By asking Indian singers to sing for Pakistani films, the Pakistani film industry has sent a straightforward message that Pakistan lacks musical talent, pop singer Ali Zafar said during a meeting at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday.

“The people who run the Pakistani film industry do not have the guts to recognise our talent and aren’t interested in grooming it,” said Mr Zafar. “I am not against anyone and am only stating a common practice of the film industry.” He gave the example of Sajjad Gul who had invited him to sing a song for his film ‘Chalo Ishaq Laraien’. All the other singers featured in the film were Indians.

“After listening to my song, Mr Gul told me that it needed to be polished,” said Mr Zafar. “I promised myself that day that my song would be more popular than all the other songs of Chalo Ishq Laraiae and time has proven me right.” Chano, the song that Mr Gul claimed needed “polishing” later became a huge-hit.

Mr Zafar said that he had advised actress Reema to have all the songs composed and sung by Pakistanis in her directorial debut. Even though she had claimed that she was making a “film for Pakistan”, nothing positive happened, he said.

Mr Zafar said that his personal preferences did not include dance or “head banging” music, but he was producing that kind of music because it was in demand. “As long as it’s the kind of music that people enjoy, I’m going to make it,” he said.

He accepted the fact that classical singers were much more experienced than pop singers and knew more about the technicalities of music. “The problem with classical music is that the media hasn’t supported and covered it,” Mr Zafar said. “The focus of private channels is solely pop music.”

He said that the younger generation used to listen only to English or Indian songs but had now switched to Pakistani pop because its quality had improved. Pakistani pop singers had made a place for themselves in the international market, he said, giving the example of Strings who have been featured on the soundtrack of Spiderman 2.

“Pop music is popular because it does not have any boundaries,” said Mr Zafar. “With pop, you can suit everyone’s taste by including all kinds of genres like folk or classical.” However, Mr Zafar stressed that his next album was a “long way ahead” because he wanted to complete it with “great care and dedication” and not risk disappointing his fans.