The Lahore Film Industry: A Historical Sketch

1. The Lahore Film Industry: A Historical Sketch ENGL 332

2. The themes in films become a reflection of: • material and intellectual resources available in the film industry • Social context • Religious context • Political context

3. Draws attention and interest of state and religious establishment • Films have to conform to an officially sanctioned political and moral code(e.g., Nazis, Russians) • This turns film industry almost into a nationalist project • In South Asian leftist and rightists dominate the film industry • South Asian state also monitors film industry in a more direct manner through censor boards to monitor the moral, political and religious correctness of films.

4. Punjab & Lahore in the colonial era: • Benefited from colonial modernization and development policies • Major portion of army was recruited from Punjab • Punjabi, Sikhs, Muslims literate in Urdu/ Hindi • Cultural and educational capital of north-western India (Delhi administrative capital and Calcutta became centre of north-east India) • In Lahore, there was 40% of population Hindus and Sikhs and most of the modern buildings were owned by them, including cinema houses and studios. • Court entertainment in Maharaja Ranjit Singh era.

5. Cultural heritage of pre-partition Punjab and Lahore • Influence of various Movements: Bhaktisim, Sikhism, Sufism, Hinduism, Islam • Tradition of story-telling • Heroic and romantic epics (Heer/Ranjha, PuranBaghat, Sohni/Mahiwal recited in Baithaksor village squares • Professional story tellers wandered around Punjab narrating Mahabarta, Ramayna, tragedy of Karbala, Dastan-e-Amir Hamza • Wandering actors performed in annual gathering on shrines • Mirasi (bard) was essential component of social order

6. Initial years of Lahore film industry: • 1920s: 9 film theatres in Lahore. This was the silent film era in London, Bombay and Hollywood. • 1924: First Silent film in Lahore: The Daughters of Today was produced by G.K. Mehta who imported a camera from London. The shooting of this film took place in open air as there was no studio. The lead role was played by MianAbdur Rashid Kardar. • 1928: Kardar and some of his fellow artists and calligraphist, M. Ismail later sold their properties to establish a studio on Ravi Road near Bhati Gate. The location was primarily selected due to thick forest along the banks of Ravi and the mausoleums of Jehangir and Noor Jahan.

7. Initial years of Lahore film industry: • 1929: HusnKaDaku • 1931: Good films were produced by RoopLalShori made Qismet Ki Hair Pher • Till 1947: Punjabi films were shown in the entire undivided Punjab and Delhi, Calcutta and Kanpur where Punjabis had been settling in large numbers. • 1940s: Many Urdu/Hindi films were produced: Khandan(1942), Khazanchi(1941), Dasi(1944)

8. Lahore-Bombay Connection • Bombay became a film capital along with Calcutta, Madras and Lahore. • Lahore had an advantage over Bombay because despite making films in Hindi and Urdu, it was located far from Uttar Pardesh, the heartland of Hindu and Urdu. While Calcutta served the Bengali audience only. • For this reason, several generations of Punjabi Hindus, Muslims and some Sikhs with a Lahore connection were employed in Bombay (K. L. Saigol, PrithvirajKapoor and Dilip Kumar, A R Kardar, KabirBedi, ShekharKapur, Prem Chopra)

9. Lahore-Bombay Connection Names of some artists who were influenced by partition riots and migrations from Lahore to Bombay: • B. R. Chopra • RamanandSagar • Lyricist NaqshLyallpuri • Sunil Dutt (Jehlum) • Poet SahirLudhianvi • Manto

10. Films in Pakistan as an ideological state: • Pakistan was made for a Muslim nation where Islam could be practiced. • One approach was that all un-Islamic ways and forms of life must be eradicated; music, dance, theatre, photography became ‘un-Islamic’ practices. • Maududiapproach (1960): Film is not a painting and should not be forbidden. It is like looking into a mirror. However, the role of females should be played by men. • Film industry continued through Bhutto and Sharif era but never touched upon social themes in general.

11. Films in Pakistan as an ideological state: • 1962: Ban on import of Indian Films • 1960s: The Golden Period of Lahore Film Industry due to improved technology, progressive themes (Zarqa, 1969); secular Kashmiri nationalism (Ye Aman, 1969), class and other forms of oppression. • 1965: Complete ban on Indian Films and songs. September 1965 India-Pak war. Pakistani artists focused on Pakistani patriotism (songs by Noor Jahan) and stereotyping of Indian and Pakistani identities began.

12. Films in Pakistan as an ideological state: • Between 1971 and now: Indian channels or pirated films are brought to Pakistan via Gulf countries. • 1971: Islamist parties protested against film industry and almost 40 film theatres were banned in Pakistan. • 1980s: As part of Zia era and pressures on film industry, the quality of films deteriorated. • 1996: Murder of Sultan Rahi – the mystery remains unsolved. • 1990s: PTV takes over. Meanwhile Bombay and Lahore reconnect (Salma Agha, ZebaBakhtiar, Yash Chopra, Kapoors)

13. Anti-Pak & Anti India Themes in Pak & India • 1999: Themes focusing on India & Pak relations Gadaar (2001); Border (1997); Refugee (2000) • Pakistani singers like Ghulam Ali start visiting India. • 2008: Mumbai terrorist attack and expulsion of Pakistani artists

14. Source: • Ishtiaq Ahmed, ‘The Lahore Film Industry: A Historical Sketch’ in Travels of Bollywood Cinema: Form Bombay to LA ed. By Anjali Gera Roy and Chua BengHuat, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2012).