5 times Pakistani filmmakers went to war with their critics

When Shaan Shahid's Arth — The Destination released last weekend, we saw a familiar yet unfortunate situation unfold on social media.

Miffed about negative reviews, Shaan took to Facebook, bashing "so-called critics" and even going after specific Twitter users who panned the film.

Were we shocked by his behaviour? Not quite. It was all a bit déjà vu for us.

Here are five times Pakistani filmmakers proved that they need to get better at handling criticism.

1) When Shaan Shahid attacked Arth's critics and then said it wasn't him

When Shaan Shahid's Arth remake came out, people seemed to either love it or hate it. And Shaan — or rather, his social media accounts — tried to take those 'haters' to task.

First Shaan let out this tirade on Facebook, questioning "Karachiwalas"' capacity to intellectually engage with cinema and asking if there's a lobby to discourage Pakistani films. That the critique led Shaan to reflect on the industry's inner workings is a good thing and we admire the conviction he has in his work, but denial is never a good thing. Shaan simply did not address the specific criticisms made by reviewers. Also, does anyone even care about the Karachi-Lahore divide anymore?

Then, this happened:

When questions were raised about the incoherence of the above rant, it was clarified on Shaan's Twitter that the post was written by a well-meaning journalist and just shared on the page by his social media team. Ditto for the salty replies on Twitter. It turns out Shaan's okay with letting his managers be his mouthpiece. We urge him to reconsider.

Because this:

Enough said.

2) Syed Noor thought his trailer was good, people in Karachi were bad

Before Shaan, it was Syed Noor.

Before his film came out, it was Chain Aye Na's trailer that flopped.

And in an interview with Images, Syed Noor shared his belief that Karachiites had conspired to bring down his trailer:

"I was really hurt when I came [to Karachi] from Punjab... I faced a lot of intolerance. The [negative] feedback I got was due to Lahore/Karachi divide. If the initial feedback was genuine, then it would have been consistent... Look at YouTube, there is not one comment in hundreds against me or my film. Because that's the audience. Those [critics] were planted people."

We're not sure how delusional thinking can help filmmakers any more than the well-considered critique they choose to ignore.

3) When Raasta was eclipsed by Sahir Lodhi’s fiery defence of the film

To be fair, Sahir Lodhi received criticism that bordered on the personal when his film debut Raasta came out. Some critics went as far as calling him and his fans "cheap".

In a video response, Sahir thundered, "How dare you call Pakistanis cheap?... Who gives you that right to differentiate? Who are you to decide that the people who go to Nueplex or the people who go to Bambino are any different?"

Sahir made a valid point about classism in Pakistan but unfortunately for him, while his film soon ducked out of the box office, it was this video that became a hit.

He also uttered now-catchphrases like “Are you all demi-gods?” and "Who gave you that right?" that trended enough to make it to the LSAs.

We bet he wished some of his film dialogues were as enduring.

4) When Yasir Nawaz interrupted a trailer launch to bash bloggers

At the launch of the trailer for Punjab Nahi Jaungi in July this year, Yasir Nawaz is reported to have hijacked the event's regular programme for a couple of moments to share his distaste for bloggers.

“There are some bloggers here who only want to write negatively,” he claimed, clearly still stinging from unfavourable reviews for his then recent release Mehrunnisa We Lub U. “We put a lot in our projects, and when you write negatively about them audiences decide not to watch the movie, instead of forming their own opinion."

Thankfully, ARY CEO Jerjees Seja was quick to point out at the event that criticism is meant to be constructive so we didn't have to.

5) When Wajahat Rauf politely asserted that it's audience, not critics, who matter

Another note from a director wounded by bad reviews came in the form of a status update from Lahore Se Aagay director Wajahat Rauf, who just felt the need to send a friendly reminder that it's audiences who matter, not critics.

Sure, a strong audience reception would be a boon for any film, but perhaps Rauf needs to break down criticism in terms of how he can learn from it for his next film, rather than see it as malicious.