Downfall Of Pakistan Industry Film Studies Essay

Downfall Of Pakistan Industry Film Studies Essay Pakistan film industry started off as a mighty empire, industry of the chocolate heroes and exquisite heroines. This is known as the Golden era of the industry where cinemas were filled with audiences enjoying their local movies which would touch the sensitive issues of the society. The industry flourished, boomed and grew mightier every day. An article in LA times sums up the story of Pakistan film industry, In their heyday, theaters such as the Odeon had queues of Pakistanis snaking far beyond the box-office window and down Lahores bustling sidewalks. Moviegoers dressed in their snazziest salwar kameezes and arrived two hours before a showing to secure tickets. Today, Pakistani cinema has all but vanished, a victim of the VCR, cable television, President Muhammad Zia ul-Haqs Islamization of Pakistani society, and finally DVD piracy. In 1985, 1,100 movie houses operated in Pakistan; today, only 120 are in business. The few directors, producers and cinema owners often rely on second jobs to make ends meet (Rodriguez). The Islamization reforms introduced by the President Zia-up-Haq led to the deterioration of the industry and finally to its downfall. Stereotypical thinking, lack of Government finance and support, uneducated actors/actresses/writers/directors, lack of acting schools and production houses, and lately the introduction of the Indian movies in our local cinemas has closed down the industry completely. The role of cinemas in the downfall of the film industry also needs to be discussed. It highlights the willingness of cinema owners to show Indian and English movies in their cinemas. Although it might be argued that the cinemas have shown willingness to show Pakistanis movies as well. For example, the DHA cinema in Lahore is currently a Pakistani movie CHANNA SACCHI MUCHI, along with other Indian and Hollywood movies. Furthermore, several cinemas continue to show Pakistanis movies despite incurring losses but even this trend is changing as no cinema owner would continue to lose revenue by not showing Indian and English movies as also suggested by Jam Hussains article in The Nation newspaper, While the Pakistani films have vanished from the cinema, the screening of foreign movies is in full swing these days. Almost every cinema in the City including those located in the Northern Lahore and Walled City known for displaying Punjabi movies, has switched over to either Indian or English film. The cinema-owners are going for the foreign flicks after the Pakistani films failed to attract viewers in a sizable number to sustain the cinema industry. One of the reasons for the introduction of Indian movies in Pakistan was to bring back audience to the cinemas so as to ensure the survival of cinemas but the cinema owners, instead of screening both local and foreign films, are switching towards foreign films only which is effecting our film industry quite negatively. It is said that the downfall of the film industry started with the introduction Islamization policies indroduced by President Zia-ul-Haq. Advocates of General Zias regime argue that following the Bangladesh liberation war, the number of cinemas decreased rapidly and as political uncertainty took charge of the industry; filmmakers were asked to consider socio-political impacts of their films. So the film industry was already on decline but the imposition of new registration laws for film producers requiring to be degree holders, where not many of them held one, led to a steep decline in the workings of the industry, the forcible closure of most of the cinemas in Lahore by government and the introduction of new tax rates which further decreased cinema attendances is proof enough of the fact that the policies introduced by General Zia was a major blow to the film industry. There were other implications as well, according to the article How Pakistan Fell in Love with the Bollywood publis hed in Foreign Policy magazine by Anuj Chopra, General Zia-ul-Haqs Islamization policies resulted in the artificial split between Indian and Pakistani culture. Basically entertainment, particularly Indian entertainment, was labeled as fahashi (vulgar). Classical Indian music and dance were banned, and colleges were instructed to shut down their music societies. Sari, a Hindu garment, was banned, which according to him revealed too much of a womans body. Moreover, it has also been noted that in state TV programs, women playing negative roles were shown wearing Indian clothes (mainly saris), while the good ones were shown wearing salwar kameez(traditional Pakistani outfit) and a dupatta (a shawl covering the head). General Zias Islamization process was a huge setback to Pakistans film industry and it is still recovering from those setbacks as the process permanently changed the way people thought about films and the industry. The Pakistani movies have been stereotyped as bad and low quality and also that people with low standards come to these academies and work in this industry. It is commonly accepted that respectable people dont go to Pakistani cinema houses anymore, unless of course it is to watch a special screening of some Hollywood blockbuster (Minhas). It might be argued that people still watch and appreciate Pakistani movies and also that many people are entering this field with prospects of great future. Some of the many new talents that have entered the industry include names like: Fawad Khan, Imran Abbasi and Imaan Ali. Their acting in Khuda Key Liye, regarded as one of Pakistans best movie, was commendable. They are a source of inspiration for other individuals, especially those who are passionate about acting but feel that there is no future in it. However, a few exceptions cannot really account for the performance of the whole industry. Most of us are aware of the fact that a government can play a key role in promoting the film industry of a particular country. This notion obviously applies to Pakistan also, but the ill-fate of our country is such that the government has shown little interest in the development of this industry. The point is also backed by Amna Nasir Jamals article The Pakistani Film Industry Struggles to Survive in which she says that due to governments laxity in the past two decades, the film industry has deteriorated and most of the technical facilities have been closed. It is acknowledgeable that throughout Pakistans history most of the governments have been hesitant to promote the film industry because of the opposition from religious factions. What the government does not realize is that the film industry has a potential of playing an important role in portraying a better image of Pakistan. Recently, the government, under President Asif Ali Zardari, formed United Film Association of Pakistan ( UFAP) which aims to bring back the golden era of the film industry and also, according to the newspaper article Taxes Everywhere and Not a Film to Screen in The Express Tribune by Saadia Qamar, levied a 65 percent tax on the screening of foreign films in Punjab. These are positive steps and whether they will bear fruits or not, only the future can tell but what the industry really needs is economic and technical assistance which every government has failed to provide. It is argued that the introduction of Indian and Hollywood movies has provided a competitive base for Pakistani movies so that only good quality movies come forward. The argument is backed by the introduction of movies such as Khuda Key Liye but the situation of the whole industry needs to be taken into account first. The film industry is on the brink of collapse, Pakistani movies have been stereotyped as bad so there is very little demand, few cinemas that are still operating are unwilling to screen Pakistani movies, the industry lacks technical equipment and expertise and there is very little government support. In 2009 an article, Pakistan Film Industry Bombarded by Bollywood published in Times of India by Bhariti Dubey quite accurately sums up the impact of Indian movies on Pakistans films industry, This year, the Pakistani film industry produced only nine films. The reasons for this dwindle are many but most fingers point to one culprit who, they claim, has killed their industry : Bollywood.  In the recent past, almost every film released in India has simultaneously been released in Pakistan and done business of about Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore. Our local industry is unarguably very weak and needs support and exposing it to foreign competitors would never allow it to grow. It is also suggested that instead of putting restrictions on Indian movies, the Indian movies should be allowed to be screened and promoted in Pakistan if the Indians agree to screen Pakistani films. This would improve cross border relations and also give Pakistani actors, who do not find enough work here, an opportunity to work in India. Meera and Javed Sheikh have already worked in Indian movies and as more people enter Bollywood, they could bring investment into our industry. However, this school of thought does not realize that Pakistani movies can only be screened in India if they are made of the same caliber and are able to compete with their films otherwise the Indian cinema owners would have no incentive of screening Pakistani Film. The introduction of Indian movies in Pakistan was only intended to increase the revenue of cinema owners and motivate our producers/directors to work harder and compete with them. However, this introduction took a wrong turn and still faces a lot of opposition. Islamization policies, lack of financial support by the government, introduction of foreign movies in local cinemas and stereotypical thinking of the locals have really dented the film industry. The Pakistan film industry is now a sinking ship, which needs a captain who cannot only secure the future of the industry but can also lead the ship to its destination. The Pakistani Film Industry went through a smooth and a bumpy road altogether. There was a time when the industry saw good days as well as the bad days. But changes can be inflicted to make sure that the industry revives and sees those heights once again that it saw previously. The government support, educated youngsters, and establishment of more acting schools, cinemas, and production houses are the elements which should come on one platform in order to make the revival possible. Works Cited Page Rodriguez, Alex. Pakistans Film Industry is in Collapse.  LA Times  08 Nov. 2009. Print. Chopra, Anuj. How Pakistan Fell in Love With Bollywood.  Foreign Policy Magazine  15 Mar. 2010. Print. Minhas, Shandana. The Second Wave.  Chowk  22 Nov. 2004. Web. Jamal, Amna N. Pakistani Film Industry Struggles to Survive.  Central Asia Online. Web. Qamar, Saadia. Taxes Everywhere and Not a Film to Screen.  The Express Tribune  19 Apr. 2010. Print. Dubey, Bhariti. Pakistan Film Industry Bombarded by Bollywood.  The Times of India  1 Nov. 2009. Print.   Hussain, Jam S. Indian Movies Dominate Lahore Cinemas. The Nation [Lahore] 3 Aug. 2009. Print.

Recent Addition Essay

Childhood should be a time when children are carefree and without any responsibilities or worries. This however, is not the case in all children, particularly children who are shy, anxious or socially withdrawn from their new surroundings, people and new social situations. This therefore does not allow them to feel comfortable enough to interact and or make new friends easily. With the recent addition to my class of one such learner I felt compelled to try and assist with this new learners feeling of being isolated and alone in a new environment. To ensure this new learner did not feel singled out or further disadvantaged, I used the African philosophy concept of â€Å"Caring Communities† as a form of welcoming and embracing this shy and anxious learner into our group. Through the love and caring shown to all members of our group or class community, no one member need ever feel alone, left out of an activity or interacting without at least one friend at a time. This means we are all embracing our other community members, treating them equally and treating them as we want to be treated. This creates social security or a safe sense of community for all and ensures our new learner is feeling less socially awkward, isolated and alone. This sense of community is one of the fundamental corner stone’s of African philosophy and one of the greatest differences with the western philosophy. It is a spoken tradition where great emphasises is placed â€Å"for the good of the community† rather than one individual person and is marked by communalism and communal interdependence in many spheres of community life. African philosophy is a natural response to the strife, dilemmas and obstacles faced by Africa, together with the elimination and repudiation of colonisation and domination by the Western world. African philosophy has captivated the Western world, who incorporated the various facets into their own New Age Movement. Included in African philosophy is the extensive and all-embracing principle of Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the part of African philosophy that contributes and provides us with insight into understanding our own lives in relation to the world around us. Ubuntu is the capacity to express compassion, dignity,  harmony and humanity in the best interest of our community above self-interest. The community is therefore the core or essence of Ubuntu. There exists a common bond or interconnectedness between all humans and through shared synergy and intercommunication we are able to recognise, identify and discover our own human qualities of humanness, trustworthiness, goodness, respect and kindness and then attest to them in others around us. It gives human beings their humanity, and we are affirming our humanity when acknowledging that of others. Ubuntu embodies the concept of mutual understanding and the appreciation of differences in humans; respect others if you are to respect yourself. Ubuntu is therefore an important new concept introduced to my group or community of learners who need to ensure that they actively adopt these African philosophy principles within their everyday lives. By adopting these principles all members of our group or community, including the new learner, will enjoy a spirit of mutual support, understanding and caring for each other’s well-being. The learners will come to understand that we must treat each other with dignity, respect, compassion, humaneness, humbleness and share a brotherly/sisterly love within our community or group. That all members of our group or community need to be included and no person ever isolated, therefore we must ensure that our new community member, learner, is invited and accepted within our community or group thereby encapsulating and embracing the principle of Ubuntu and promoting the African identity and a participatory group or community. Through African philosophy we have come to teach our young grou p or young community about our African identity and promoting cultural unity through our diversity. By putting into practice the fundamentals of African philosophy we are ensuring all our learners come to know compassion, kindness, selflessness and respect at school, making it a place of effective learning and teaching within a safe environment with happy school community members. References 1.Higgs, P & Smith, J. 2000. Rethinking our world. Cape Town: Juta.

Reflective Report for a Group Presentation

[pic] Reflective Report Introduction After finishing the presentation and looking back on the effort we've made as a 4-member team, I can clearly see that we had a lot of strengths but also a lot of weaknesses as a team. The result of what we have achieved is that our presentation was one of the best. My experience at the University of Greenwich so far I've been a student in University of Greenwich since October, and I can honestly say that I am more than pleased with the lessons I've attended. The majority of the teachers are highly educated, so that gives us the opportunity to learn more things through the experience they have and as Albert Einstein said †The only source of knowledge is experience†. I think since studying at the University of Greenwich of all my expectations have been met through the material our teachers provide us. Generally, the high standard of all the courses makes me try more and more and gives me motivation, forgetting the difficulties I face. I feel very comfortable being with my other colleagues and since I am a student of the University I became very social and the good knowledge of the English language gives me an advantage that other students don't have. The advantage of working as a group Thinking back on the experience of our group exercise I can hopefully say that I met my expectations fair enough. Unfortunately, we faced a problem with the presentation so we couldn't show some pictures of what we were describing. Working with the other 3 colleagues, taught me cooperation with other people, something that all of us will definitely meet through our ‘’working life’’. It was very beneficial to work as a team because as Ken Blanchard said †None of us is as smart as all of us†. That means that one mind is better than one and the teamwork provides more ideas that an individual person. So, the result of our presentation came from the feedback we received from the other colleagues, who were very satisfied with our work. A problem we had as a team was that it was sometimes difficult to arrange the time we could meet to finish the presentation. That thing was caused by the different schedules everyone had, which is acceptable. Conclusion Ending my reflective report, it is clear that working with other colleagues, makes me improve my working skills as a result of knowing the difficulties I will probably face in a real working environment. It is known that this exercise will also help me during the first year, since i would have more experience than before in other presentations more difficult than this one. References 1) †The only source of knowledge is experience. † Albert Einstein / March 14th 1879 – April 18th 1955 / theoretical physicist 2) †None of us is as smart as all of us. † Ken Blanchard / born May 6th 1939 / American author and management expert

How Helen s Views On Life Affects Jane Eyre - 1141 Words

Tikir Jahmai English Parks 10/13/17 How Helen’s views on life Affects Jane Jane Eyre is the story of a girl s life from age 10 to about 19 she starts out living as an orphan with her aunt and her cousins. And like any other orphan her in pretty much sucked. Basically Jane was taken by her aunt reed who doesn t really like Jane very much she allows her son to abuse Jane she punishes Jane in the worst way, and when it came down to the end Jane decided to to go to school. But it wasn t a high quality prep school it was lowwood an all girls school for people of less fortune or wealth. That is where she meets a lot of people one of her best friends there was a girl named Helen. Jane attitude towards life is similar but at the same time†¦show more content†¦but Helen is still one of the smartest kids in the class. This reveals on the stuff that is happening to Helen in the story all the bullying and the bad conditions surrounding her and instead of flipping out like jane would she simply brushes it all off. Helens view on life is basically laid back but she still cares she tends to daydream a lot in her classes and that s a reason she is a target in her classes. Jane’s view on life as said earlier it is similar but different in a way. It can be stated that Jane and Helen have the same views but different attitudes. Like when Mr Brocklehurst first came back to lowood they held this miy ceremony and jane drops her slate she is immediately branded as deceitful and careless by him. But instead of being like Brocklehurst said. Helen Jane s friends smile everytime she walks by the stool. Which is very reassuring to Jane, And later that evening ms temple took jane in asked her tears had stopped yet Janes view on life is very laid back very similar to Helen s except. Helen doesn t fight back because she doesn t want to be burdenShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Women In Jane Eyre1798 Words   |  8 Pagesorthodox novels by writing Jane Eyre, a novel with a passionate female protagonist who hinders society’s power of conformity. Brontà « illuminates the social confinement of women in the Victorian era through Jane’s development of chara cter by easing Jane from respectfully docile to passionately independent, as seen through a psychoanalytic criticism lens in Annimaria Tiainen’s Becoming Jane: Identity, Dependency, and Autonomy in Charlotte Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre begins with Jane residing at her aunt’sRead MoreReview Of Charlotte Bronte s Jane Eyre 10879 Words   |  44 PagesSummer Reading Notes Jane Eyre Background of author Name: Charlotte Bronte Birth/Death: April 21, 1816 to March 31,1855 Facts that connect: Mr. Brocklehurst is based off the Reverend Carus Wilson, the man who ran Cowan Bridge. Bronte lost two of her sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, to tuberculosis at Cowan Bridge. Bronte s brother, Patrick, became addicted to drugs and alcohol before he died. Similarities: She, along with her three sisters, was sent to the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge