Cinema is dead, independent films are the only way to go," says an idealistic filmmaker. "Yes, we have to make a difference," says yet another director back from a film festival in Kathmandu. "O jee, tum log ek hit film bana do," says a B-grade Lollywood director with an uncanny knack for delivering one hit after another. The debate between independent films and mainstream Lollywood has begun in Pakistan and is getting more heated with each passing year. However, this debate is a thing of the past in Hollywood and Bollywood, where both have their own purpose and cross-overs from one to the other are becoming something of a norm.
Film is becoming a medium vaster than the average eye can perceive. On one hand it is a money making business with studios hunting for a block buster and on getting there, they reapply the formula, make sequels galore and milk the cash cow till the last dollar. That is the system that gives us the Mission Impossible type films and resurrects the second trilogy of Star Wars to go down memory lane two decades after the first batch breaks new ground. And if you are about to express disdain for the capitalist mind set that is ruling the world of visuals, just think about the person who gave Peter Jackson enough money to go and play a long game of 'Let's pretend we are in Middle Earth' on the rugged terrain of New Zealand. Film is changing the world as we know it.
Initiation into the world of moving pictures no longer involves a rigorous rite of passage. It is becoming easier by the minute. An ever-growing number of hands are holding handy cams and editing software is readily available for people to edit visuals and sound. It really doesn't take much to make a movie if you put your mind to it, and all over the world, an increasing number of people are expressing themselves through visuals and sound.
Pakistan is just waking up to this change. The media revolution has set an army of camera wielding renegades on the loose who are capturing the world they live in, in a myriad different ways. This time, the Kara Film Festival in Karachi showcased the work of people from all over the world and a substantial chunk of it was shot by people from Pakistan. There was a feature film called World Ka Centre made by Faisal Rehman and Bilal Minto in Lahore, which has not been shown at any theatre, neither has it been sold to a television channel. The makers hope to do it, but the point is that it is possible to make a film that you want without interference and see where it goes.
Farjad Nabi (Nusrat Has Left The Building.... But When?), Mehreen Jabbar (Beauty Parlour), Hasan Zaidi (Raat Chali Hai Jhoom Ke) and many other film making renegades are making films for a limited audience. These are films that one can only see in elite zones like the Alliance Francaise or obscure spots like the PIIA auditorium at special screenings or lacklustre film festivals where the only glitz are the indie films on offer. Yes, independent film fever has finally hit Pakistan, but one has to contextualise it within the local landscape.
In the West, the initial romanticism associated with independent film has dulled into another avenue for filmmakers to have their say. Indeed, many a budding film-maker uses independent cinema as a springboard into the mainstream. Ang Lee went from the contemporary comic charm of The Wedding Banquet to the underlying bitterness of the Ice Storm and then full speed ahead to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon that had to do 60 million dollars worth of business just to break even.
The pride associated with an independent film as an example of going against the grain of the ruthless system of Hollywood is evaporating, but that is not to say that the indie movement hasn't made a difference. It has, but eventually, independent filmmakers are absorbed into the mainstream. The independent circuit in developed countries exists parallel to the studio system.
Many great icons of Hollywood are taking an avid interest in independent films. Robert Redford set up the Sundance Festival, which at the moment is far more with it than the Oscars. Cameron Crowe and Tom Cruise got the rights for the Spanish cult hit Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) and remade it as Vanilla Sky; and Tom Cruise gave Allejandro Amenabar, the Spanish director of the original, a big enough budget and wife Nicole Kidman to spook Hollywood out with The Others. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck started Project Greenlight to give budding writers a chance to hit the big time. Robert De Niro set sup Tribeca Films. Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Ewan McGregor set up a production unit called Natural Nylon. Cameron Diaz became plain Jane for Being John Malkovich. The examples are endless.
Across the border Indian cinema has also flourished. Bollywood in Mumbai has allowed niche filmmakers to have their say. Today, Madhur Bhandarkar can make Chandni Bar, win critical acclaim and, more importantly, recover the money invested in the film. Ram Gopal Verma can make Company as an alternative to mainstream Bollywood, while working in the heart of the system. Then there are independent films being made all over the place. However, the power of independent films is made somewhat impotent in a place where cinema has been losing steam. This is the scenario in Pakistan.
There are independent films here, but there are no venues to show them. There are mavericks here, but there is no system that will utilise them. There are film festivals here, but few attend them. Cinema has lost its voice in Pakistan and that is why independent films, no matter how good they are, remain nothing more than a whisper. The ultimate goal of a film is to get an audience. Independent cinema needs the mainstream to thrive on. And the mainstream needs that independent thought to keep it from stagnating.
Film in Pakistan does not need a tug of war between two camps to thrive. It needs filmmakers who will bridge the gap.
