News Desk |
Veteran Pakistani actor Javed Sheikh believes, Pakistan’s film industry is apparently immature when it comes to strategizing the release of the movies in the local market. Sheikh in his latest interview to a local publication condemned the idea of simultaneously releasing four movies on Eid.
“With four [Pakistani] films being released on the same day alongside two Hollywood blockbusters, I knew that all the films will not get equal shows.
The four Eid releases were, “7 Din Muhabbat In”, “Wajood”, “Azaadi” and “Na Band Na Barati”. Amongst these four Eid releases, two of them had Javed Sheikh associated with them. “Wajood” is the directorial debut of Javed Sheikh after a decade while he had a significant character in ‘7 Din Muhabbat In’.
‘7 Din Muhabbat In’ also featured Mahira Khan and Shaheryar Munawwar, and took the lead on box-office. His movie “Wajood” failed in terms of popularity on local box-office.
Read more: ‘7 Din Mohabbat In’ set to be the biggest hit of…
Javed Sheikh stated that he was not in favor of the release of four local films on Eid-ul-Fitr that were coinciding with the screening of two Hollywood movies in Pakistan. He said, he approached the film’s distributors to postpone the release of his movie “Wajood”, with an aim to ensure the maximum screening for each movie.
“One week before Eidul Fitr, I approached my distributors [IMGC Global] with the idea of postponing “Wajood’s” release till the first week of August so that every other Eid release could get a maximum number of shows,” Jawed Sheikh says.”With four [Pakistani] films being released on the same day alongside two Hollywood blockbusters, I knew that all the films will not get equal shows. They listened to my concerns and assured me that injustice will not be done to any film but that’s exactly what I got on my return to filmmaking after a decade — injustice!”
“Had my film been released on August 3 or August 10 — as per my later suggestion — it would have benefitted the cinema industry as there is no other Pakistani release in the pipeline after Teefa In Trouble [July 20] and it would have gotten a solo run instead of a divided one.” Sheikh pointed out that his film got 110 shows on Eid day, while, “7DMI” (also featuring him as an actor) had 240. “Even Azaadi had more shows than us which were not what I was expecting. Such things are heartbreaking for a film person such as myself who has given his life to the industry.”
Earlier, the makers of “Parwaz Hai Junoon” pressed the same issue in their official statement and decided to postpone the release of “Parwaz Hai Junoon” to Eid-ul-Azha, owing to a limited audience for Pakistani movies in the local market.