The Journey Of Lollywood.

"Nava aaya sohniyo?"

Aho! Gone are the days when Lollywood was made fun of and not appreciated. When our movie posters were just wall hangings we enjoyed at "Hot Spot". I mean come on, where else in world would one get to see "Wehshi Haseena", "Buddha Gujjar" and "Sher Di Bachi" type titles and their very interesting posters? Okay they might all be burlesque acts but at-least we should give them the credit of being highly creative and coming up with such unique titles.

  

Lets not forget about our actual cinema which created legends and such memorable movies. Remember our chocolate boy? Waheed Murad, the heartthrob of many, even till date. Girls used to go head over heels for him and for those of you who don't know, he is the 'koko koreena wala hero'. That was the time when our cinema was at it's peak. He gave us blockbusters like 'Armaan', 'Anjuman', 'Aawaz' and the list goes on. The whole crew, from scripts to direction and our beautiful heroines of that time, everything seemed a perfect package to success. I mean a hero couldn't do all the work by himself if wasn't for our gorgeous ladies that stood next to him. Babra Shareef, Zeba, Deeba, Neelo and the beautiful Shamim Ara are only a few names that made this era so magnificent. The very handsome Nadeem took over the industry after Waheed and gave such amazing hits along side these beauties. This era didn't only give us silver, golden and platinum jubilees back to back but along with that everlasting tunes, all thanks to our singers of the time. Singers like Ahmed Rushdi gave us 'koko koreena, akelay na jana, socha tha pyar na karaingay, ussay dekha ussay chaha ussay bhool gaey' and the list goes on. His voice played a huge role in the success of movies and heroes. Our industry gleamed with success during this era. 

Lollywood has been pretty down for a few years. But I think Syed Noor did a decent job making movies like 'Majajan and Chooriyan'. And they were not all that bad, seriously. Actors like Shaan, Moammar Rana, Saud came in the limelight. And so did our heroines, Resham, Sana, Saima, Reema, Veena and our most favorite 'Meera jee'. The first 'big' movie of this time was I think 'Yeh Dil Aap Ka Hua', it was directed by Javed Sheikh, shot in Switzerland and was huge hit. So it's safe to say that it wasn't a total downfall of Lollywood. These people started their careers then and are well known stars now.

Okay then let's come to the new dimension, we all saw 'Khuda Ke Liay'. It was a pretty huge step making that movie and kudos to Shoaib Mansoor for directing it so well. The cast included Shaan, Iman Ali, Fawad Khan and the very talented Naseeruddin Shah from across the border. It was shot in Chicago and parts of Lahore. The story-line was pretty powerful and so was the cast but it had some errors here and there. Shaan did a tremendous job, remarkable role did he play. And of-course it had Fawad Khan so everybody loved him, well all the girls did I'd rather say. Personally my favorite was how Naseeruddin Shah justified his character such neatly, for a moment there he convinced me that he was an actual Maulana Sahab. We all loved the movie, sang along 'bandiya' and heard the album being played everywhere. It had it's ups and downs, yet a great start and everyone was really very proud to see such a movie.

Then came 'Bol', again directed by Shoaib Mansoor. Bol did an outstanding job on the charts and was much appreciated. It starred Humaima Malik, Mahira Khan, Atif Aslam, Iman Ali, Shafqat Cheema and Manzar Sehbai. And again, the content was very strong, story-line was good. Humaima did an amazing job and her famous dialogue can still be heard in TV serials, "Jub khila nahi saktay to paida kyun kertay ho?" Sorry to say but Atif Aslam should only stick to singing, he can not act. The songs did pretty good too. Anyway the content was too much to fit in one movie. It had it's flaws but then again was totally worth watching it. He did try to portray our social issues through his movies.

Moving on, our video quality really improved when 'Love Mein Ghum' came out. Directed by our very own Reema, she introduced Nabeel Khan and it even starred Johnny Lever from across the border. The trailer itself spoke as far the camera quality and direction was concerned. Well the story-line wasn't that good but at-least it was a step forward and not to forget the title song which took over every channel. It featured about 40 Pakistani celebrities and the video was pretty well done.

Not long ago, just before the elections 'Chambeli' was released. Directed by Ismail Jillani, was the first political film ever made. Kudos to the timing of release, I'm surprised how it didn't get banned but was a huge success. The content was quite interesting and yet one wasn't bored or waited for interval as it kept it's pace. A great effort done and again, very proud to say it's made in Pakistan.

'Main Hoon Shahid Afridi' is in the spot light right now and is turning out to be a huge success. It's directed by Syed Ali Raza and is the first ever sports film of Pakistan. Cast includes Humayun Saeed, Nouman Habib, Javed Sheikh and Hamza Abbasi. Well the title pretty much sums up the story but Javed Sheikh pulled off the villain role well and it has it's spice. There's an item number in there too by Mahnoor Baloch and the 'googi googi goo' girl Mathira. The movie is doing great at the cinema and if you still haven't watched it yet, go watch it now.

Finally we move towards the much awaited movie, 'Waar'. Just the title gives me chills, and the trailer looks so promising. I watched it so many times just because I couldn't get over the quality, cast, story and oh the amazing editing. Honestly to watch such a trailer and know that it's a Pakistani movie, shot internationally and that by such a huge banner makes me so proud that it can't even be put into words. First of all, hats off to Bilal Lashari for directing this movie, secondly Warner Bros are it's distributors *OMG right?* and lastly the cast is just amazing. Includes Shaan, Ali Azmat, Shamoon, Ayesha Khan, Meesha Shafi and Hamza Abbasi. Okay I do have a thing for Shaan and Hamza but I'm not at all being biased here, look at the trailer! Parts of it are shot in Istanbul and Rome the rest in Islamabad, Lahore and Swat. The content seems pretty strong and the graphics are really commendable. This movie is going to be a treat for all of us and we should really look forward to it and be very proud. I mean really proud.

Oh and not to forget 'Geo Films', they have released many movies under their banner since 2007. Movies like Bol, Chambeli were released by them and they released Bollywood movies in Pakistan too, like Race2 and Shootout at Wadala. Also they have been working on collaborating Bollywood and Lollywood, Virsa and Ramchand Pakistani were two of these projects. This year, in 2013 they released 5 remakes of old Pakistani hits.

So that was all of Lollywood and it's journey over the years. Hope that was all regarding our cinema. Always be proud of our cinema, it's what describes our nation worldwide apart from the news and politics. It's our identity and our film-makers keep doing us proud. They put a lot of effort into it so always appreciate the cinema and watch every Pakistani movie. Really looking forward to watch 'Waar' and wishing good luck to Lollywood. *Fingers crossed*