Movies - Lollywood

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	Movies - Lollywood

Lollywood refers to the Pakistani film industry, based in the city of Lahore. The name is a conflation of "Lahore" and "Hollywood".

History

Pre-independance

During the 1930s the movies made in Lahore were under the influence of Hollywood movies, not just in the stories or action or drama but the acting, the makeup and the costumes as well. The heroes would appear like Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn. The reason for this is noted to be the fact that Lahore tried to establish its own identity separate from that of the Bombay-based film industry at that time. In this respect Kardaar and M. Ismael started a studio by the name of United People’s on Ravi Road, Lahore. Actors that worked for the studios were Heera Laal, Gul Hameed, Nazeer and Ahmed Dean and the actresses were Kaushalya Devi, Gulzaar, Mumtaaz. From the studios papers in 1929 were received different film projects that were planned out and surprisingly most had English Titles like; Sweet Heart, The Prisoner, Masked Rider, The Golden Dagger, Passion Flower, The Sacred Flame, House Boat, Golden Temple, The Award, Paradise. There were also others with Urdu Titles such as Lala Rukh, Kafir (Infidel), Khawaja Sira and Firdaus. But not all projects were ever completed as not only silent movies were on the brink of extinction but also a very Competitive Bombay film industry and Calcutta film industry were already involved in making of many sound movies and ultimately Bombay won, when it released its first sound movie in 1931 called Aalim Ara. In Lahore the pioneer of making Sound Movies was Hakeem Ram Parsaad making Heer Raanjha starring M. Ismael, Rafiq Ghaznavi, Nazeer and actress Anwari. This was to be the last movie directed by Kardaar in Lahore. From here on he moved to Calcutta and later Bombay.

The 1950s

On 8th of August 1948 the first Pakistani movie called Teri Yaad premiered at Parbhat, Lahore. It starred Asha Posley, and Nasir Khan who was Dilip Kumar's brother. The music was written and directed by Nath and the film was produced by Divan Sardari Lal, and directed by Daud Chand.

On April 7 1950, a film called Do Ansoo was the first Pakistani Urdu film to celebrate Silver Jubilee (25 weeks) of the Pakistani film industry. It starred Santosh Kumar, Ajmal, Alaudin while the new-comer actress was Sabiha Khanum who had appeared in a couple of other movies over the previous few months in the industry. The music was by Mubarak, produced by Sheikh Lateef for Naubahar Films, and directed by Anwar Kamal.

On April 29 1951, another break through film called Chan Ve made headlines as it was the first Pakistani film to be directed by a woman, Madam Noor Jehan. It starred her along with Santosh Kumar, Jahangir, Ghulam Muhammad. The music was by Feroz Nizami (his second undertaking), produced by her husband Shaukat Hussain Rizvi for their own Shahnur Films, and script was written by Imtiaz Ali Taj.

On June 3 1954, an Urdu film called Sassi was released that became the first Pakistani film to run for over Golden Jubilee (50 weeks) in the industry. It starred Sabiha Khanum, Sudhir, Asha Posley, Nazar, Saleem Raza (not to be confused with the singer of the same name). The music was by Chishti, the film was produced by J. C. Anand for Ever Ready Productions, and directed by Daud Chand.

On March 12 1956, was another ground breaking event for the Pakistani film Industry as the film, Umar Marvi, released by Fazlani Films, was the first movie in Sindhi language (Native Language of the Sind province of Pakistan). It starred Nighat Sultana, Fazlani and Charlie. The music was by Ghulam Nabi Lateef, produced by Fazlani, and directed by Shaikh Hasan.

On July 17, 1958, Film journalist Ilyas Rasheedi launched the first of an annual event called the Nigar Awards for outstanding performance in various categories of film making. The event was showcased to give awards to recognised achievements by all that worked in the industry.

Jago Hua Savera released during May 25 1959, recieved a cold response at box office in spite of script and lyrics from popular poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, a great surprise since the literacy read by the public is greatly respected. It was a bad response to a film with literary claims. Jago Hua Sawera music was written by Timer Burnn, produced by Noman Tasees for Century Films, and directed by A. J. Kardar.

The 1960s

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