Revival of Pakistani cinema: an analysis of adaptation of bollywood culture in Pakistani films

Abstract

This research aims to analyse how Pakistani films have been adopting Bollywood ideas for the resurgence of Pakistani cinema. Bollywood cinema has become a brand and is now influencing film industry all around the world. This study focuses on the Pakistani films that have adopted Bollywood ideas in order to make success in the business revenue. These films are considered as a super hit films for Pakistani cinema and considered as the step for reviving the Pakistani cinema and those who did not adopt from Bollywood are considered as a big flop. The research method employed for this research is largely qualitative textual analysis of the two films selected from Pakistani cinema from 2015 to 2017. This paper clarifies the difference between Pakistani and Indian cinema providing history of both cinemas and also clarifies the reasons of the downfall of Pakistani cinema in the late 90s and in the early 21st century. In seeking to explore the reasons of Pakistani cinema’s downfall this research has included an interview from a leading film critic and historian of Pakistan, Dr. Aijaz Gul. This paper alleges that the films that are chosen for this study have heavily adopted the Bollywood culture and are promoting the Bollywood ideas. The theory of ideological hegemony by Gramsci has been applied on the research in order to get better understanding of Bollywood culture disposing their ideas in the Pakistani cinema. Resurgence of Pakistani cinema is happening now but by adopting Bollywood ideas and elements in the films, hence it is important to analyse the factors and elements that are shaping the Pakistani cinema to become like a Bollywood cinema.