Lollywood ! all about Pakistani Film Industry

Frauds of Pakistani Film Industry in 2009

2009-07-22T02:26:00.001-07:00

Things have been worse for Lolly-wood this year. I believe 2009 has been the worse film year in Pakistan’s history. Other then the element of non professionalism of film people, there are other elements too which are the causes of the horrible current status. Few of these causes are

1) The war on terrorism: Due to which the whole nation was facing suicide bombings as a reaction and every one was busy thinking to save his/her life

2) Lack of Power generation: The lack of power generation has destroyed the economic activities. No doubt the whole world is under recession but the case with Pakistan is different. Our economy has suffered a lot due to internal issues rather than the international issues.

3) Political ups and downs: The recent year has been all about political crises and ups and downs.

As a result no films have been released this year. But interestingly few film makers tried a cheap trick to attract the audience which is surely a cheating and case of fraud. Few film makers renamed the old flopped movies and placed their ADS in news papers to attract the audience. The criminal act couldn’t remain hidden for a long time and the story was revealed by newspapers.

Till up to date film makers are sitting and waiting for a miracle to happen !

Through experience, I learned the importance of Pre-production

2009-07-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

Long back when I started taking interest in film making, I read an event about a famous film maker though I don’t remember exactly the name of that film maker but I think it was Alfred Hitchcock. The event was “once was Alfred Hitchcock was having lunch in a restaurant and a fan of Alfred Hitchcock arrived there. He saw Alfred Hitchcock and asked him when is your next film coming? Alfred Hitchcock replied everything is done only the shoot is left”. If we see the film making process it has 3 stages. Pre production, production and post production. But the interesting thing about the above mentioned event is that after completing the pre production Alfred Hitchcock though that all the work is done and only shoot is left.

When I had read this even I got idea about the importance of pre production but it was actually the practical experience which showed me how honest Alfred Hitchcock ‘s statement was. Recently we finished a 30 minutes film for the final project of our college. And no doubt I learned the importance of pre production. We had the final script in our hands but we didn’t concentrated on story boarding and other important elements of pre production like shoot plan and production script.

I also learned that we should give maximum time to the final script in professional career. Due to the time limit we had to make a script and get it approved by our teacher, so the first concept was refused and then we had to develop another concept which was accepted but now we had less time so we were shooting and creating more situations and details for the rest of the film. So the situation was completely identical to the current Pakistani Film Industry where scripts are written on the spot. This taught us that maximum time should be given to the script. Don’t know when I will be doing my next project but that’s for sure this time I will be giving more time to pre production. After all I will not have a dead line to meet from a teacher J

Interview from Film maker of a web series

2009-06-29T01:26:00.000-07:00

Dear friends recently i got the chanse to take interview of "Colin" the filmmaker of the new web series. read and enjoy!

1) Hi Colin first of all tell us something about yourself and your professional experience?

My wife and I have been producing independent films for about seven years now. It all started as a way to develop my skills as an actor and improve my comfort level in front of the camera, but it quickly turned into more. Together she and I have created a couple of shorts and feature length films. At current we are finishing this season of 'Gavin Lance', but we are also co-producing a short film written by Matt Phillion.

2) When did you start taking interest in filmmaking?

I guess it started while I attended a Waldorf school. That's where my passion for acting surfaced and from there it didn't take long before I wanted to do films. I like the way you can bring out certain emotions using camera angles, tight shots or wider shots and, of course, music plays a huge roll in how emotions are brought out. Those are the different things that drew me to film making, it's things that you can't get from any other source.

3) How the idea of this story came in your mind and why you planned to show your creative art in form of web series?

I have always been a comic book fan, I grew up reading Batman, X-Men, Green Arrow, Deadpool, ect... and I guess I've always wanted to write a character like that, but the opportunity was never there. Once I sat down and began to write the script I realized it needed some kind of unique edge to it. That's where the idea of a "live action" comic book came from. The idea was to bring the pages of a comic book to life for the viewer. And the story grew and took shape from that point on.

Web series are basically the next "big" thing in the entertainment world. They're being taken more seriously by both the general public and major film studios. Also with the world's economy in such bad shape a lot of people are turning to the internet for entertainment rather than paying for a movie or television. A big part of the decision to do a web series was also for exposure; as an actor trying to be seen by an agent or studio, having your material on the internet is priceless. And not just for myself, everyone in the series are great actors/actresses and I hope everyone gets seen by the "right" people.

4) How was the cast and crew selected?

Mostly through casting calls that we had. We also found some of them through friends on the project as well. We are very thankful and very lucky to have found the cast and crew that we have. They are all extremely talented and very hard working. We hope that in addition to audiences enjoying the series that they will also take some time out to learn more about each of them on the website.

5) While filming the web series what were the major hurdles you faced?

We filmed the web series with the same amount of effort and resources as we would have for a feature length film, so we faced many of the same hurdles as you would filming a regular movie; scheduling, finding locations, budgeting, ect. We filmed during Winter so a larger problem that we faced was the cold. You have to be very careful with your equipment and actors in extreme cold. The last thing you want to do in the middle of production is freeze your only camera. The only thing that might be unique to this project is that due to the multiple "panels" aspect (3 to 4 images on the screen at once) meant we needed the same shot from many different angles, so it would take more time and more film to shoot.

6) Tell us more about this web series?

There will be seven episodes in all, each having a cast/crew commentary track that is released the following Monday, along with special features. We were extremely eco-conscience and strived to have a low/no impact on our environment. During the production we used energy efficient light bulbs, rechargeable batteries, and used recycled/reused/salvaged paper. Instead of plastic water battles we used cups or reusable containers. Locations were reached either by foot or carpooling whenever possible. And, of course, recycling all material possible. In addition to thinking green, contributions have been made to the National Arbor Day Foundation to help rebuild our forests and further reduce our carbon signature.

In the end we hope that it is enjoyed enough to make a second season in the near future.

7) What are the elements which make you feel that your web series is different from the other web series on net?

The biggest difference is the comic book style, you don't see that a whole lot on the internet. I also think that the acting really stands out for a web series. All of our actors gave way more than 100% and it shows. I'm very proud of that. I also think that given it's length (10 to 15 minutes) it seems like people are receiving it more like a TV show that they would watch each week rather than a quick web-video.

Also we attempted to make the website it is hosted on very interactive: there are character pages that are unlocked after each new episode; commentary and behind scenes videos are released every other week; audiences are able to download their favorite characters posters and can send fan mail via email to anyone of the members they really enjoy watching. We wanted to make this fun for the audience.

8) Web series is still a very different and unique tool. How you plan to grab the audience on your site when there are 10000s of sites getting registered every day?

Many marketing researchers will tell you that, even with all of todays technology, word of mouth and "brand" marketing is still the most powerful way to reach people. And I absolutely believe that. If you make a good enough product, the audience WILL find you through friends, family, blogs (like your site) ect. That being said we also have a 'grass-roots' campaign going on right now where we are going into comic book stores and book stores and passing out posters and spreading the word about Gavin. Gaining loyal fans and keeping in touch with them is what keeps a series going, and that's our key focus right now.

9) Before deciding that you will go with web series what research you did on web series and their market?

We watched several web series and carefully decided what we did or did not like about what they did. We also found the days where people where on the internet the most (Mondays) and looked into what we wanted our key demographic to be and what sites they visited the most (i.e. facebook, twitter, myspace... ect)

10) On what camera you have shoot?

We used a Canon XL2

11) What was the estimated budget? (you can tell me the original budget too if you don’t have any problem)

This production was made on a mirco-budget (under 5K). The main source of this budget went into the purchase of a Mac Computer and software. We owned much of the equipment used during the shooting that we have acquired over the years from previous projects (i.e. camera, lights, mics, etc). The rest of the budget went into extra equipment we needed specifically for this project and items needed on all projects (film, food, gas, etc).

12) How many episodes you plan for this web series?

There are 7 episodes filmed so far. Originally I had set up the first season to have 12, but we decided to condense the first season to these first 7 episodes. Hopefully there will be many many more to come!

Thank you very much.

+Colin Carlton

Executive Producer / Creator /

"Gavin Lance"

www.gavinlance.com

Publish Post

Film Issues !

2009-06-08T09:16:00.003-07:00

Hi just had completed the article for a friend so thought to post it here.

Other than the film issues there is one very important question that that does film making requires proper education? Till few months back I used to think no. Just assisting a director for few years is enough. No doubt by spending time with an experienced filmmaker we will learn to handle the equipments but the art of writing a script, creating tensions, engaging audience, examining the quality of story all this requires proper film education. Today filmmaking is not only an art but it is a science which need proper education to get polished and only then one can be skilled in it. I remember one of my teachers said that if I want to be a filmmaker I should never enjoy a movie, in fact I should see it critically and analyze that what are the reasons for it’s success of failure. The critical analysis though will not help us in making any set rules of success, but surely will guide us to lot of things.

The story lines of Lolly-wood films need to improve their story lines. Pakistan is truly a rich country in terms of literature and there isn’t lack of good story lines, but the only issues is that people who invest money in film industry these days are making films for the class which has no quality aesthetic sense. Writers like haseena Moin, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Anwar Maqsoon have the potential to write high quality scripts but again the the soule of a film is money which is now a days in the hands of wrong people.

Another issue which has always been considered a big big issues is technical assistance. From the last 5 years I have been seeing filmmakers crying on the issue that INDIA has the good technical resources and we don’t have it. The only thing I can do is beat my head to the door. I have only one simple example to prove that a film never needs a high quality camera first. The first and the most important element is the story. The example is of the superb British comedy film “Clerk” which was shot on 16mm and originally had a poor picture quality but still it is ranked the best 50^th comedy film of all time British Comedy films.

Even if we talk abut our films, we see big names like TERE PYAAR MAIN which was a huge hit. Then films like “CHURIAAN” and “MAJAJAN” made history. All of them had poor picture quality and were lacking in high quality technicalities but still they pulled the crowed.

So I personally believe that the film makers instead of crying on technical issues, should focus on good stories.

Is film necessary for us?

2009-06-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hi friends. Just wrote some stuff for a friend so thought to add this on blog.

A film technically is called a collection of moving images. But in depth I believe it has several meaning. It can be called the best source of entertainment, highest form of art or a medium for educating a nation. Being an ordinary person I prefer to say “film is a best source of educating with entertainment”.

Because of being a citizen of a country like Pakistan I always had questions like other confused people that films should be a part of our life or not, more over is film necessary? And few days later I came to know the answer of my question. While discussing to a legend writer of my country he told me few simple things. According to him

”Film is a an important part of educating a nation if used in a correct way. Generally people don’t like to listen the big lectures but they will always follow the habits of their Star icons. Now it is up to the film makers that they create positive and constructive roles for the Star icons or they use them to spoil the public ”

While giving answer of my second question he said

“Nature has fixed aesthetic sense in every human being and the hunger of that aesthetic sense needs to be feed and there fore films play an important part because films have the most elements of other artistic forms example music, acting, poetry etc ”.

when I asked him that if films are so necessary then why Lolly-wood is suffering and why film makers are still continuing to make films which are no where to art standards. He smiled and replied

“The way you need to develop your taste for coffee, the same way you need to develop your aesthetic taste. And unfortunately our film makers haven’t developed the taste of our people.”

My Experience of Writing Script

2009-01-17T05:23:00.000-08:00

Hi friends. Writing my new post after a long time and wanted to share my experience. Before starting I want to mention it clearly that I am not guiding you how to write a script. It is just what I have experienced while writing. From last couple of years I had an idea of a comedy series of 10 to 12 episodes. Over here I will like to mention one thing for my readers who are not from Pakistan that in Pakistan earlier we didn’t had a concept of soaps. PAKISTAN TELEVISION started making dramas of 50 minutes and of 13 episodes. Later on in late 1990s when the revolution of media came in Pakistan Private TV channels started making soaps. But still Pakistani Public prefer 13 to 20 episodes dramas on soaps. Though I am not denying the fact that soaps also have a big market but still dramas with limited episodes are preferred.
Coming back to the topic, I remember I accidently got this idea while reading Sunday newspapers. As it was an AD which grabbed my attention and after getting that idea I started developing the story. I believe that writing a 13 episode comedy series or drama is much more harder then writing a 90 to 120 minutes film script. So it took me 2 years to plan the story. Another reason for planning the story for so long was that it is a comedy series and I wanted to make it best from the Pakistani perspective. The reason I am using the word Pakistani perspective is because every country has it’s own trends, culture and issues. The issue which I have picked in a light manner might not be of interest for Non-Pakistanis but certainly that’s issue is one of the major issues of Pakistani Public. I have not tried to handle that issue with its actual intensity (negative or positive) but have attached the major character with that issue and the real focus is on that character instead of focusing that issue.

In last 2 month I have complete 2 episodes completely and forwarded it to 3 friends of mine for suggestion. One of them is a professional writer. His opinion was most valuable for me as he was the senior among the three. He appreciated my script and just asked me to refine it by making a little adjustment. The other two friends also appreciated my work and are willing to read the rd episode.

When I had started writing, the first episode took around one whole month because I was totally new in professional writing and I felt that I am not well known to my characters. I rewrote my first episode script 3 times to make it really look good and to satisfy me. The good thing and the most important thing was that’s as I started writing more and more situations started coming in mind, my mind started thinking on more broader basis related to the main theme. Another thing which I experienced was that naturally I started differentiating between the good comedy scenes and poor comedy scenes. From the second episode it became easy for me to understand my characters. I knew very well that what will be the reaction of a certain character in certain situation and in what situation what dialogues will be spoken by particular character.
Making a conclusion I can say by writing these episodes I learned 2 important things. First that as we starts writing, new ideas related to that story starts coming in mind so sometimes even the planned script in mind gets changed. Second thing is that as we write we become more familiar with our characters. And for few people it is better to starts writing rather then developing their characters in detail. Over here make it clear I am not saying that no character development should be made. But for people like me it becomes better to make a rough sketch and write a rough script and then examine that the dialogues and reactions made by different particular characters . The process of developing characters in the best possible way was hard for me so I decided to make a rough sketch of characters and starts writing the first episode keeping in mind that I will have to rewrite it many times. This at-least helped out me.
After I have completed the series I will look forward to get a financer. At the moment just concentrating hard to finish the script of 10 episodes so that I will be fully prepared with the script and will not have the fear of meeting the dead line for completion of script. Lets hope for the best

STASH ! Another great upcoming indie movie(2)

2009-01-02T19:29:00.000-08:00

10) Tell us more about the film?

Bud's a good ole' boy brought up on Bluegrass and Moonshine. While supplying the surrounding counties with its Marijuana supply, Bud has a hefty growing operation. However, this is not Bud's only secret. He has a much darker one. One that lies trapped under his cabin in the rural hills of Eastern Kentucky. What will happen when two people stand in the way of everything Bud has worked for? How much blood will have to spill?

11) What are the elements which make you feel that your movie is different from the movies being made these days?

I think STASH is different because it blends many genres into one package. You got dark humor, drama, crime, exploitation and horror. I think almost anyone of age can get into this film. It brings it home for the hardcore fans. We got tons of nudity and good old fashioned violence reminiscent of films from the 70's and 80's.

12) Did at any time you thought that the project is overcoming you and it should be postponed?

Yeah like everyday. No seriously it was very stress full, and seemed very bleak at times, but we kept pushing on.

13) What was the budget of the Movie?

Te budget was $5,000. Most of that was for food and transportation or building sets. We also got genre staple Debbbie Rochon in the film.

14) Did the film got over budgeted?

What precautions you had taken to keep the movie with in the budget? Actually it got under budgeted. We were planning on staying under $2,000 but with the film going way over schedule it escalated.

15) How were you feeling during the shoot? Were you nervous, Excited or any other feeling?

I was totally excited the whole time. To me there is nothing better than the feeling of being on the set. When you're seeing your vision come to life on the monitor, and through that viewfinder it is very rewarding. Of course there will be tons of stuff that will go wrong. It's just how you take what you have to work with and make it happen.

16) What was your tone on the sets?

I think most people will tell you that I am very laid back. There is no attitude or any of that bullshit that goes on. I I like to work which the actors before they ever hit the set for the first time. We would rehearse every scene in advance before the shoot. Everything would already be blocked out and we would be ready to go. I can't stress enough how important that is. It's not the time to work on the performance when the camera is rolling. Get in get the shot and move on. My personal slogan on the set is "Let's Shoot This Bitch!"

17) Tell any interesting incident which happened while making this film?

The basement we shot Bud's chamber in was haunted. While the producer Billy W. Blackwell was working on the set by himself, without anyone else in the house and he heard an old lady say Hello.

18)What was the format the film was shot on?

We shot the film on the Panasonic DVX-100A. We shot everything in 24PA mode and I edited it on my PowerBook G4 on FCP 4.5

19) When you saw your final cut for the first time did it meet your expectations? Tell us about the first time feeling when you saw your final cut?

Well since I was also the editor I watched it unfold from the very first frame. I think I had a different view on it. It was a very rewarding experience watching it after all the ADR, score, folley and final credits were put in. Just being able to watch it from beginning to end and saying "This works."

20) What is your distribution planning of the movie? How you got the distribution deal?

I would say under planning in my case. Please have all of your materials ready before you go looking for a deal! I underestimated the workload tremendously. I sent my screener to only two distribution companies. I had guidance from my good friend and fellow filmmaker Tim Ritter. Tim was a pioneer in shooting straight to video horror movies in the 80's. Some of his cult films include TRUTH OR DARE, KILLING SPREE, CREEP and TWISTED ILLUSIONS. Tim was very truthful and honest about this whole process. First off he said don't expect to make any money on an indie film at this level if you spend more than $2,000. He told me of his horror stories of his experiences with bad distributors. His information was invaluable. I learned that if you want to get your movie on a larger label say Lions Gate, you will need an Attorney and Errors and omissions insurance. This alone your looking at over $12,000 just to get one of the big companies to even look at you. This was more than our entire budget. I also learned that many smaller Distributors have the same or better distribution than the big guys. You may also get lost in the shuffle at some of these companies and be shelved for years. OK you spent all of this money and now you're getting shelved! Yes it happens all the time. I sent my screener to POP cinema since Tim already had worked with the company before and said they were very honest and upfront. I got a call about a week later and they said they wanted our film. I was extremely excited to get a deal at all these days is a huge deal, with the oversaturation of films these days. So we got the deal and was told we would be released under their new label BLOODY EARTH FILMS that will be releasing modern day Grind House type films. It was a perfect match. Going back about being under prepared when you do get the deal. Make sure you have some great people to keep up with your paperwork. You will need all the release forms from every actor that is on the screen, or on the set. You should have your actors sign these the first day they walk on your set, or you movie will never get released. I also had to create a Music and Effects only master for foreign releasing. This took forever because I had to go back and recreate some room tones and new folly and it was a big pain. I will go about that different in the future and work on my M&E mix at the same time as my main mix.

21) When the movie is getting released? Any chances of the movie of getting released on Theatres?

STASH will be released nationwide on DVD march 10TH from Camp Morion Pictures Bloody Earth Films. No theatrical release.

22) In which countries the release of the film is decided. And in which countries you are still planning to release it?

Well right now it will only be released in America, but we are currently looking at a European release, and Japan.

23) Now as we know this film is completed, do you have another project in mind If yes what is it? If so what is it?

I have a couple of projects I'm working on right now. I have a documentary called HAUNTED KY: SPIRITS OF THE BLUEGRASS. We followed around many Kentucky Paranormal Investigators, and have visited some really great locations like Wavery Hills in Lousiville Kentucky. Hope to have that film released in the Spring. Recently completed a feature script with friend Gregory W. Brock called TO KILL A JANITOR. It tells the story of a janitor named Edgar Powell who returns from the grave to seek revenge on all that has done him wrong. A very much 80's slasher film. We have many genre names we are working on for this film, and are currently seeking inventors. Recently released on DVD is SEVEN SIGNS. This is a documentary about music and myths of the American south. I shot this film along with Blake Judd of Judd films, it was directed by JD Wilkes of The' Legendary Shack Shakers fame.

STASH ! Another great upcoming indie movie

2009-01-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

1) Hi Jacob first of all tell us something about yourself and your professional experience?

I went straight into college after High School and got my Associates degree in Radio and Television Broadcasting in 1998. It was a great experience, I met a lot of cool people that I'm still friends with to this day. Ma and a buddy started a little public access show and we would do crazy skits and had tons of fun with it. I went on to work at a local FOX station where I started as a Master Control Operator. Basically I just switched all the on-air programming, catching satellite feeds, switching the News. I worked in that department for a few years then moved into the production department. There I worked as a producer and editor. I would write, shoot and edit TV commercials for local businesses. I worked at that company for 8 years before accepting the job as the Creative Service Director at the Lexington CBS station. There i oversaw the creative service department where I was in charge of all commercial production that came into the station. Shortly before arriving at the CBS station I created a late night Arts & Entertainment show called The Moonlight Cafe. I was the producer, writer, DP, and editor of the show. We would showcase local and national talent. It ran for two seasons on WKYT (CBS) and featured: Lyod Kaufman, Hank 111, Debbie Rochon, Tim Ritter, Styx and Reo Speed wagon to name a few. In 2003 I formed my production company Tucky Wood Productions, LLC and have been out on my since then. I have shot and edited hundreds of TV commercials, over 40 music videos, and 5 feature films.

2) When did you start taking interest in filmmaking?

Well this sounds cliché almost, but it is true. I started making movies around when I was 8 and we got out first family VHS camcorder. I had always been into movie monsters, plays, puppets and Haunted Houses. I would build a Haunted House every year and charge my friends admission to go through them. I then started making these little backyard movies with friends and family members. They mainly had a horror theme.

3) Before this film what was your experience as a filmmaker?

Back in 2002 I did a Google search of Lexington filmmakers. One of the first people I ran across was Jerry Williams of Goat boy films. I met Jerry and we just hit it off. He pointed me in the direction of a local production going on called DANCE WITH A VAMPIRE. This movie was being made by George Bonilla. George had already made another feature called ZOMBIE PLANT. I was very excited to know that this was going on in my back yard. I immediately jumped on board to help George out with his movie, and even got to do some acting along the way as a vampire! It was great fun and I met many great friends during that time. There are many productions going on around Kentucky now, but I still call George the Godfather of Lexington Cinema. My "real" attempt into my own filmmaking was back in 2003. I shot a little film called Manic. It featured all local actors and was shot in one day in Richmond, KY. It played at a few festivals and got some good response. It was around that time that Jerry Williams had the idea for this no budget film called PURVOS. It was a wild, surreal, tripped out horror film and was shot over a few month span. We shot it with equipment on loan from the TV station I was working at. It featured cult B movie actor Conrad Brooks, from Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTERSPACE and GLEN OR GLENDA. That movie went on to secure a distribution deal with Brain damage films. In 2004 I shot another short film called HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. It was about a scorned husband out for revenge. On this film i got to work with Billy W. Blackwell and his wife Denise. We became quick friends and they would later go onto to produce my first feature as a director STASH.

4) How the idea of this story came in your mind?

I first had the name, then I wrote a novel back in 1998. It sat on my shelf for a couple of years then over a two week period I adapted it into a screenplay.

5) Who has written the script? Tell us more about the whole scenario while writing the script?

I wrote the script. I took some ideas that I had started with from the novel and pretty much locked my self in my office for two weeks till It was done. I don't write that often, but when I do it seems to pour out pretty easily. I might write two feature length scripts in a month span, and might not write again for two years.

6) How was the cast and crew selected?

We had two casting calls in Lexington, KY. We had a really great turnout. I had a few actors in mind before the auditions so it went really smooth. Our lead character Bud was discovered by talking to one of our PA's Claude Miles about the role. I told him I needed a big burly backwoods looking guy for the part. He told me that his old roommate would fit perfectly. Claude showed me a picture of Kevin and right then I knew that was Bud.

7) While filming your movie what were the major hurdles you faced?

The major hurdle while making STASH was scheduling. Due to family and personal reasons, we could only shoot every other weekend. You tack on some sickness in the cast and your looking at a very spread out shooting schedule. It took us around 3 and a-half years to wrap up principal photography. Keeping everyone motivated and letting them realize that this film would get finished and would get out there was a challenge. I had witnessed many productions that fizzled out for one reason or another, and I was determined to not let that happen. The time that was put into this film was ridiculous. I would not even have a clue to the thousands of hours that went into this project.

8) On what location you shot the film?

We shot at many locations around Kentucky. That is what is so great about shooting in Kentucky. You can find about any type of look you want. Hollywood spends millions of dollars trying to recreate what we have in our own backyard. Our main locations were Bud's cabin and his basement. These were two separate locations. The cabin was my ex father in laws in Frankin county. It was great. It was very secluded and had the perfect look we were going for. The cabin was already equipped with mounted deer on the wall, antlers every where, deer skulls, it was perfect. There was very little we had to do to the cabin. It even had an outhouse. On the way to the cabin, when you watch the film you will see the dirt road littered with rusting cars and trucks, dishwashers, trash. There was even a crazed old man that lived next to the cabin that tried to stab us with a peering knife. He saw Kevin Taylor who played Bud packing a fake dead body down the road, and he thought it was real! You can hear more about that story in the Making Of Stash documentary on the DVD. I rented a house in Madison county for a year just to use the basement in that house. It was the crappiest damn basement I had ever seen. I knew when I saw that location that we must have it. So I moved in for a year, and we constructed Bud's torture chamber and began shooting. We were very lucky to get a real jail to shoot in as well. A good friend David Gooslin had helped out as a PA, and he was a real cop in Hind man, KY. He knew of an old county jail that was no longer being used in his hometown so we got to use it! It turned out really great and we also got some cameos in by locals The Creppy Kentuckian and Uncle Bill from Deapit.com in the scene.

9) For how many days did you shoot?

I think that was answered above

To be continued...

Indie Films have a big market

2008-12-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

I always used to think do indie films have any real market? Or it is just the luck which has given few filmmakers a chance to not only satisfy their artistic needs but also to make their pockets heavy. No doubt the most important thing for a film is to have an interesting script but existence of indie film’s market was an important topic too. I recently got few facts and figures showing that yes indie films have a market in-fact a big market. I am pasting a link below which will really charge indie filmmakers. The link is

http://www.indiefliks.com/success_stories.asp

A must visit webpage for future indie filmmakers.

Battle of Survival ! Upcoming German Indie film 2

2008-12-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

What was your tone on the sets?

And how you had planned to handle your team? Well the first Command was Safety for the Equipment before your own life. And the second one was yeahh your idea is great but the director is always right” and it worked fine!(laughing).

How were you feeling during the shoot? Were you nervous, Excited or any other feeling?

Nothing. I didn´t feel i just worked! Sounds weird but that is what it was, just working.

When you saw your final cut for the first time did it meet your expectations? Tell us about the first time feeling when you saw your final cut?

(Laughing).I can´t because “BREAK” is an independent movie from his bones and so i did the editing. I never saw a final cut or something. I was the one who made it. So the experience of the first time has to wait for the first time i take a seat in a theater.

Did you ever feel like this project is too big or bigger than you and it should be stopped or postponed for some time?

No! Not for a second.

What is your distribution planning of the movie?

First we will try to get some international festivals and then we hope to get a world sale. I can´t tell you more because i don´t know more. It´s my and my team’s first movie so “Surprise”!

Matthias did the film got over budgeted? What precautions you had taken to keep the movie with in the budget?

I served no Coffee. They hated me but it kept the budget down. And no, we didn´t get over the planed budget.

Now as we know this film is completed, do you have another project in mind If yes what is it? If so what is it?

We have more than one script at the start, but it depends on the success of “BREAK” that which one we will be able to make.

When the movie is getting released?

Film will be shown in Festivals from February 2009 and on DVD, the movie will be released in August 2009.

In which countries the release of the film is decided. And in which countries you are still planning to release it?

Well we have not decided yet, but lots of interests from the US market has been shown but we didn´t started yet so i can´t tell you what i don´t know.

So this was the interview i did for my readers.

For more details you can visit the site http://www.break-themovie.com/

Battle of Survival ! Upcoming German Indie film

2008-12-07T05:44:00.000-08:00

Dear friends few weeks back I met a German Indie filmmaker Matthias. While talking him I came to know about his indie films so I requested him to send me the link of his site so that I can see the trailer of his film and no doubt it was a great experience. The film trailer was awesome. The other thing which really attracted me a lot was the beautiful locations. The filmmaker has tremendously captured the beauty of nature in his camera. The film revolves around four beautiful girls and their battle for survival.

At-last the exciting trailer and beautiful scenes of the movie grabbed my attention and I decided to ask Matthias to give me his interview for my blog. I am posting that interview here in my blog and I will like to say thanks to Matthias for giving me this interview.

Hi Matthias first of all tell us something about yourself and your professional experience?

Well i never visited a film school or something similar. I´m a carpenter, and started my career in the film business building Sets and Props for television and some theaters. Then in the late 90´ i got the chance to be part of the European marketing for the Star Wars Prequels Episode I.-III. I had one of the biggest 1:1 scale Star Wars Props Exhibitions and wearable Costumes in Europe that time. That was a lot of fun. When the hype was over i sold my hole. Exhibition to a private Star Wars collector and used the money to build up our film company. We started our business shooting music-clips and commercials for some local company's and musicians. In this year i wrote a lot of scripts and we always tried to get some producers to join us and allow us to make a motion picture. But it failed always on the same reasons. None of them believed we could make a motion picture alone, making short movies, video clips and commercials are totally different from making a movie for the big screen. Basically they were afraid losing there money on us. So we thought the only way to show theme there wrong was to make and finish a movie alone. Sounds simple and that's what we did with Break. Now its up to them.

when did you start taking interest in filmmaking?

I think that was in the year 2000 when i started taking interest in filmmaking.

Before the film “BREAK” what was your experience as a filmmaker?

I started with a Star Wars Fan movie but never finished it. Then wedid some commercials and a lot of music videos. How the idea of film BREAK came in your mind? Well, i had to show some people that i can make a feature movie, so i came upwith the idea to make a Back wood slasher, because there really easy to shoot and i didn´t had enough money to shoot a world war 2 movie (Laughs). Who is the scriptwriter of the film “BREAK”? Me and only me. How many days it took for the script to get finish? I wrote the Main script in 5 days but it took 2 months to polish everything and make the dialogues smooth. Being an Independent filmmaker it is always hard to do financing of the film. How you got able to raise the finance? That is the hardest thing to do. I started with my own money and had the luck that a Producer (Bernd Reichert) thought i was dignified to get some money. So i could finish the movie without robbing a bank.

While filming your movie what were the major hurdles you faced?

The Weather... always the Weather but we had some Saints on our side. In what locations you film has been filmed? 90% of the film has been filmed in the Woods. We shoot everything here in Bavaria and Austria. 3 Sets were build and used in our studio. Then we shoot some opener shoots in Vancouver and Swiss.

What was the reason for filming in so many different countries?

Well i think because we wanted the movie to look international, and you can´t shoot an international looking movie in Bavarian woods... not without making fun of yourself.

For how many days did you shoot?

18 Days

What are the elements which make you feel that your movie is different from the movies being made these days?

I can´t tell that. I think the audience has to tell that There are so many talented independent filmmakers in this world, i don´t think I am the guy who is different.

To be continued....

Mumbai attacks. Sensational but weak plot

2008-12-01T06:04:00.000-08:00

Hello friends. As we all have been sitting in front of TV for last few days without even blinking our eyes. Specially people of sub-continent. And the reason was the Mumbai attacks which was very deeply highlighted by Indian media. Being a neighbor of India and old enemy we Pakistanis always have to suffer the blames of Indians media. This blog is not related to politics. But I will still like to discuss about it so that my readers can learn that when you are making a story do give importance to loop holes. Yes I openly say that Mumbai attacks wwere a clear funny but a weak story written and directed by Indians extreamists and analysis of this incident will help you to make a good story for your film without any loop holes.

As attacks in Mumbai started Indian media started shouting that these terrorists are Muslims and were trained from Pakistan. Indian media also declared that these terrorists came from Pakistani boats and were living in India from last 1 month. Thanks to the western media which is always biased and against Muslims. Another story later on was declared that these terrorists had killed 2 coast guards and hijacked their ship for entrance in INDIA. Coming towards the loop holes of this filmy script I had few questions in mind.

1. If Pakistani terrorist entered India via sea where was the Indians navy. The route mentioned by Indian Media is a high security type zone where just 2 days back Indian Navy was active.

2. If terrorists were in Pakistani ships then as it is said that terrorists were in India from a month, then why Indian agency didn’t took notice of those ships. What they were waiting for.

3. If those ships were of Indian Coast guards and those cost guards were killed than why Indian agency didn’t searched for this missing guards. And if they searched they could easily know those guards were not present from the time of their visit in sea. SO what was their action for the whole month.

4. 10 men entered India with heavy ammunition and AK47 and no one even bothered to see that what are these big bags doing in high restricted areas.

5. So called Muslim terrorists have two things common in them no matter in which part of the world they are. Those two common things are they never cut their beard no matter what ever happens. Check out all those terrorists which have been arrested in the whole world. They all have big beards. Secondly in 90% cases they do not directly target ordinary people. I know readers will say that i am forgetting the event og 9.11. Well if we see the history of 9.11 the so called attack on US was certainly done by non Muslims. There are 100 of documentary films showing that even that incident was a planned story by some one else rather then Muslim extremists. The most common question raised by Muslims is that if 9.11 was done by USAMA or OSAMA then why 4000 jews were absent on a working day. So keeping these 2 facts in mind and viewing the pic of the guy in railway station who violently killed innocents from his firing has no beard. More over in close ups you can see he is wearing KALAAW. A special thing which Hindus wear while pooja. How an extreamist can wear any thing which is symbolicaly linked with HINDUS. India says that Mobile sim cards have been found from terrosists and those tell that calls were made in Karachi. Well simple we all know both the countries have their agents in each other’s country. So it isn’t a big issue calling to their respective partners in Karachi.

7. The incident took place when the elections are near and the same sort of incident took in GUJRAT when 1000s of innocent Muslims were killed and at the end Hindu extremists won the election. It has become a common practice to kill non Hindus and make vote bank strong. Just google and see the records. When ever HINDU extremist parties have done a propegenda against Muslims they have won elections. And when ever they didnt do propegenda they lost.

8. The only group which could be beneffitted by this act are Hindu Extreamist. The first one is thier Vote Bank is active again. Secondly they killed Col.Karakre who was investigating against Hindu Extreamists who were involved in the incident of Samjhota Express. Col. prouhit was the major Indian army officer arrested under this elegation and investigations were going on.Col pouhit was one of the major memebrs of Indian extremist who was responsible for the incident of Samjhota Express.

There are many loop holes which clearly says it is a plan of Hindu extremists to make their vote bank strong. If you are really interested to know few more facts which has been gathered by Ahmed Hassan you must visit the link

http://emptiness-forever.blogspot.com/2008/11/mumbai-attacks-pakistan-i-dont-think-so.html?commentPage=7

and must learn to make a story without any loop holes.

At the end I want to say that my views are as a simple Pakistani. I am not here to hurt any one and specially my Indian friends. We as human being seriously condemn on this incident. I only want to make it clear that the shining India also has a dark face which is hidden from the world and also from the Indians. DO remmebr that even India has extremists like BAAL THAKREY and MOODI who are so extremists that they are not even willing to accept hindus in MUMBAI and MAHARASHTRA. Some times facts which you see are not facts and what you cant see are the facts.

NOTE. Do see the link mentioned if you are really interested to know more about the silly story delivered by Indian Media..

What scares you the most in Horror movies? (3)

2008-11-21T08:32:00.001-08:00

“Well, if you look at the vast majority of horror films, there's usually one or two characters in the cast who are meant to survive, whereas the others are merely fodder for whatever evil force is going around killing people. The problem is, these characters usually tend to be "the rapper", "the fat guy", "the black guy" or any other form of 2-Dimensional character. They don't bother investing the audience's emotions in these characters in any other way than giving them a few good jokes and gags to make us think "oh, he's funny, I hope he doesn't die". I think it's more powerful when a character that has an investment in the story dies...A good example of this (although I didn't much care for the film) is in Hostel, where the one of the two lead characters is killed halfway through the film, causing the film to pick up the second half with the unlikely hero. I asked him further details so he replied me
They don't necessarily need to die at the end- but the significance of their deaths should MEAN more. I mean that in a typical movie with 5-8 cast members, there is usually only 1-2 people who "survive" whatever it is they are surviving. The problem is, those 5-6 people who die (most often violently) tend to be under-developed characters or not emotionally invested in the survivor character or the story.I think a big part of horror is the "shock factor", or in other words, the "unexpected" (which ties into the fear of the unknown)... when people expect something to happen, it's no longer scary, so a big part of horror is doing things that are against what the audience expects... here's some examples:Event Horizon - good example of the "unexpected" + fantastic Science fiction-horror movie of the three characters that survive, 2 of them turn out to be the type of "underdeveloped" character I'm talking about (the black guy and the blonde scientist chick). A delightfully unexpected surprise when these characters end up surviving where others do not. Every death in that movie is also emotionally invested in some way, mainly because Lawrence Fishburn's character is such a gung-ho crew-loving captain, and when he blows himself up allowing the two stock characters to survive, it's a great payoff for the film.I Know What You Did Last Summer - Who gives a shit about any of the characters in this movie anyway? They're a group of dull, 2-D teenage idiots running around as some killer picks them off one by one in a predictable order. Well, there's a lot of movies like this (more "slasher genre"), and they all pretty much end the same... some heroine's ex-boyfriend or secret crush kills her friends, comes after her, but is defeated by the new boyfriend in her life and the killer falls off a cliff into the sea. Then the heroine moves to Baltimore to start a new life and the last shot of the film is her in the shower as the killer pops into frame. Blah. Predictable. Stale. Maybe they intentionally make the characters bland and cliche to stand for what they think people are, but I think people relate more to unique characters... and EVERYONE should be unique in the film, since all people are unique- even the bartender in scene 22, shot b, take 3 who had his finger up his nose during the best take.13 Ghosts - bad bad movie, but with some pretty horrific effects and an interesting but campy plot... and Matthew Lillard - and the problem with this movie was that the only character who could have had an emotional death was Matthew Lillard's, and while I love him in SLC Punk and some other flicks, he isn't the person who I would attach an "emotionally riveting" scene to. And the people who survive are the obvious ones- the "family unit", while the more 2-dimensional characters die off randomly. So while the visuals certainly give a shock factor, the characters who die only serve to show off fancy effects and not advance the story in a way that takes the audience on a horrifying journey. Instead, it's a bit of a camp fest, which I usually enjoy (see Evil Dead 2), but could have been MUCH more terrifying if they actually spent more time developing the characters.”

Over here I am not mentioning the name of that friend or I should better call him GURU just for the sake of his privacy. If he wants I can also post his name. Anyways i am posting the number of votes which were given to most common elemnts of the horror movies.

Unseen fear 8

Atmosphere 7

Music 8

Gore (Clearly Showing on screen) 13

Suspense (What will happen next) 8

Other 59

The above mentioned table shows that majority of the viewers like to see gore and every thing on the screen rather than watching any film with the idea of unseen evil where the things are left over the imagination of viewers.

These were the results collected by different forums. Though it is not a formula for making a success full horror film. It is simly a sort of survey which i did.

Regards

What scares you the most in Horror movies? (2)

2008-11-21T08:27:00.001-08:00

Friends this topic had been really an interesting one for me. I posted this message on many forums and social networking sites. And there were many replies. I received around 100 replies. From those replies lot of replies were either irrelevant or very uncommon.

For example one guy said he is afraid of kids who are either ghosts or have been lost in jungle, another guy was scared of spiders in the movie. One other guy was scared of chairs moving without any one sitting on it or some one was interested in seeing situations where a guy is the only person left on earth. I have not counted those replies because those replies or elements mentioned by them were not part of general horror movies. Instead of this, these replies were given by keeping in mind specific movies.

I have counted the replies which were given keeping in mind the general horror movies rather than any specific movie.

You can see there is a heading of ‘other ‘. Under this heading I have counted those replies including two very different and important replies. And both the replies were related to character development. I am posting one of those replies without changing the words which were given to me so that you can understand it easily.

“I think the problem with most horrors is that they don't bother to actually build up the characters who die, and when those deaths could be full of meaning and significance (and thus horrifying) they just end up being Red Shirts.”
On asking more he replied.........

Continued..............

What scares you the most in Horror movies? (1)

2008-11-14T05:39:00.000-08:00

Horror genre is my most favorite genre. I have always been attracted towards the movies with lot of blood, pieces of human bodies lying here and there, darkness, zombies, ghosts, suspense that what will happen next and a lot more. I personally love to spend my weekend in a darkroom with a friend watching a horror movie. I remember when I was young, the horror movies used to grip me so much that I sue to sleep with taking a blanket over me and still I used to think that some one hiding at the corner of my room and watching me. The interesting thing was that the night I used to see a horror movie, that whole night I couldn’t sleep but still the next week I had a movie in my shelf ready to be watched.

Though I have grown up and things in the movie now do not scare me, but the interest in horror movies is still alive and the biggest proportion of movies in my collection is of horror movies. Few months back while talking on a forum I came to know that majority of the indie filmmakers starts their career with horror genre (in case of feature film). This is something which I later on read in several articles related to indie filmmaking and horror genre. An experienced guy told me that horror films which are not so scary, even they have some chance to sell out and have a small market. It was interesting news for me. I couldn’t even say he was misguiding me because he himself had a small niche market of his horror films. After talking to him I started liking to research about the genre and about the fact that what do people like in a horror film? The reason for this is that I have seen people passing good comments even about few horror films (horror zombie genre) which were really ridiculous and I would have never thought to see. The major reason was that the movie was shot in day light (I think no one like horror movies shot in day light) and the make up of zombies was horrible done. They were looking idiots rather than zombies. I will like to name one movie which I purchased and really felt upset for wasting my time to see that movie. The name of that movie is “Zombie Wars (2006)”. The link is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0897444/synopsis.

The shocking thing about the movie was that it was rated one of the most terrifying and horror film of the year by well known organizations and people etc. This thing was really stunning because the film had not even a story (and not anything which can attract people) and it was rated so highly.

This thing encouraged me to do a little survey. I will post the results of the survey in my next post….

Aunties and Uncles of Lolly-wood.

2008-11-10T05:10:00.000-08:00

Pakistani film industry has existed for a long time but we never saw a bad period like this. Though i have mentioned nearly all the major reasons related to the fall of film industry in my old articles including the economical, political and socials ones. But till a very important factor has been left out and that is the non entrance of new faces on the silver screen and the repeat of old faces in every film. If we look at the period of last 15 to 20 years we see that every film (yes every film) has the same faces of SHAN, SAIMA, SAUD, BABAR ALI, MOMER RANA, REEMA, MEERA, RESHAM. These face have become so old and have been looked so many times by the viewers that now the viewers can even tell the amount of hairs on their heads.

Shan is the most busy and more casted actor. He is also considered the most expensive actor (HERO will be more suitable word) of Pakistan. Along him comes MOMER RAANA who is considered the only rival of SHAAN in Lolly-Wood but even he does not really has the potential or talent to compete SHAAN. The third most common and old face is of SAIMA. No doubt in Pakistani Cinema she occupies the place of a queen (REEMA KHAN may mind it) and she is really a queen now. Old queen. A major reason for her continuous appearance in the movies is that she is the second wife of SAYED NOOR (the most busy) Lolly-Wood filmmaker. And he always prefer SAIMA on any other actress. Even if he has to cast a heroin for the role of college girl he will ask SAIMA for the role.

All these actors have been working for around 15 years. Though it is not a long period but we people are fed up because every movie has these old faces. On the other hand the filmmakers are not willing to take new faces as it might even make them loose that small audience which still visits cinemas.

On the other hand the sensible audience has already stopped visiting cinemas. And they are waiting for new faces like of IMAN ALI (who was in the lead role in KHUDA KE LIE).

Indie Script writers of Pakistan and their Copyright issues.

2008-10-31T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hello dear readers and friends. Just wanted to share the problems of an indie film scriptwriter of Pakistan and that is me. These days I am writing my first script. The script is at the early stage that is I am writing its story. The genre horror and if I specify it more you can say it is zombie horror script. According to the time I have set the story will be finished in next 5 to 8 days. And because I am writing it in very detail so I think it will just take a couple of days to make the final draft of the story.

Coming back towards the main issue, I decided to go on different forums and ask about the issue of copyright as it can be the most hurting thing for a writer if his written work (even if it is the worse thing on earth) is stolen. Well anyways the most cheap method I got to get my script safe was that to put the script in envelop and send it back to my address and never to open the seal until required. But the idea was refused by a guy who said that even if I do that there is a doubt that I can use old envelop and put my script in it. Well it can happen

Few friends via net suggested that I should try to get it registered with any local government body (like Ministry of Arts and Culture etc) of Pakistan but I am personally not interested in it and I have a solid reason for it. Just a couple of days back I read a news where a producer of regional films declared that he has bribed the new director of Censor Board only for viewing his films. The interesting thing is that in that movie there is nothing which can be marked as unethical according to the rules of Pakistan Censor Board. A producer who is in the business for so long, if he needs to bribe the censor board then how will censor board or any other government body will take care of my rights? They will be willing to even cut my pocket and take out something termed as “bribe”. The other option is to get registered with any foreign organization. Well that needs money and not only money it most often require dollars. Right now the currency rates are 86 PKR= 1 US dollar. So even if the fee is 25 us dollars it means i will have to submit some 2000 PKR.

I personally feel there should be some way to get our script registered free by any org or website for the time being and cut a fee if it is sold out.

Creating buzz of your movie.

2008-10-29T05:48:00.000-07:00

Hi friends. I was reading a great article. It was about things we should try while our movie in the production phase. According to the writer these few things will help in creating a buzz in the general public. The element might help in getting distributor’s attraction.

1. Make a website and upload the gripping scenes of the movie.

2. Also add synopsis and the names and details of the cast (it will be very help full if the cast has some popular names)

3. Get a page on www.myspace.com and try some other social networking sites.

4. Make a blog of the movie, get it linked with many widgets of different blog directories and keep it updated.

5. Try simple SEO techniques to bring your blog at the top at www.google.com and other search engines.

I personally think these are the few things which can certainly create a buzz. Though there is no guarantee but still people will be aware about your movie and this is the most important part of selling your movie. You should aware people about your movie.

Financing your movie.

2008-10-21T03:17:00.000-07:00

The most important problem which we filmmakers face while making films is getting finance. Specially being an Indie filmmaker makers, it becomes more hard to win people’s trust. Just before writing this topic I decided to talk to experts about my idea. Though my idea was rejected by the experts but I got a better idea from them. I think talking about my rejected idea over here will be a waste of time of my readers. So I am directly coming towards the idea mentioned by experts.

During the discussion they told me that it is better to start shooting after finalizing your script. Over here we are considering that at-least you will have something in your pocket. If this is not the case then I think shut of your PC and go at work to at-least earn some money (by the way I am trying the same thing these days…Lolz). Any ways coming back towards the topic. They told me that after finalizing the script I should start shooting my film. And my strategy should be to shoot the most exciting scenes of my film first to make it attractive towards financers. It is obvious that all the professional financers will have no time to read out your script. SO the best thing is to shoot a great trailer or short film and send it to selected financers. A “GURU” from http://www.indietalk.com/ said

“shoot either a strong scene from the movie, OR make a short film to showcase the writing and filmmaking ability. The first example of this that comes to mind is Sam Raimi, who made a short film "Within The Woods" as a way to attract investors to fund what he had in mind for a larger production -- what eventually became "The Evil Dead." The point is, though, that he put everything he had into making the short movie as GOOD as it could be. You're more likely to attract attention with 15 minutes of quality than two hours of mediocrity and promises.”(apology from the GURU for coping his words).

I personally liked the idea. I recently read one more real event just like this. George Lucas in his earlier career made 5 short films which have never been seen. Then he made a 15 minutes short film by the name “Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB”. The film got first prize and as a prize he got the chance to work with Francis Ford Coppola at WARNER BROTHERS. Soon they became close friends and decided to establish their own company where they made their first feature film which was actually George’s “Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB”. The small success help them to make another film “American Graffiti”. This success of this movie helped them to get more money to make even a bigger film “STAR WARS” and now every one know “George Lucas”.

If we see the success of George Lucas, the starting point was the short film which put him on the way of success. There is one more example and it is of the movie “SAW” which was a short film actualy. It was made by an Australian university student. Now personally I believe, to attract financers, the best option is to make a short film or a trailer with the most exciting and gripping scenes of the movie. Certainly I will try this option some day to make my first feature film.

Bolly-Wood ruled by threat and fear.

2008-10-15T02:41:00.000-07:00

Bolly wood as we all know is considered one of the two biggest film industries of the world and the people working there look too educated, elegant and civilized. Working in Bolly wood can be an honor for anyone. But this is only one side of the glamorous world. The other side is equally cruel and ugly. People who are closely linked with Bolly wood certainly know the ugliness hiding behind Bolly wood.

And that ugliness is that the “Bigs” of Bolly wood are always under threat or fear by underworld or by SHIV SINA, the extremist party from Mumbai. Yes sound shocking Indians and extremists? Till now you have only heard about MUSLIMS being extremists. But if the hidden truth is revealed, it will really shock you. Even India has a big group of extremists. And interestingly these Extremists are one degree superior to the MUSLIM Extremists. SHIV SINA was founded by Bal Thackeray and who still is ruling the party.

The most recent issue was between King Khan and SHIV SINA when SHIV SINA declared that they will not allow King Khan’s Film to get premiered in MUMBAI. And the reason was not that KING KHAN was Muslim. The reason was that KING KHAN was not born in the province of MAHARASHTRA. Be-fore this “BIG B” had to apologize because of her wife JIA BACHAN. It was surprising that the most powerful person of Bolly wood had to apologize for something which was neither illegal nor uncivilized. But it was the fear of SHIV SINA that forced BIG B to apologize. SHIV SINA in past also had issues with SHILPA SHETTY for being kissed by Famous Holly Wood star Richard Gere. But SHILPA SHETTY stood firm and decided not to even say “A” of apology. The BAD BOY of Bolly Wood, Selman Khan was also a victim of SHIV SINA when a fake cassette of SELAMN- AISH was released where the fake Selman Khan threatened Aish that he has contacts with “under world”. Though the cassette was declared fake after testing but still SHIV SINA was not convinced. There is another famous controversy where a young talented actress DEVIA BHARTI was murdered by extremists. And the only crime she had done was that she got converted from Hindu to Muslim and got secretly married with an MUSLIM INDIAN producer. Though nobody dared to say it openly but people feel that her murder was directly or indirectly linked with SHIV SINA

There have been many more controversies linked with SHIV SINA and sadly people like BIG B had to apologize for doing nothing. These days SHIV SINA is trying to kick all those people out from MUMBAI which do not belong to the province of MAHARASHTRA . They believe that in MUMBAI only those people can live and work who were born in MUMBAI, or in any other city of MAHARASHTRA. The surprising fact is that even the Indian Government is unable to handle SHIV SINA in proper way.

On one side Bolly Wood is shaking hands with Holly Wood which is a great achievement. But on the other hand extremists like SHIV SINA are a bad and black spot on Bolly Wood.
I am sitting and waiting that will ever Bolly Wood get a chance to come out from the clouds of fear and threat of SHIV SINA?

Lollywood outcalssed Bolly-Wood (2)

2008-10-07T03:32:00.000-07:00

Hi friends.

I have been able to get some news about Lolly-Wood master piece "Ramchand pakistani.". Accroding to the recent news which i got the movie "Ramchand Pakistani" has been released in more then 23 cities of Indie (which itself is a big achievement.). On the other side the Lolly-Wood flick was in competetion with 2 big budgeted movies of Bolly-Wood. The film was first in Dehli, Mumbai and Hayderabad where even Bolly-Wood mmebers were present. We can say the movie all over is a big success !

The blogger Adeel got Awarded !

2008-10-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

Well there is a small good news. Atleast for me (which i wanted to share with you people). I am a regular member of http://www.indietalk.com/ which is the best site for indie filmmakers. The site has 10,995 members, 9,147 threads and 67,588 posts. The management has awarded me by the title of the member of the month of October 2008 and has raised my membership to honoury premire membership for one year.

I will like to say thanks to the managment of http://www.indietalk.com/

Regards

The Pirated Bolly-Wood.

2008-10-05T22:38:00.000-07:00

Bolly-Wood is considered one of the two biggest film industries in the world. And in terms of releasing movies in an year it is considered the number one industry. And even Bolly-Wood has some problems to face as an industry, and the biggest problem they are facing is of piracy. But interestingly when we see Bolly-Wood they themselves are pirated. First of all their name is on the name of Holly-Wood. Ok lets say for the sake of discussion even if they have Named it Bolly because of Bombay, but still what is the use of Wood?.

Coming to the real part there are plenty of films being copied by Holly-Wood these days. When the directors or producers are asked why they do so? They reply that the general public wants something different that’s why they copy Holly-Wood movies. Still this is not a valid reason. What about creativity? Doe that matter? Or not?

There is a big list of Movies copied or heavily influenced by Hollywood Movies. I am posting some names here of Bolly-Wood films and in the bracket the names of original films

Fight Club (Fight Club)
Akeyle hum Akeyle Tum (Karmer vs karmer)
Hey baby (Three Men and a Baby)
Road ( The Hitcher)
Black (The Miracle Worker)
Salam Namaste (Nine Months)
Hum Tum (When harry met sally)
Zinda (old boy)
Murder (unfaithful)

Though Bolly-Wood is making a big quantity of movies and they do good business too in the market. But at the end the question still arises what about creativity? Isn’t it important?

(There is a big list in my hands of copied movies, but i cant post all the names.)

Though Bolly-Wood is making a big quantity of movies and they do good business too in the market. But at the end the question still arises what about creativity? Isn’t it important?

Lollywood outclassed Bollywood

2008-10-03T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hey friends there has been a good news. Recently Pakistani movie "Ramchand Pakistani" got released in India and it was declared a better movie by critics with in the comparison of "Kidnap" of Snajaydutt and "Darona" of Abhishik Bachan.

I am looking for more details and i will defenately update this article with the details (if i get some info).

Earning money from my movie is easy for me (2) !

2008-09-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

The other major part will be to attract students. Well of course here I will have to use the tip which was given to me by Clive, a GURU of http://www.indietalk.com/. He told me that when ever you are planning a movie make a sketch of poster of your movie and look out does it attract people and does it tell the genre of your movie? So I will have to make a sketch of poster of my movie and I will have to ask my friends that’s are they able to guess what genre my movie belong too? I will also have to ask does they like the poster? Is it attractive? I know making and printing out poster will be little expensive but the good thing will be that all the sale department will be in my hand (with the co-ordination of university management). Though the marketing expenses will be my responsibility but still I should not forget that I will be directly involved in sales and all the figures will be open to me.
I will have to only print attractive posters for my movie and I will have to place them on the right places in the university. Me and the university management can decide Sunday for the projection of the movie. On the other hand, because all the universities (which are offering filmmaking) have good multimedia equipments so my movie (which can be on DVD) can easily get projected. The university Management in this way can earn too.

Now coming back toward the numerical figures in Pakistan there are universities like NCA, IQRA, PAFKIET, RIFAH BNU which are offering filmmaking. There are some more universities which are offering Mass communication too so (obviously filmmaking is a field of mass communication too) these universities can be added in the list too. The names which are coming in my mind right now are PUNJAB UNIVERSITY, KARACHI UNIVERSITY, SUPERIOR COLLEGE, GC UNIVERSITY etc. Few universities (from the above mentioned list) have campuses in more than 1 city so roughly there are (at-least) 15 universities which can be targeted (remember there are few more but I don’t have the list right now). If the total number of students studying in all these universities are even around 2000 (which is definitely a rough calculation of me, the actual number is much greater) and even if I get able to sell out 500 tickets so (500 X 200 price per ticket) it means that I will still recover my costs after giving half money to the universities.

These are rough calculations. I believe the only two important things which I will require a sellable movie and the convincing power to convince the universities. And after these two thing I can definitely recover the costs of my movie. And in bonus I will get name and fame in the market, because obviously showing my movie in so many universities will certainly attract press and media too.

What do you say? :=)

The End.

Earning money from my movie is easy for me !

2008-09-30T09:40:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! Before reading this post remember one thing I am not a Film Marketing guru. Neither I am persuading you to apply this method. It is just an idea which I am sharing with you because this is the plan which I developed for my film’s marketing and promotion.

When I became the member of www.indietalk.com a senior filmmaker told me a very important thing. And that was when you start planning your movie, straight away start planning the distribution and promotion of your movie too.

Ok coming back towards the topic. As you people know I am a student so definitely I lack the resources to make movie on 35mm, I lack the contacts which are essential for distribution of my movie .I also lack the experience which is important to convince distributors that my movie is going to sell. More over there are many problems in Lolly-Wood too. Problems like limited number of cinema houses, lack of Digital Projection of the movies and many more.

So what to do? Well obviously the first thing I need is a movie, in-fact a good interesting movie. As I have mentioned that Pakistan do not have many cinemas with digital projection, and also considering the budget issue and considering me, being a student cant afford 35mm will obviously go for digital format. After completing my movie my target will not be cinemas. Yes, neither I will target and DVD sales. How can I be so foolish that while living in the world of piracy (Pakistan) I will go for DVD sales? I am going to target colleges and universities. Yes the name of colleges and universities came to my mind last year when my bro participated in 3D animation competition and I was over their to motivate him. The way the event took place it generated an idea why not to invite the universities and target the young generation for my movie? In Pakistan there are few major universities which are teaching Filmmaking (which has started in recent years and the first qualified batch of filmmakers of Pakistan’s Cinema History will pass out in 2011). So I still have chance to make something good and show it to others. No doubt those people might have more potential then me. After all they are all getting formal education. But I believe filmmaking is about natural talent not degrees. Even this is possible that universities might like to show their students the work of a young guy who has not even a diploma in filmmaking (well do remember i have put the condition of an interesting movies with my movie not a simple movie as there are plenty of young filmmakers)
The major part will be to convince the management of Universities. Well of course they will have a share in our earning. The ration can be anything from 50% 50% to 60% 40% or any other figures in total revenue. That will totally depend upon my negotiation and bargaining skills.

To be continued...

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling? (4)

2008-09-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

King Khan and Female Stars!

From the production of “OM SHANTI OM” King Khan has started a new plan for himself. And that is to work with those females which are completely new. After “OM SHANTI OM” the new movie under home production of King Khan again has signed a new female actress for the lead role in the movie. This act his become a threat for senior heroines of Bolly-Wood because the success of “OM SHANTI OM” brought depikea (the leading female actress of OM SHANTI OM) at the top list of Bolly-Wood female actresses. SO this act has some how created differences between King Khan and senior female actresses of Bolly-Wood

King Khan and Yash Chopra Camp!

Though there are no open news of any differences between King Khan and Yash camp. But people can notice one thing that’s King Khan is not getting the movies from Yash Camp the way he used to get. In last many years he only got only one movie under Yash camp which was “Chak de India”. And even this movie was given to King Khan after a long time.

NEW COMERS!

Bolly-Wood now days is giving chance to many new comers. On the other hand stars like Hritik Roshan, Shahid kapoor etc are also getting stability in Bolly-Wood by giving good films like “JODHA AKBAR” and “JAB WE MET” respectively. Films like these would definitely increase the fan’s list of other stars and would reduce the fan following of King Khan. Indirectly even this is also a reason for the falling empire of King Khan.

The End

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling? (3)

2008-09-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

KING KHAN VS SALMAN KHAN!

Salman Khan, The bad boy of Bolly-wood. He and king khan have shared a beautiful relationship of friendship. The first differences occurred while the home production of King Khan “Chalte Chalte”. The lead female role was being played by Aishwarya Rai (X girl friend of Salman Khan). Due to this Salman khan used to visit the shooting spot and interfere the production matters. Due to this King khan not only separated Miss Aish from the movie but even differences were created. Later on they again became friends on the wedding of FARAH KHAN(filmmaker of Bolly-Wood.)

But it was the recent times when they again had a fight on the birthday of Salman’s girl friend where they both were trying to prove that their TV show is better than of the other. Soon the silly joke turned into a fight and other Bolly-Wood stars had to interfere to cool down the matter. King Khan soon left the party with his wife.

Bolly-Wood believes that this fight will go longer as Salman Khan is famous for not forgiving his enemies. The proofs are of Vivek Oberoi and JOHN ABRAHEM. Where Vivek asked for forgiveness on the stage while performing but in result Salman Khan turned his face away.

Thought it is hard to say that who will win the battle but that’s for sure that King khan has increased the number of enemies by making one more.

King Khan VS Akshay Kumar !

Akshay is the man who is standing shoulder to shoulder with king khan. And is being considered the biggest threat to the number 1 position of King Khan. In last two years he has given many hits to Bolly-Wood. He is also famous for being the most expensive actor in the recent times.

Interestingly in an interview he indirectly taunted on King Khan by saying” I don’t know why people call them self King? There is only one king in the industry and he is Amitabh Bachan”.

Though generally he is not listed an enemy of King Khan but that’s for sure that he is the most important person who can ruin King Khan’s empire

To be Continued

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling? (2)

2008-09-18T09:34:00.000-07:00

SRK VS AMIR KHAN !

Amir Khan, the guy famous by the name "perfectionist" in Bolly-Wood is considered the toughest competitor of SRK. The reason is that they are not only of same age group but also because they compete each other in many other fields other than acting. They both are into production, and modeling too being the brand ambassadors of famous products. This is true that it is hard for Amir Khan to defeat the stardom of King Khan and he looks a step behind. But even this is true that being a perfectionist he clearly knocks out King Khan in acting, production and now he is one step a head by giving a debut super hit “Tare Zameen Par”.

I personally admire Amir Khan for being one of the few guys of Bolly-Wood who have change the minds of audience by producing movies like “LAGAAN” which was OSKAR nominated. His firs movie “TARE ZAMEEN PAR” was released against King Khans movie “OM SHANTI OM” and no doubt Amir Khan nearly flushed “OM SHANTI OM”. King Khans Fan might mind this but it is true that the movie made by Amir Khan was not only entertaining but at the same time it had a very important issue to discuss related to children’s problem. When “OM SHANTI OM” got released it made huge profits and records. People were praising King Khan and he was being ranked NUMBER 1 again. But Amir Khan very cleverly placed a small 8 years child (by giving him the lead role in his movie) in the battle of acting against King Khan and nearly paralyzed King Khan. The young boy Darsheel Safary was outstanding in acting. The oil on fire was put by Darsheel when he demanded to get nominated in the best actor’s category with people like King Khan(for OM SHANTI OM) rather the getting nominated in child stars category.

When people asked King Khan has he seen the movie and what are his remarks, he cheaply said (may be he was trying to act smart)”The joker was good”. In “TARE ZAMEEN PAR” Amir Khan had a getup of Joker before the interval when he gave entry. And even Darsheel in the first half acted like a naughty boy (nearly a small joker). So it was hard to know to whom King Khan called JOKER but it is true that who ever the joker was had really ruined King Khan. In the near past Amir already named his dog Shahrukh, of which there was no reply by King Khan.

Though they both have done some cheap acts but it is true that after the Immense HIT of “TARE ZAMEEN PAR” and due to several controversies linked with King Khan it is not Amir Khan but King Khan who is suffering severely.

King Khan’s also suffered from the controversy by this movie and the controversy was of insulting “Manoj Kumar”(the super star of Bolly-wood of 70s). In that movie there were few scenes, which according to Manoj Kumar hurt his feelings. Manoj Kumar filed cases against King Khan, his wife and against the director of the film. All in all the success of “Om Shanti Om” not only brought success to King Khan but also brought controversies for King khan

Some More Mouthing Pictures (3)

2008-09-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

Jimmy answer me !! Please

Lets go and destroy Usama and co !!

US Army vs Usama

You & Me (The Love Story)

Is King Khan’s Empire Falling?

2008-09-13T23:17:00.001-07:00

Who on earth will be the person, Involved in films in any form and doesn’t know the KING KHAN of Bolly-Wood. He is not only the heart throb of Bolly-Wood but also sitting in the hearts of many non Indians. Few years back I was reading a report which claimed that King Khan is even more than Tom Cruise of Hollywood. It might not be acceptable by US people, but the statement was clarified by the news paper. It said that King Khan is the most popular star in Bolly-Wood, which means that he is already favorite of a country of 100 million. Secondly it was mentioned that Bolly-Wood movies are most famous in Muslim Communities. If we look at the general audience of movies lovers in Muslims the majority film lovers are either females and youngster. And this is for sure that King Khan has special appeal towards these both categories. Not to forget that Muslims are around 1.5/5 of the whole population of the world, and India alone being a 1/5 of the whole world which makes 1.5 +1= 2.5/5. It was a rough idea presented by the news paper but still looks close to the reality. SO the numerical show that some how it is a Truth

King Khan is a lucky child of destiny. While reading his biography I was inspired when I read that when he came to Bombay (today’s Mumbai) and one day while standing near sea side he said “one day I will rule Bombay”. Interestingly that was the time when he had no money his pocket and he was staying at his friend‘s home. He was fortunate that his words were accepted by destiny and he really became the King of Bolly-wood. He was the un-crowned KING of Indian Cinema and every thing which was touched by him was turned into gold, plus he had very strong relation with the “BIGS” of Bolly-Wood. But as we all know every thing comes to end. Same is now happening with King Khan. And the gurus of Bolly-Wood believe that King Khan himself is the reason for it. He has started taunting on every other person of Bolly-Wood who is giving him a tough time in one way or the other. We will separately see his controversies with few “BIGS” of Bolly-wood which have taken place in the recent times.

KING KHAN VS BIG B

Big B, the first uncrowned king of Bolly-Wood and the angry young man. His relation was too close with SRK. They were so close to each other that MRs Jia Bachan used to say that she has never differentiated between Abhishek and SRK. The rivalry started from the point when SRK started trying to copy(not even follow) the foot steps of Big B. He wanted to show his feet are bigger then that of Amitabh Bachan. The first attempt for it was hosting KBC (3rd session). Big B had already set a land mark in KBC which was not easy to pass. But King Khan worked hard and nearly flushed Big B’s image. According to one of the most respectable Indian newspaper it was declared that KBC (3rd session) has gain more popularity then the first two sessions. The reason is simple. Big B has an image of a reserved and mature guy and people use to be a little scared from his personality. Where as King khan opted a different strategy by loving, kissing, hugging and giving his hand watches to people who use to win “0” money. He used to give massage to contestant to release their tension. All this made KBS 3 a huge success.

The second Attempt was of the remake of DON. But un-luckily this time he failed to get over Big B. Though the film made earned huge revenue but due to the intentional or un-intentional comparison of old and new DON the re-make of DON was considered a flop.

I personally have seen King Khan taunting Big B in Koffe with Karan where King Khan and Big B , both were invited(this was the time when they were close friends). Karan Johar asked King khan to say one line for Big B and King Khan said”Rishtey main tou hum tumhare baap hite hain”. The famous film dialogue of Big B in a movie. Though at that moment there were smiles and all over but sentences like this can easily ruin the relation ship between a senior and junior. Not only a senior but a senior who is worshiped like god in his field.

So King Khan’s first controversy was with Big B.

To be continued.........

Important fact about the Movie “ZIBAHKHANA”.

2008-09-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

1. Zibahkhana is the first non 35mm Pakistani film. It was shot on HDV format

2. It was premiered at NAT FLM FESTIVAL, in DENMARK

3. The film was also screened in many festivals all over the world like TORONTO,NEWYOURK,LONDON,CAPETOWN AND AUSTIN

4. Won “Jury award for best film of 2008” at Riofan Film Festival, Brazil

5. Won “Jury’s special award for best GORE 2007” at Fantastic Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Selecting the right Script for a Pakistani Movie.(3)

2008-09-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

The next film of the 3 films which were examined by me was “Zibahkhana” or the English name “Hell’s Ground”. Talking honestly the film does not have anything special..…(surprised by my words?).Well yes the film does not have any charm for those Pakistani audience which have seen movies like Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead, Wrong Turn etc. The movie is completely a mixture of all these things in the sense that it is a Zombie genre movie where a group of teenagers use a shortcut (just like in the movie Wrong Turn) and then they are standing against zombies. Then the question arises why the movies did well?

Well there are few reasons to it. The most important reason is that Pakistani audience generally do not watch Hollywood movies (or any other movie which is in English Language. Thanks to the low illiteracy rate). There are very few Holly wood films which get released in Pakistan and until now there hasn’t been a movie released of the Zombie genre. So it was something very new for the majority of the people. The filmmaker Omar Ali Khan intelligently mixed the creation of West (Zombie genre) with Pakistani culture and style. More over there was also an addition of a killer in the movie creating more suspense. A killer with a leather mask is a very common phenomena in West but it was something very new in Lolly-Wood. Creating lot of suspense too in the movie along with fear.Being a completely new thing in Pakistan the Zombie type movie “Zibahkhana” did well on box office. Though it didn’t got huge theatrical release in Pakistan due to the Digital format (Pakistan do not have many cinemas with digital projection) but still the movie ran on Rawalpindi Cinema for 10 weeks, which keeping in mind the situation of Lolly-Wood for last few years was a great success. It was also shown at places like LUMS (Lahore University of Management Sciences) which is not only considered the best university of Pakistan and also known as one of the good best universities of ASIA. And majority of the students in the university belong to elite class. Getting a chance to get screened at a place in university like LUMS was itself the answer that YES the movie has something good for Pakistani audience.

The last movie in my list was “Koi Tugh Sa kahan” which was the first attempt of Reema Khan. Well Reema Khan herself is the most popular female celebrity of Pakistan. You can judge her popularity by the fact that she was the first FEMAL FILM STAR of Pakistan’s history who did modeling for PEPSI AD FILM. Before her no FEMALE FILM STAR of Pakistan got a contract for AD Film with PEPSI CO. Her maiden attempt (till now) was near to best in every aspect. The story which is the most important aspect of a movie was good and different (not a typical love story). Special attention was given to music which is again considered important in Pakistani and Indian films. It had a star cast. The good and the most solid reason for the success of the movie was that the story was good, realistic, and different from the normal movies which we normally see in our cinemas and was written keeping in mind market of Pakistan

.

Though I believe that there are no formulas for making a successful film but I also believe that keeping in mind the important factors and regular analysis of flop films and hit films help us reducing the risk which is the only way to make a good and HIT film.

Selecting the right Script for a Pakistani Movie.(2)

2008-09-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

So here is the second part of the article. In the previous article I talked and did analysis of few flop films. Now coming towards the hit films of the last few years. As I have already told that in the last few years there were only few movies which were highly rated before their release so I am doing their analysis only.

The first movie which I will mention about is “MAJAJN” which was directed by Lolly-wood’s most creative filmmaker SYED NOOR. He is also known as the box office king for his super hit movies.Though he has more then 70% of flops on his credit but the reason for it that the investors generally belong to the category of BLACK MONEY MAKERS. I hope you have read the article by the title “vulgarity in Lolly wood movie” on my blog. But the good thing is when ever he gets a chance to make a movie with a sensible producer (which rarely happens) he definitely gives a good film. Coming back to the topic. His film “MAJAJAN” has made the record in Lolly wood by running for 254 weeks in Pakistani Cinema, which is really surprising when we see that we have neighbour like Bolly wood, and the piracy is simply like getting a cup of tea from kitchen. The movie is still on cinemas. The story is a love story but not a typical Pakistani story where a rich guy fells in love with a poor girl. Though the story is like that but it has huge difference because the main theme of the movie was not adopted by any ordinary Pakistani love story but by a SUFI POET of Pakistan “Baba Bhulleh Shah”. And after that from his poetry the complete script was developed by Rukhsana Noor(Syed Noor’s Wife).

The story also has appeal for general public because the movie is made in Punjabi Language (a provincial or regional language of Pakistan). So due to this there was no competition between “MAJAJAN” and Bolly-wood movies. The movie had great performances of superstars like SHAAN and SAIMA and there was a come back of MADIHA SHAH (old female Films Star who was out of industry for a long time).

Generally movies made in URDU language have more competition in Pakistani Cinema Industry as these movies directly compete with Bolly wood (due to the same language. Though there is a little difference but generally URDU and HINDI are nearly same and the people living in both countries understand each other’s language very easily) and it is really hard to survive against them. One thing to remember is that 99 % of the movies pirated from INDIA are in HINDI language not PUNJABI. This is also a major reason due to which the majority films made in Lolly wood are in Punjabi these days, as it reduces the factor of competition. We can also say that PUNJABI MOVIES are made under the rule of “Targeting NICHE MARKET”.

To be continued….

Selecting the right Script for a Pakistani Movie(1)

2008-09-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

Before starting this article I want to tell you I am not a professional script writer till now. Neither I have I discovered any shocking secrets about how to get a good (the better word should be sellable) script. I am over here just sharing my views which are based on my analysis which I have developed after watching few newly released movies in recent times and by the result of some other movies which were released couple of years back. Though you might think that why I did the analysis of recent time movies with the movies of past years. Well the answer is simple and that is they all were the only movie which had attraction for viewers (at-least before the release).

One more thing which I want to say is that I feel happy the general Pakistani audience has developed the taste for a good movie which was not present in past.

Coming back towards the topic what is the right type of script for Pakistani audience? The answer is simple. They want something new instead of that old love stories or family drama which had the quarrel between either two families or within the family to marry the person of their own choice. But looks like Pakistani filmmakers are still living in fool’s paradise. The recent example of it is Javed Shekh (who though is an intelligent person but still failed to get a sparking script). His movie Khulay Asmaan Ke Neechay was one of the biggest flops of the Pakistan history despite of the fact that it was the most expensive movie of Lolly wood and even the marketing budget was the biggest. But the story was completely an old one where a boy wanted to marry the girl of his own choice and the family was against it. The movie with this old and boring story was a big flop. Though it has good melodious songs which are considered a very important ingredient of Lolly wood movies and along with it, it had It had best equipments hired (which is like a blessing for Pakistani filmmakers). I am mentioning about equipments because generally Pakistani filmmakers think that latest equipments are the most important factor in success of films which is completely wrong.

The other movie which is “RAMCHAND PAKISTANI” was a mixture of one of the best HD-CAMS and equipments (again) and highly creative script selected by Mehreen Jabbar. No doubt Mehreen is one of the best filmmakers of Pakistan and has the potential to even stand in the list of good filmmakers in international list. But even her movie failed at the box office which is little shocking. The only reason which I could find was that though the topic was but had no appeal for general audience. The movie was more like an artistic film rather then a commercial film. The simple question was that why general audience will be interested in a Hindu boy of Pakistan living near the borders and crossing the border by mistake? In the modern era where Pakistani audience is already tired of the real life hardships they will not be interested in wasting their money by going to cinema and to see the hardship of any other Pakistani. So the Pakistani filmmakers should remember the present state of Pakistani audience and should choose any interesting script which can give relief to the audience instead of creating more tensions……..

To be Continued…….

Biggest Scandal of Lollywood History!

2008-08-28T02:58:00.000-07:00

After posting few articles I don’t think that I again need to say that Pakistan generally is a conservative country (I hope you can distinguish between conservativeness and extremism). From the starting of the Pakistan Film industry the biggest scandals we used to hear were either the real world affair of the Hero (of the movie) and the Heroin (of the movie) or the secret marriage of them. But it was 2001 when Lollywood faced the biggest scandal of its history. The Nude Photo shoot of Veena Malik. Well the first question comes who is Veena malik

Veena Malik:

She was born on 26th Feb 1984(the date is mentioned according to her statement) in Lahore. She started her career with the movie “Tere Pyaar main” which was released in 1999 and was the biggest hit of the year. She played the supporting role in that movie. And soon was considered a fresh breath for Lollywood. In the recent times she is one of the most famous personalities in Pakistan Television Medium too. And the credit goes to the great comedy show “HUM SAB UMEED SAY HAIN” which is all about showing the current Pakistani political conditions in a funny and taunting way

THE SCANDAL

The scandal was of nude photo shoot of Veena malik. The pictures were easily available on internet. And that was the biggest scandal of Lollywood history. Veena about that scandal says that:
“The photo-shoot you are mentioning is part of the anti-Veena campaign by my opponents in the film industry. I never went for a nude-shoot. Those are fake pictures. I am not bothered about them since those are not my photographs. I know there is a striking resemblance between the girl in those snaps and me but just resemblance takes us nowhere.”

It is hard to find out that, are these pictures real or a model (with great resemblance) have been placed to create mess and hurdles in Veena’s way. Because this is true that in the modern days Veena is considered one of the most glamorous female stars. I am not posting the nude picture over here as I don’t want to make my blog a porn site (lolz). But I can send the link if a reply with interest is posted.
The scandal slowly was finished and the general public was unable to know that what the reality was.

Bollywood Star and Their Respective Ministries

2008-08-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Bolly-wood Stars are not only active in Film Industry but also in politics. We see stars like Amitabh Buchan, Govinda, Shatro Ghan Sinha taking part in Indian politics. Suppose if these great bolly-wood Star are assigned the posts of Ministers of different department of INDIA, which post will be suitable for which famous star.

Prime Minister : Amitabh Bachan

Well known for his strong appearance not only on screen but also off the screen. He is no doubt the first King of Bollywood

Ministry of Wealth: Shah Rukh Khan

King Khan is not only a great star but he is the most intelligent businessman too. Recently his team lost” IPL” but still he was lucky as he made profits, no loss. He know how to make money even from scrap.

Ministry of Health: Selman Khan

Selman Khan is the first Bolly-wood star who really started body building and maintaining himself and his fitness and health. No doubt he deserved the ministry of health

Ministry of Sports: John Abraham

He is very famous for taking interest in the field of sports. He deserves the ministry of sports as he himself is a sportsman.

Ministry of Defense: Sunny Deol

He is one of the toughest fighters of Bolly-wood. The interesting thing is he very strong physically in real world is too. Has worked in many movies where he saved his country from enemies .Definitely he deserved the Ministry of defense

Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Shilpa Shetty

In last few months she has gained international popularity due to big brother’s show. Her focus had been more on matter not related to film industry , and also with international media. SO I believe she deserves the Foreign Affairs Ministry

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan! One of the Greatest Icon of Music!

2008-08-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

Pakistan is very rich country in terms of Music. Pakistan has got plenty of singers (and musicians) which have shown there talent not only at national but also at international level. But the one who really brought Pakistan in lime light of International music is THE GREAT (LATE) NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN. In the further post I will write the details of his early life but in this blog I want to post the comments which have been said by some great Music Icons

Late American rock singer JEFF BUCKLEY “Nusrat, he's my Elvis”. He also said in an interview, "I idolize Nusrat, he's a god too."

EDDIE VEDDER said “I was lucky to work with Nusrat, a true musician who won't be replaced in my life. There was definitely a spiritual element in his music”.

Nusrat Fathe Ali Khan has the credit that he was the first person in the world of music who mixed the modern music composing equipments with traditional Qawali(a form of music which is linked with spiritualism). He was also the first person to bring Qawali to the lime light and in the international world of music.
I will post his early life details within few days in my blog and that will be really interesting for you

2008-08-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

21st Century Baby feeding his father

Maximum Utilization of labour !

What will you like with massage Sir? Facial

Whats Happening?

Underworld Don of 21st Century

Natural Shower

Popularity of News Channels in Pakistan!

2008-08-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

People outside Pakistan who have never visited Pakistan or have visited only once or twice or know a little about Pakistan think of Pakistanis as people which are away from the general politics. This was true few years back but the Pakistan of Today is completely changed. And all the credit goes to the TV Channels of private sectors of Pakistan.

The channel’s boom has really educated Pakistanis a lot. At-least in terms of politics and international politics. Today they know US attacked IRAQ not for any weapons of mass destruction but for oil, if India is shouting that attack on Indian embassy in Afghanistan was by ISI so it is the planning to get the basis to attack Pakistan. And all this is due to News Channels.

The boom of Pakistani TV channels came in 2002 with number 1 private TV channel of Pakistan “Geo TV”. Geo was the first channel after NTM (first private TV channel of Pakistan which closely worked and researched to know the interest of Pakistani People). I remember when it started its Test transmission, after first day every one was talking about GEO. I think it was a great thing because every second person was talking or thinking about GEO programs. For the first time people started watching news with interest as they knew that GEO will be neutral.

And after that in the next 5 years Private Sector has really worked hard to gain strong position in market. Today according the latest surveys Talk Shows, News, Debates and discussions on current political conditions are more popular then Dramas or musical shows. The major reason which I see as the reason for the popularity of News Channels is the updates, neutral news, hard talk with every politician and responsible guy for any dispute and the ability of fueling the fire. In the past PTV played the role of literally a DOG of government always putting news in favor of government. Many times the major updates and news of opposition of those times (no matter even if the opposition had biggest political leaders of the country) never use to get a place in PTV news. Things like that kept Pakistani people away from news and talk shows for a long time. But as Private sector entered the market with the aim of providing exact news and updates to people, they started getting attract towards news channels.
The biggest proof of popularity of news channels is that the last 5 channels which started their transmission, from those 3 are news channels and are listed in “A” category of channels where as the other 2 are entertainment channels but belong to “C” category.

I am happy that that the news channels are gaining popularity and are educating people at-least up to the level where people can understand International Politics

Note: The incidents told in the blog related to US policies against Iraq and Indian Embassy attacks in Afghanistan are not mentioned due to any personal feeling. They are just the conclusions which have been drawn by TV Channels.

Internet! Key to the treasure of Learning Filmmaking

2008-08-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

Hi friends .The topic might be confusing for you that how internet is the key to the treasure of filmmaking? OK, I will tell you the two important points linked with internet which really are the key to learn filmmaking and that’s why I call internet the key to the treasure of learning filmmaking. Before telling about those two points I would like to tell you about me because internet has played a vital role in guiding me a lot about all the aspects of filmmaking.

I belong to the middle class of Pakistan. When the passion for filmmaking arose in my heart I started searching for filmmaking academies and universities. But that was the time when TV medium was just beginning to gain boom so there were no academies and institutes teaching filmmaking. It was a hard time. There were not even books available on the topic of “Filmmaking”. I searched on Amazon and found that there are book available on filmmaking but the prices are like 20 or 30 US dollars. It might be a small amount for US citizens but in Pakistan 30 dollars mean 1800 PKR(at that time 1 US Dollar was = 60 PKR). Now this is a big amount for a student. So I had only one way. And that was to meet Pro filmmaker on social networking sites and to learn more and more from them. The first social networking site I got connected with was http://www.orkut.com/. There are many filmmaking communities which I joined and started learning from them. Soon I got the web links of two great filmmaking forums. They were

1) http://www.indietalk.com/
2) http://www.filmmaking.net/

Both the sites have great professionals as members and they are always ready to help out. This was the first point I want to mention. Yes! Social networking on internet was the first point which helped me a lot in gaining lot of knowledge.

Now comes the second point. That was the free e-books which I got by nearly digging the whole e-books sites. I hate majority of the so-called free e-books sites. Because while searching they all used to say free e-books but when I visited them they had no e-books related to filmmaking or they used to ask for money which obviously I never had (in-fact which I still don’t have). But one day I got a site from which I got some great filmmaking e-books completely free of cost. And I downloaded all of them. It is really hard to find free e-books related to this topic but I was lucky enough to get these books.

I know filmmaking is something which helps more when done practically, but if you don’t have academies or training institutes in your area or if you cannot afford them then at-least you can learn a lot about major aspects of filmmaking by reading these books. So I believe this is the second point of internet which is a key to the treasure to learn filmmaking. I will always be thankful to the inventors of internet for providing us the blessing of internet due to which I got able to contact some great people (Filmmakers) and got around 10 free e-books, which if I had purchased would have cost me around 10,000 PKR

Thanks to Internet

NOTE: If you want to get any e-book (free of cost obviously) mention the topic under this post on comments with the topic name. Suppose if you want e-book on scriptwriting then post it in the comments with your email address. For every topic post the topic name separately.

4 Funny Mistakes of Pakistan’s Action Movies.

2008-08-06T23:44:00.000-07:00

The most funny thing which our filmmakers do is that when the leading character (HERO) of the film has a rifle in his hand and as he start shooting the bad boys, the voice coming out of rifle is not of a rifle but gun.

Second funny mistake made by our filmmakers is that when the HERO is surrounded by bad boys having guns in their hands and the HERO has only one Gun (or a rifle) he moves round and round killing every one but none of the bad boys fire him

Third funny mistake is that in the climax HERO gets hit by hundreds of bullets but still doesn’t die where as the villain dies on the first bullet ! …..(lolz)

The fourth funny mistake is that while fighting with the villain when the HERO punches the villain the hand touches the body of villain first and the sound comes after at-least 10 seconds, and some times the voice comes even before the punch has been punched

If you are really interested in watching some senseless thing in your spare time , Pakistani action movies can be the best choice.

Vulgarity in Lolly-wood Films !

2008-08-02T04:50:00.000-07:00

Once there was a time when Pakistani Cinema Industry was producing great movies and we were surprisingly getting copied by the famous Bolly-wood. I remember there was a movie which was copied 100%. Even the shots and camera angles were same. The interesting thing was that the lead role (female) played by Salma Agha in Pakistani movie was again offered to her in Bolly-wood movie too. At-last even we can say Bolly-wood copied us :d.

But after few decades when we had to suffer from Marshal Law of General Zia the industry nearly died. Experienced filmmakers and financers started getting on one side quietly. After the death of General Zia the industry had a chance to get on its feet. But this time the entrance was not of pro filmmakers but people who had black money and who wanted to convert it into white money. Sadly film like “MAULA JUT” got success at box office which was the beginning of the end. Along with these type of movies started coming vulgarity as an important part. The laws made by Zia were not Islamic but were more of a sick conservative extremist. The reason for what i call him sick is that he implemented Islamic laws which were only for the public. If he was honest enough he would have first admitted himself for a criminal trial. Well putting this issue aside and coming towards the vulgarity, as he died and corrupt people got a chance to invest in film industry they created their own mind that due to hard restriction on sex and other element related to sex and nudity people are dying to experience sex and nudity. So to satisfy them the best option is to make films full of vulgarity. Readers might think that they could have made Blue films! well the answer is simple. Pakistan’s culture (and public) would have never allowed them to do so. And that how they started bringing top class vulgarity in the movies. This was completely a wrong thinking set in the minds of investors. Though there was a small market for this sort of stuff but as a whole then general public was getting more and more away from the films. The element of vulgarity also gave the way to female prostitutes to enter the film market. And prostitutes started coming to Lahore from not only Lahore itself but also from Faisal-a-bad, Multan, Gujranwala and Peshawar. They had easy access to the film industry by just satisfying the physical need of the investors and not bothering about the most important issue that do they have any acting skills or not? The entrance of these sort of people gave more and more rise to vulgarity. As a result intelligent filmmakers and producers started shifting towards TV medium which has always been considered more respectable medium in Pakistan.

If we look at the movies which do business (or i should say used to do business) they all were (and are) movies without vulgarity and targeting the whole families as we believe in family or joint family system and have a conservative culture. None of the films having nudity and vulgarity have gained success in Pakistan. If we draw a conclusion then we can say that Pakistani people love family stories and love stories with good music.

The current situation is interesting because the so-called filmmakers are making movies with lot of vulgarity and all of them are getting failed on box office. Don’t know why they are not learning from the mistakes. On the other hand the satisfying thing is that people are getting more and more interested in good films. Any filmmaker with a good story is more then sure that people will like his movie as they are dying to see something good in cinemas. The examples can be films like “Khule Asmaan Ke Neeche” and “Yeh Dil Aap Ka Huaa” by Javed Sheikh, “Ram Chand Pakistani” by Mehreen Jabbar and “Koi Tugh Sa Kahan” by Reema Khan

So the market is still open for good filmmakers !

Failure of Bollywood Movies in Pakistan !

2008-07-22T03:19:00.000-07:00

Due to the failure of several Pakistani Films and entrance of non-professional filmmakers and financers Pakistani Film Industry suffered for around 15 years. Yes Lollywood haven’t seen a good financial year for last 15 years. Success of a movie or two has been the only results we got after making many movies. And then a time came when there were literally lock on the studio door. Cinema Houses were beginning to change into shopping malls (they are still turning to malls). After looking all this a group made a plan which was not new but was not currently active in Pakistan for several years. The idea was simple , and it was to bring Indian movies again in Pakistan and show then cinemas ! It looked a great idea. On the other hand there was also a group which (due to patriotism) never wanted Indian films to get released in Pakistan. Though the government made some foolish policies like no Indian movie will be released without a Pakistani financer and no Indian movie will be released with complete shooting in India (fools Paradise).

The group which was against the release of Indian movies had people like SHAN (the biggest Film Star of Pakistan) Yousuf Khan(X-Chairman of Censor Board) and on the other hand the group in favor of Indian movies had powerful people like film distributors and cinema owners. The truth is that money has more power than anything. After long quarrel the group in favor of Bolly-wood movies won and in 2006 released the old great classic of Bolly-wood “MUGHL-E-AZAM”. The movie had been changed from black and white to color and still did good business in India. Pakistani group was expecting this movie to be a big hit in Pakistan too but it was wrapped up more quickly than it was released. Instead of this a Pakistani movie did more great business in Pakistan. Experts still believe that due to the piracy the movie had been shown to every film lover in Pakistan and being a very old movie it got flop. The next turn was again of a big (in terms of investment) movie “TAJ MAHAL”. Having a story of old period it was a big flop even in INDIA. From that day lot of Indian films have been released in Pakistan but the result have been confusing. Every film released in Pakistan has already been showed up by local cable operators but few film have done good business.

Till now 17 Indian films have been released in Pakistan from which only 5 have been able to make some business. The film earning highest revenue from Pakistan is “AWAARAPAN” which according to some newspapers have earned 2 Billion(PKR) and according to some its revenue has been 1.5 Billion(PKR). From which a local cinema NISHAT Cinema had a share of 25 lacks.

The confusing thing about Pakistani market is that all the movies released in Pakistan were already released on CDs and DVDs then why out of 17 only 5 were able to make good business? The recent news is that Pakistani importers have gained a loss of around 70 Billion PKR by importing Bolly-wood movies which were either flop or didn’t got the permission to get released in Pakistan(may be no bribe was offered to the censor board J). This is a big amount and if the financers would have showed some patriotism and intelligence Pakistan could have been able to make some good movies !

Alas ! Pakistan did it…

2008-07-19T04:45:00.000-07:00

After a long time there is a good news from Pakistan film industry। Pakistan television’s famous director Mehreen Jabbar has come up with a great movie which can no doubt be ranked as a movie of international quality in terms of story and technicalities. The story revolves around a small Hindu boy Ramchand who lives in a village of Pakistan near PAK-INDIA border. He by mistake crosses the border and now the struggle of a family starts. Weather the family gets together or not that is still suspense as the movies is not yet released. It will soon get released this year.

The important notes about the film are:

1) The film has been completely shot on HD F900 Cinealta and this is the first time any Pakistani movies has been made on HD
2) The film has been selected for the Tribeca Film Festival 2008, New York.
3) The film has been selected for the Rhode Island International Film Festival
4) The filmmaker Mehreen Jabbar has taken help of cinematographer SOPHIAN KHAN who is the founder of NEWYORK based production house Capital K Pictures
5) One of the most expensive film of Pakistan’s cinema history. The estimated budget is $ 600,000/-.(Though 600,000 looks a small amount but looking in the scenario of Pakistani cinema industry and the currency difference it becomes a big amount, and a big risk too)
6) Film’s Media Partner is the Number 1 Satellite TV channel of Pakistan GEO TV CHANNEL

After a long time Pakistani cinema one after the other has released two films which are capable of getting worldwide release

You can get more info about the film from
http://www.ramchandpakistani.com

I will personally suggest all the readers to must visit the crew link of the site where you will find some shocking information like of Associate Producer who in the team of Mighty Heart (sounds great) etc.

Fresh Breath for Pakistani Cinema Industry

2008-07-11T23:57:00.000-07:00

At-last Pakistan Film Industry got a chance to breath, and breath well। The movie Khulay Aaman Ke Neeche (KAKN) got released after a long period of 6 years. The film is produced and directed by Javed Sheikh, the famous actor of lollywood. The last super hit film made by director producer JAVED SHEIKH was Yeh DIL App ka Huaa which was also a big hit .

First of all talking about the Director/Producer Javed Sheikh. He has become a more popular personality in subcontinent after working in super hit movie of Bollywood “Om Shanti Om” in which he played the role of the father of King Khan. Javed Sheikh is always ranked as a top class actor in Pakistan having the abilities like determination and hard working (which you will not find easily in many Pakistani filmmakers these days). He is also known as an intelligent businessman. That is the reason he got able to make the most expensive film of Pakistan’s film history. Javed Sheikh has smartly worked on marketing strategy of the film, making the largest film posters of KAKN in Pakistani cinema history. The posters are placed all over the big cities of Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore, and Faisal-abad etc. Other then the marketing strategies he is also backed up by Star Cast having acrots like Nadeem (the super star of olden days) saleem sheikh (brother of Javed Sheikh) Humayun Saeed(the leading TV star of Pakistan also playing the lead role in the movie)and Sana(Leading actress) along with Meera and Javed Sheikh himself.

Javed Sheikh

Nadeem

Sana

Coming towards the movie itself, it’s a typical Pakistani love story having emotions, family relations etc। The film is well equipped by music of Late Amjad Boby along with Jeet Ganguly। Technically well made and every shot is is a result of hard work. The film is working exceptionally well on box office getting booked in advance and people are still coming to see the movie. The most interesting thing is that recently released indian movie “Love Story 2050” was even failed to stand against KAKN. Which made the statement correct that if a good Pakistani film is made, Pakistani people will prefer it on any other movie.

The film is being showed in reputable cinemas of Karachi and lahore (where the environment is much better than the cinemas of other cities). And expectations are that this film will give tough time to the next big movie of Pakistan “RAM CHAND PAKISTANI”

Think big

2008-07-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

‘Four years ago, if you had a video and you wanted people to see it, you had to invite them
all over to your house for a beer. With the web, it’s possible to produce a movie with almost
no budget and get a million people to watch it.’
David Trescot, group product manager at Adobe, giving his view
about the ease with which you can now go out and make movies
There is no doubt that with a camcorder and an Internet connection you have one of the most powerful
tools for communicating. If you have the energy and the will you can shoot a short movie on any
subject, in your own unique style, show it to a global audience, and promote and advertise it yourself.
You are more in control of the filmmaking process than any previous generation, and furthermore have
less need for the established industry than ever before. Changes to the film industry as entertainment
and as an art form are here to stay, and simply by possessing an Internet connection, a camcorder and
basic editing software you are a part of it.
This is a great opportunity, but you may now be getting a sense of the problem that goes with it.
Although inspiring, for many this is daunting. As the spotlight moves your way the need to have developed
yourself as a filmmaker is profound; you need to find out what kind of films you make, how to come
up with ideas good enough to film and how to get the knowledge that makes other people take you seriously.
Your only obligation is to stand out from the crowd, do your own thing, don’t emulate what
everyone else is doing when the whole world starts making movies. Take advantage of this moment
and start getting to know what it is that a movie by you looks like.
This isn’t a new phenomenon even if the technology is in its infancy. Some of the finest directors have
started their careers making films on no budgets, with no help from big studios. David Lynch made the
classic film Eraserhead (1976) at weekends over a number of years while holding down a day job; within
five years of its release he was being offered the chance to direct Return of the Jedi. George Romero made
his seminal zombie film Night of the Living Dead (1969) with almost no funds, relying on the commitment
of friends willing to be part-time zombies, but without being paid. Robert Rodriguez went from
making a film with a borrowed camera – El Mariachi (1992) – to making hit films such as From Dusk Till
Dawn (1995) and Spy Kids (2001)।

The difference for today’s filmmakers is that you can go further. Not only can you get hold of good
cameras capable of broadcast quality images, but you can edit these films at home without having to
endure the budget-crippling prices of the rent-by-the-hour edit unit. When it’s finished you can show
it on one of the many web cinemas, short film festivals or TV access slots. The potential is there to
place your short movies in millions of homes around the world.
Digital video has affected the independent, low-budget filmmaker more than any other part of the film
industry. These self-financing, ultra-resourceful people would make movies whatever it cost them and
however long it takes. But it is now a realistic aim to say that you want to make movies and do so without
mortgaging your soul. All you need is a camcorder, a computer, a limitless imagination and the
desire to tell it your way.

PAKISTAN! THE VICTIM OF PIRACY

2008-06-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

The rapid growth of technology has brought lot of comfort to people in nearly every department of life। No matter it is their personal life, social life or working life। The technology has luckily made people like us also to dream of making a film. Thanks to the Modern Technology (digital cameras and editing systems)for encouraging us to see this dream, and thanks to movies like “CLERKS” to make us believe more and more that our dream can come true.
Though everything related to filmmaking is fascinating except for one………Piracy ! The activity which has not only troubled low/no budget filmmaker but even to big studios and huge production houses। And Pakistan film industry is one of the most severe victims of piracy. Pakistan is ranked at the top 3 countries involved in piracy. I have forgotten the other two names but I remembered the name of Pakistan.

Being neighbor of India and having nearly the same language Pakistani people has always been FAN of Indian movies. In the year 1965 when Indian movies were banned in Pakistan due to the war of 1965, people started smuggling it through the borders. This was the time when VCR was a new discovery. At that time even Pakistani movies were doing business up-to some extent but the results of foolish cencor ship policies of General Zia had started to occur. That was the time when the quality of Pakistani movies had started declining. Because of smuggled Indian movies with more quality(in terms of script, direction, and production) people started preferring to stay at home and rent out video castes instead of going to cinema houses to watch Pakistani movies.
And then came the era of Computers and everything got Digital। Computers got more and more cheaper day by day. CDs and DVDs were easily available on stores. The price of CDs these days is RS 30/- (Nearly less then a half US DOLLAR) and for DVDs is RS/- 90(Something around 1.5 US DOLLARS). Rainbow centre in Karachi is the biggest market of pirated CDs and DVDs. How much piracy is active in Pakistan? You can judge yourself by an example. When I visited rainbow centre 2 weeks after the release of SHREK 3 and SPIDERMAN 3 they both were available for sale (though I didn’t purchased them as I don’t have interest in movies with lot of post production work and animation involved). It was really shocking for me. The above example was just to tell you about how active piracy in Pakistan is. Hollywood is a little luckier than compared to Bollywood. Because people over here are not educated neither they have the skills to understand English. So majority of the movies released via piracy are just kept in showcases.

But the Indian movies as soon released in India are also releases in Pakistan on DVDs and CDs. The local cable networks purchase them and show them on cable. It results as any Pakistani movie released in Pakistan doesn’t gets the attention which it should have received. A question here arises that why Pakistan’s government do not take any action against these people. Well there are two reasons. First that these shops in RAINBOW centre belong to high ranked government officials. Secondly these people also provide all sort of software including all the operating systems. If the government bans the piracy, the education of software engineering will rise a lot as nearly new university/college/school is able to purchase the original softwares. Pakistan’s literacy rate is already very low. So any ban will influence the education system too.
I personally believe piracy isn’t right as it ruins the hard-work of filmmakers secondly due to piracy even Pakistani movies are not getting any attention as a result majority of the cinemas are closed, staff of cinema houses is getting unemployed.

Mouthing Pictures

2008-06-21T22:43:00.000-07:00

Friends sometimes pictures really make you laugh। I will try to make a collection of pictures like this on my blog. Till then have a look at these funny pictures

ESEEL WORLD MAI REHOONGA MAIN…।GHAR NAHI JAONGAA MAIN

Delicious

Let’s see which one of us win ?

Mom what’s cooking today?

Who’s coming with me to arrest Usama bin Laden !

Nasha yeh pyaar ka nashaa hai ! yeh meri baat yaar maano

Is India Really Interested in Joint Ventures with Pakistan?

2008-06-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

In the modern world Indian cinema industry is considered as the biggest film industry of the world। Though the Hollywood people might not accept it but it is true that Bollywood release the highest number of movies in a year। More over they have the biggest number of viewership in the whole world। Interestingly Hollywood has also started investing in bollywood movies। The recent example is of Sanwariya। But over here i am not talking about HOLLYWOOD + BOLLYWOOD। Over here the topic is Is India Really Interested in Joint Ventures with Pakistan?।

I see many Pakistani Filmmakers who are very much willing for the joint ventures between Pak-India। But the question here arises is India really interested in joint ventures???
Being a fan and neighbour of Bollywood i have a strict eye on Indian Filmmakers। And i have never seen any reliable Indian filmmaker really talking about joint ventures with Pakistan। Though the King maker of Bollywood Yash Chopra once said there should be joint ventures between Pakistan and India, but that was just an statement।

The only Filmmaker who has really shown some interest is Mahesh Bhutt. But i will not even call those films a real joint ventures. He just picked a female star Meera for his few films(peoples say Meera herself financed the movies) and he took a couple of Pakistani playback singers for his movies. I personally don’t think this is called joint ventures. May be these were just the tactics by Mahesh Bhutt to release his films in Pakistan as according to Pakistani law no Indian film without Pakistani people are Pakistani finance(even a small portion of finance) can be released in Pakistan. So he was left out with only one option to take a singer or actress for his movie. Another stunt (intelligent people say it was an stunt) which he played was that he hired a person named sohail khan and when ever a film by Mahesh Bhutt is released Sohail Khan is named as a co-producer. But the newspapers have revealed a secret that when the same film is released in India there is no name of Sohail khan as a co-producer. Isnt it s
hocking? ........amazing?......surprizing?.......suspected?............If Sohail Khan is a co-producer then why isn’t his name shown on the films which are released in India? WE can’t even say that India has media rules like of Pakistan that no film with Pakistani financer can be released in India?
I personally believe India is not interested in joint ventures with Pakistan. It is only Pakistani Filmmakers who are running after India and begging for joint ventures

SHOOTING SPOTS IN PAKISTAN

2008-06-16T06:43:00.001-07:00

Pakistan has been one of the luckiest countries when it comes to natural beauty। In-fact i was surprised when a tourist who has visited SWITZERLAND also said Pakistan is more better in natural beauty than SWITZERLAND। But when i started searching i really had to say yes this is the HEAVEN on Earth.

These places have not been captured in Film Cameras in a the way they should have been. The only reason is lack of technical knowledge and facilities. But i am sure when ever i will plan my first romantic movie i will surely capture the beauty of this piece of Heaven in my CAM।

Though filmmakers coming from abroad will have problems like language problem, lack of good hotels and stay etc etc....but that is for sure they will really enjoy shooting here। The locations are ideal for romantic films and for filmmakers who are willing to show natural beauty in their movies.

The famous places for visit (and shoots) are Kaghan, Kalaam, Jheel Saif-ul-Maluk, Sawat and many more. And you will find the people also friendly here.

I think this can be a great place for Filmmaker’s Honeymoon too........... :+)

3D ANIMATION ! THE GRWOING INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN

2008-06-13T08:17:00.001-07:00

3-D Animation industry is more than a billion Dollar industry all over the world. specially Philippine and Korea are highly preferred countries. But now a days even India and Pakistan are growing immensely. Though India is more advance but is also more expensive then Pakistan. I will not compare Pakistan and India. The reason is i am myself not sure which is more better. These days i have heard that India (Yash Raj Films) is planning a movie with collaboration of PIXAR. But at the same time Pakistan (Post Amazer) has already worked on an international project of 3-D animation on the movie Son of Mask ।

More over Pakistan’s top class animator Mukeem Khan has also worked on international project of FINAL FANTASY। So the good thing is that we have showed that we have the potential to work at and for international market। But over here i will be talking about the local industry.

In the last few years media industry has got a great boom. And so the advertising field too. Lots of animation and quality post production work has at-least brought us at a level where we can easily compete the Asian market. The reason i am not talking about the whole world is that we are still far back in creating concepts. The reason for it is that nearly all the companies when comes too Ad agencies they believe Pakistan is still a country on un-educated people who cant understand the indirect concepts of Ads (I think they are living in the fool’s Heaven)

Coming back towards 3-d animation we have production houses like Post Amazer, Sharp Image and H2O who have really worked well. Pakistan is lucky to have training institute like Arena Multimedia which has some high profiled teachers, And many quality students have come out from this institute. Though the Pakistani animators in general are not experts but the reason for it is that no production house has dared to enter into animated filmmaking, neither we have the best machines available for rendering.

But many animators believe that some day they will launch there own animated movie. Though the speed is slow but after all slow and steady winds the race.

I CAN SETUP MY OWN DISTRIBUTION COMPANY ?

2008-06-08T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last night when i was on my bed and was dreaming about making Dollars (Hey guys believe me i am the best day dreamer in the world............lolzz) from my low budget movies suddenly a point stuck in my mind about the distribution issue. As we all know that the job of distributors is to promote filmmaker’s movie doing advertising, making more film copies and deducting 35% of gross revenue straight away without thinking of poor filmmakers (Like me). Though i don’t have any detailed information about the percentage of distributors but still i have heard from many friends that the percentage is too high.
So one thing which hit my mind that why cant we setup our own distribution company?????
Though there was a time when expenses were high . Specially the cost of making copies of film. But now everything is going digital. Thanks to the technology. The biggest expense is cut off straight away. Many theatres these days are getting digital projection too. So don’t you people think it is very much easier to do the distribution?.
Now comes another question how to make a marketing and promotion plan?? Specially with low budget? Well this is the question of which i completely have no answer. Except for one foolish trick and that is:

Brain storming. Well if i have no or small amount of money i will do brain storming with my friends. I will also like to take help from university friends which are doing specialization in Marketing. Friends can always be helpful.

Though the profits might be lower if we distribute our self but still all will be our and no distributor will be exploiting us. Just what we need is a marketing GURU. More over you have a chance to make friends at many filmmaking forums where you can find very friendly and nice people. Like www.indietalk.com, www.filmmaking.net, www.allthingszombie.com (For horror movies)
People here are very friendly and can support a lot in making a marketing and promotion strategy.

RED ONE ! MY FIRST LOVE

2008-06-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of years back i was not very knowledgeable about cameras. The only thing about cams i knew was that HD’s resolution and the issues of transferring it to Film. The one day whiles reading about filmmaking in one of the leading newspapers of Pakistan i came to know about RED ONE. I soon started my PC and searched about RED ONE. The first thing which attracted me was the colour combination of RED ONE site. Black and Red combination is my favourite. I soon started looking the pictures of RED ONE and it was really great. And it is technically awesome .You can easily get the technical details at http://www.red.com/cameras/tech_specs। I really believe it has become my first love for filmmaking।
The good thing about RED ONE is that its resolution is 4k which will help the young filmmakers to get rid of issues like transferring of HD footage to Film। Though it will create a problem that indie filmmakers will not be capable of editing their footage at normal PC but still the GLAMOUR of RED ONE will take over all the worries। That’s what i think. I am just looking for that lucky day when i will get RED ONE in my hands

PAKISTAN ! The hidden Gold Mine for Western Filmmakers

2008-06-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

Pakistan is ranked as a third world country in international world having a very very bad reputation। More over we are also gifted with the presents like sue-side bombing (Thanks to GOD they have stopped from last few months), war in northern areas with Taliban and many more issues. I will not say that my country is a piece of heaven on earth. But even it is true that the general public here is very loving and friendly with the people coming from abroad. Even we live our life like the people in US or UK or CANADA live. Though there are some differences which can be taken into account on the basis of culture, custom and traditions but as human beings even we are the same.

The reason to write all this is to tell you that any foreigner coming to Pakistan will not really face the conditions which are normally shown in Western Media. Hats Off to them.
At the current stage if we look at the Film Industry of Pakistan it is really a Gold mine for every filmmaker including the western filmmakers. The reason because of which i am talking about Western Filmmakers is that they have the advantage of currency and modern technology.
Before moving forward i would like to mention that here i am not talking about indie filmmakers। I am talking about normal filmmakers who should have at-least around 50k US dollars with their own HD camera and great grip on lighting department. The amount of 50K US Dollars will easily convert into around 30 to 32 lacks PKR. The amount might look low but still you can easily complete a great movie on digital format and can get a huge market of not only Pakistan but also India, UAE, UK and CANDA.

Normally the high costs of a movie are the result of casting big STAR in a movie। But interestingly in Pakistan the top most Hero is taking around 7 to 10 lacks and he is the only one to get this amount. The second biggest star is taking lower then 5 lacks. In case of casting some one from TV will really make your cost very low. If you will search out on internet you will found not a single name as a star of Pakistan. By which you might think that here is a lack of good and quality actors. But that’s not the truth. Recently a top Pakistani TV actress for the first time worked with one of the best filmmakers of Pakistan and the film was released not only in Pakistan but also in India after around 30 years. The great thing is it was distributed by SONY PICTURES. The name of the Film is KHUDA KE LIE (IN THE NAME OF GOD.) So this shows that at-least we have the potential. The only thing we are missing is a great filmmaker with finance. Because the majority of the financers of Pakistan are not willing to invest due to the poor condition of Pakistani Film industry. May be they are not that much confident nor they have the knowledge of digital filmmaking which will decrease the costs. More over they even don’t have the knowledge of modern film business like pre-selling and any other business plans. One major reason of their lack of confidence is the piracy of Indian movies but it has been proved wrong. When ever a good Pakistani film has been released it has done business and people have gone to cinema houses to watch that movie. In the last few years sadly we have made around 7 quality films and all those have earned revenue (and profits too). Few of them have also been released in other countries like KHUDA KE LIE in India, three local language films in UAE. I don’t the about the rest of them.

So how do Pakistan is a Gold Mine for Western Filmmakers???

The first thing a budget of PKR 25 lacks will be enough for the filmmakers to complete the movie on digital format. They can also get the market of India plus Pakistanis living in UK, US, CANADA and UAE. Due to the absent of quality films and filmmakers the market is completely open for any one who has even little mind. So any good film with high technology will definitely force people to come to CINEMA HOUSES as they are seriously willing to come to cinema.
The filmmakers might think they will have a communication problem with Pakistani people। Well i don’t think so. Hiring actors from TV medium will not cause a problem because they are well educated and can communicate easily in English. And even i will suggest you if you have any plan to make a movie in Pakistan then go with actors and actresses from TV medium. You will just need one extra person in the crew who can communicate well between you and the crew like light-man, spot boys etc.

I personally feel any market where transferring of the currency results as 1(US dollar) = 65(PKR), where there is no competition at the local level because of fear of failure, the costs are low, and people are willing to buy a quality product(meaning willing to go cinema to watch a good movie) is really a gold mine.

I request you after reading this post do take part in the poll and tell weather YOU think PAKISTAN IS A GOLD MINE FOR WESTERN FILMMAKERS or not?????

REGARDS

The 3 Steps are

2008-05-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Hi friends! i am back again with 3 very simple steps to bring a boom in Pakistani film industry or any other industry. I normally see at-least one programmes every week where the fools (Pakistani Filmmakers) are roaming here and there giving there own ideas(hey don’t think i am one of them) and there ideas are something with very high budget and need along time to show positive results. Well what can be the three most easy steps to bring a boom in Pakistani Film Industry?

The First Step
Well the first and the most important step can only be taken by the government. As some fools always speak that the government should make labs and bring new technology in the film industry which is nearly impossible. No government will invest in an industry with so high risk. But they can do one thing.................Yes they can make the industry TAX FREE for 5 years. They should not apply taxes to people and business related to film industry. If a person wants to make his own cinema house free him from giving tax of property, free from income tax, all the equipments which he is bringing from abroad should be tax free to so that private investors can come and invest in establishing more and more cinema houses. All the cinema owners earning from every movie which is completely financed by a Pakistani and made in Pakistan with completely Pakistani crew will be tax free. But if any film taking any help from foreign will be not tax free. This step and application of law will force the people to make a complete Pakistani movie. We will be able to extract maximum talenet from our country
Every person who is working in the movie or for the movie as an actor, writer, film-maker, video editors, even spot boys should be given relaxation in income tax for 5 years. In a country like Pakistan where inflation rate increases on daily basis a step like this will boost up the people to invest more and more in the film industry.

Second Step

The second step is again very easy and the step can be taken by the government (well don’t count me in the list of fools who are always speaking about financing from government i am just talking about helping in legislation). The government can pass a law according to which every super market in the country would be bound to make at-least one cinema or a multiplex cinema in its market. And the cinema houses should not only have the facility to show films which are on Film Reel but also a setup of showing films which are on digital format. We all know making a movie on digital format will straight away bring the cost from sky to earth. Now a days normally a movie with best technical implementation costs around 2 to 4 Crores, which is a big amount. By using Digital technology we will be able to make a great movie within few lack. Even the BEST CAM the RED one is of US 4 to7k. And 1k is equals to 70,000. So buying a RED ONE for once will make a great asset for you and will at-least cost you a lot more cheaper then making a movie in crores. The other advantage will be that even new filmmakers who are more then willing to make a movie but afraid that where they will sell it out, even they will like to take a chance as they will have the facility and advantege to show their movie on digital format.

Third Step

Third step again will have to be taken by the Government (looks like our government has shown real poor performance. That’s why they will have to make thing right them-self). They will have to stop piracy by implementing laws very strictly. Though the whole world is suffering from it but Pakistan have been the most unluckiest. The reason is that we have got India in our neighbour. The language of Pakistan and India is nearly the same and we both understand each other’s language very easily. So the new films get released in India, a copy is placed in Pakistan. And the Pakistani people easily see that movie on cable by giving only Rs 250/- for the whole month. So any film released by a Pakistani filmmaker do not attracts people to come to cinema.

By taking these 3 steps Pakistan’s Film Industry will surly see a boom and more and more investors and audience will get attracted towards Pakistani cinema.

3 Easy Steps to bring Boom in Pakistani Film Industry

2008-05-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

Pakistan’s economical, political and social conditions have not been good from last 5 or 6 years and this situation has damaged every field of Pakistan. But Pakistan’s film industry is suffering from not last 5 or 6 years but for last 10 years. If we see the last 10 years there are not even 10 films which have done huge business on box office. Pakistan’s film industry which is named Lolly-wood has really made lolly pops in the last 10 years. The lack of good story, music, direction, technical strength and lack of professionals have nearly sunk the ship of Pakistani cinema. At the moment the topic is a hot cake and every one is looking at talking about it.
More over few Bollywood movies released in Pakistan have divided people into 3 groups. All the 3 groups have their own interesting thoughts on which a sensible person can only laugh

One group says that Pakistan and India should exchange films on basis of equality. If we release one Indian movie in Pakistan then even India should release one Pakistani movie in India. The statement is really a great pass time joke. The first question arises is that Pakistani filmmaker are unable to bring Pakistani audience at cinema houses, how will they attract Indian audience for their movies?? Indian audience is already having a problem to select a movie on their weekends as there are plenty of movies releasing every day so from where they will take out time for Pakistan’s foolish presentations???
The other group is more interesting. They say the government should set laboratories and bring new and state of the art technology to support filmmakers of Pakistan. The question here arises is there and government in the world setting labs and bringing the modern technology itself in the country??? Lets say for the sake of discussion even if the Pakistani government agrees then do our filmmakers have the ability to use that modern technology???????? I am sure the answer is a BIG NO.
Third group has at-least a better option. They are emphasizing on joint production. But still i personally don’t take it as a respect-full way. We have the potential to bring Pakistani Film Industry up-to a higher level without the help of any other country. So why don’t trust our own abilities?

There are steps if taken, they can bring a boom in the market. What are these 3 steps
I will post it in next couple of days.

Pre-caution Before You start your indie Movie

2008-05-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

Filmmaking has never been an easy task. And when its an Indie filmmaking then the job becomes more hard as your resources are limited, the actors might not get serious as they are not getting paid (at-least in starting of the project).You also have to keep one thing in mind that you have no money. Many experts might say indie filmmaking doesn’t mean no money, but i believe when you say indie movies think of no money in your pocket. This will help you to make you plans more perfect and will also help in saving and utilizing your money in a better way.
Remember one thing when ever you are starting a indie film project follow the rule of
‘’ Don’t think of money, Borrow everything’’
This rule will help you in not only saving lot of money but also in achieving your targets in abetter way. Because if you will vbe taking out money every time for everything the soon you will have to stop your project. Other then that talk to your actors that you will pay them if you get something in return. Do make a contract with every one involved in the project if you dont want to see the face of court after your project has finished.
After the script has completed the most important step which professional filmmakers take is the story board which is something i realy hate. I am not a good artist neither i have any real interest in making idiot and cartoonish pics on paper and waste the expensive paper :d. So what can be the best option if you are not willing to make storyboard? Simple go at the location a day before and start visualising everything in your brain(Do keep almonds in your pocket for strong memmory).Decide your camera angles, camera moves and shots on that same day before shoots.
The other important thing which you can do and you should do is held a meeting just befor the day of shoot with the whole crew to make things clear again. Rehalsals with actors is a very important element too.
When on shoot behave like leaders. Dont follow your crew, make your crew follow you.
The last and the most important thing ‘’ Be prepared for anything wrong’’. I have personally experienced it when i was making my short film i use to make a complete plan and fortunately i had a friend with me too who was just like my shadow in every step of project but still we always had something going wrong. Some times minor problems and sometimes major problems. So be prepared for any news, minor like......the batteries of your CAM are not charged, mini Dv are left at home (if using a Cam which requires it) or may be the major problems like the heroin of your movie is pregnant by the hero of your movie, or may be your best friend who was about to assist you is in the hospital

These are the few tips which can help you।

Regards

Script Writing for Indie Movies

2008-05-22T06:18:00.000-07:00

Writing has always been a feast for creative people. We writers enjoy writing the way a glutton person loves to eat all the time. It always gives satisfaction to make your own characters. Giving them specific nature, attitude, way of speaking, and putting them in different sort of situations is a great source of satisfaction and joy.

It becomes more interesting (and challenging too) when we are writing for an indie movie. We all know that indie movies are almost of no budget so thinking of any science fiction stories , or some great action is almost impossible. It is considered a general rule to make a great movie, a great script is required. But for making an indie movie the good script is not enough. A lot more becomes the demand of a filmmaker from scriptwriter(if the filmmaker himself is not a scriptwriter).

We have to give a lot more importance to every thing like characters, locations, situations created in the movie and we always feel tied by a rope.

For writing an indie movie script the most important thing you need is not an idea but first a list of resources available to you. So first of all sit down in a separate room take out a piece of paper and categorise it into four categories. List the names of friends which are sincere to you and willing to act. Remember one thing if a friend is not willing to act in you movie don’t doubt on his sincerity. Many people are camera shy. After that make a list of friends who have got any equipments related to filmmaking. A good quality CAM will be a jackpot for you. Then make a list of locations available to you free of cost. They should also be within the city so that you will save the money of vehicles and oil. Your and your friend’s home, Public parks, shopping centres (do not forget to check out if permission is necessary for shooting at these places) and the most important place, your school/college/university. The administration will love to help you.

After making a list now comes the main area of thinking. A concept or idea which can be turned into a movie later on. First of all decide which genre you will like to go for? Love stories, suspense thrillers, drama are the genres which do not need high investments in general. Where as a movie based on science fiction or special effects will at-least require a very high computer system to get something from it. But still the effects created by computer might not attract the normal public as they have already seen great Hollywood movies. So my personal advice will be to go with genre like love stories, drama, or suspense thriller.

While creating a concept remember to restrict your script by few things like

Lowest number of actors
Locations 1-3. Not more than that
If you are in a country like Pakistan where getting females for you movie is hard then try some new concepts other than love story.

Remember one thing a good script not necessarily requires females every time.
DO brain storming with your friends to generate a concept. If you are unable to create any concept then there is another great tip.

Create some interesting characters. Lets say a thief who is dumb, His partner who is deaf. Now you can move a little further when they both plan a robbery in....in a house?? Well a Bank would have been a better and a different idea than the normal movies, but getting a bank location is tough. So we can go with a house. And when they enter a house at night when the family is out they find a couple of more robbers (Oh this is really a nice idea developing). And interestingly one of them is blind and the other one is his brother and...... lets say is mentally retarded. See i just created the characters right now while typing and the concept is looking good at-least considering that i have created it just here while sitting on my PC.

You can also download CINERGY software for free by GOOGLE searching. It is a professional scriptwriting software.

Well my next post will be the most interesting as i will submit a post related to distribution of indie movie as it has been the most overseen issue. I personally have worked a lot on how to distribute my indie movie. And i will utilise that strategy for my first indie movies soon.

Regards

HEY the concept is a copy Right under the act of social norms and values. So don’t try to copy it