How can Pakistani cinema make its mark? Don't follow Karan Johar, says Yasir Jaswal

The Pakistani entertainment industry has seen a turn for the better in the past few years, and Yasir Jaswal believes that things can only keep progressing if the local industry focuses on ‘Pakistani’ ideas.

In an interview with BBC Urdu, Yasir Jaswal, director of Jalaibee (2015), opened up about his upcoming project and whether he plans to cast one of his brothers in his latest film.

“It’s an action-thriller this time and the story has been finalized, but we’re still working on the script. There will be no samosas or pakoras,” joked the musician when asked whether he had titled his film as yet. However, he has not thought about casting either of his brothers in the film.

But casting is the least of his problems; Yasir reveals that the film will face a few road bumps along the way.

“It is based in Pakistan but some sequences will be shot internationally, because it’s difficult to shoot action sequences here. We tried doing that with Jalaibee, to have teams come from abroad and shoot here but that didn’t happen,” he said.

He explained, “Because of Pakistan’s conditions, people are scared to come here. However, it’s not like that, it’s safe, and good work is being done here. It’s the idea people abroad have of Pakistan, and we can only change that through films."

Although his film Jalaibee opened to mixed reviews, for Yasir it was the first of its kind he had seen in Pakistan, and he aims to carve a different module of films steering away from the repetitive Bollywood style.

“You either make it for the audience or you do it because you want to deviate from the norm, towards a new cinema. Most films from Bollywood are for money-making and it’s important that we bring something ‘Pakistani’ to our ideas and films,” said Yasir.

But that can only be done by staying unique, “not by following Karan Johar or copying their films."

“We’re copying an existing industry; ours will exist if we bring our own ideas to the table,” he said.

The musician/director strongly feels that the audience has been supportive of Pakistani cinema and cannot easily be fooled when it comes to content.

“Our audience is very smart -- even though we believe otherwise -- we think that we can show them anything, but a lot of films have flopped because of that. By thinking of putting an item song or showing girls dancing in a film, it will be hit, but many a times they are a flop, that’s because that doesn’t resonate with the audience," he said.