What can I say, the Pakistani film industry is in shambles. With no support from the Government and pre-Partition equipment, who can blame them? The Punjabi, Urdu and particularly the Pashtun movie industry are in a sad state of affairs. The premier film studios of Lahore, once the capital of the country’s formidable film industry, are in complete decay and disarray.
The film crews carry on regardless. Some of the below photos are profiles of Pakistani superstars. They are the Shah Rukh Khan’s and Johnny Depp’s of their very own industry. Most actors have taken a ninety per cent reduction in pay in the last five to ten years.
People swamp to them for photographs and autographs while hypocritically trashing their art as unislamic. Actors here are feared, jeered and cheered for their place in the Pakistan’s cultural ranks.
And yet the film industry drags on with old relics, dusted off and reformatted for screens in decrepit cinema houses in Lahore’s red light district. Some are cut with porn clips while others rely on the dated violence of a bygone era.
