Naseeruddin Shah cautions Pakistani film directors

Naseeruddin Shah is a stellar actor, who has enchanted audiences with his acting prowess over the years, also does not shy away from issuing a bold statement every now and then. Speaking on the subject of the Pakistani film industry, Shah said that so far Pakistani directors were making bad copies of Bollywood movies, which he hoped they would desist from doing in the future.

“Pakistani directors always try to follow Bollywood and Bollywood always tries to follow Hollywood, even the posters of our films are bad copies of Hollywood,” he said. “The biggest tragedy would be if Pakistani cinema continues producing bad copies of Bollywood, which they have been doing. I hope it finds its own identity and I have a feeling it will.”

Naseeruddin Shah has starred in Pakistani movies before and pulled off excellent performances in both the films he starred in. He also performed in his play Einstein at the Faiz International Festival in Lahore.

While criticising Bollywood as well as Pakistani films, Naseeruddin Shah was also mindful of the fact that his films from this year did not do well at the box office. And for that, he was apologetic to his Pakistani fans.
“I would like to apologise for the number of bad movies I have done this year which, frankly, I thought would not get released. I will try to improve next time,” he said.

A plethora of film directors and fresh new actors have added to Pakistani film industry’s revival in the recent years. More and more drama artists are now turning to movies and the film industry, with recent successes such as Waar, Na Maloom Afraad, Wrong Number, Shah and Jawani Phir Nahi Ani generating interest and intrigue from across the border as well.