cinemas, and the ultimate of all
connections — between the viewer and the film — remained. However, the
thirst for Indian films did not die, and antennas and television brought
them back for us on Doordarshan. The VCRs and the video films filled the gap
till the Indian films were allowed in Pakistani cinemas again a few years
ago.
Music, the distinguishing
feature of the subcontinental cinema, kept the people of this region united
on a spiritual level because we have all hummed the same tunes.
Come Ziaul Haq’s time,
and the ideological battle that we were fighting with the enemy state cost
us our own film industry — known as Lollywood — and has not been able to
recover ever since.
Yet
we feel that May 3, 2013, is a celebration of a shared past of
subcontinental cinema. So here’s to Cinema’s Century.The debate was
whether the celebrations in India were about hundred years of Bollywood or
of Indian cinema. The clumsiness of the situation was nothing new for us in
Pakistan; we who already have seen our history subjected to this clumsiness,
understanding it with reference to geography alone.
Truth is that May 3, 2013,
marks a century of Indian cinema. We in Pakistan as well as those in the
country we know as Bangladesh (East Bengal of yore), too, have remained a
major part of this history that has brought us to this historic occasion.
May 3, 1913, it was when the first ever film Raja Harish Chandar was
released in what was then united India. Soon, Lahore became one of the three
biggest centres of film production in the subcontinent and persisted with a
mutually beneficial relationship especially with Bombay and less so with
Calcutta.
To say that Pakistani film
industry began with the release of the first film after 1947 may be true for
some narrow nationalistic or academic purpose but the ties that bind this
part with that could not have been severed so easily. Why should Pakistan
not celebrate one hundred years of cinema in the subcontinent is then a
legitimate question.
We have partially tried to
address this question in today’s Special Report by remembering the Indian
cinema’s contribution in providing entertainment to billions of people,
and looking once again at the connections we had with wonder and awe, one
must admit.
Till the mid-1960s, the
Indian films were shown in Pakistani cinemas, and the ultimate of all
connections — between the viewer and the film — remained. However, the
thirst for Indian films did not die, and antennas and television brought
them back for us on Doordarshan. The VCRs and the video films filled the gap
till the Indian films were allowed in Pakistani cinemas again a few years
ago.
Music, the distinguishing
feature of the subcontinental cinema, kept the people of this region united
on a spiritual level because we have all hummed the same tunes.
Come Ziaul Haq’s time,
and the ideological battle that we were fighting with the enemy state cost
us our own film industry — known as Lollywood — and has not been able to
recover ever since.
Yet
we feel that May 3, 2013, is a celebration of a shared past of
subcontinental cinema. So here’s to Cinema’s Century.For full report ,click on the following link-
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/Apr2013-weekly/nos-28-04-2013/spr.htm#1
