(Disclaimer: this is a work of fiction. Learn to take a joke; you’ll live longer.)
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s powerful chairman of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) on Friday blamed “fiscal mismanagement” for Lollywood’s economic woes, days after he was appointed to a newly formed committee responsible for steering the local film industry.
Though WAPDA has extensive business interests and dominates filmmaking policies, it is unusual for the WAPDA chief to comment on how the films should be made by filmmakers.
Lt Gen (retd) Muzammil Hussain, the WAPDA chairman, on Friday addressed a national seminar on ‘Pakistan’s Film Industry: Challenges and Way forward’, organised by Institute of Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis (ISSRA) at the Theatre, Film and TV Studies at the Beaconhouse National University (BNU).
“We’re going through a difficult economic situation due to fiscal mismanagement,” Hussain told the seminar, according to a statement issued by the WAPDA’s publicity wing.
“We understand that local filmmakers have gone for difficult but quintessential decisions for long-term benefits and what we’re doing is playing our part.”
The current lot of filmmakers, who are seen as close to the WAPDA leaders, blame Lollywood’s economic problems on filmmakers of the past.
WAPDA, which has ruled Lollywood since independence, through controlling power supplies for cinemas, TV sets, and electrical requirements for film shooting, has been taking a more active role in Lollywood’s affairs since the recent so called revival of the local film industry.
The filmmakers last week made Muzammil Hussain a member of the National Film Development Council and he has been given the responsibility of making the major filmmaking decisions.