There was a time when the city of Lahore boasted a vibrant film culture. Home to one of the largest film industries in India before Independence, the film scene in Lahore rivaled Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, and at times even surpassed them. Early pioneers of the film movement in Lahore included auteurs such as AR Kardar, Agha GA Gul, and JC Anand, who helped usher the subcontinent into the age of the talkies.
A good measure of the role Lahore has played across the region in cinema can be gauged by the fact that some of the most prominent talent in Indian cinema were émigrés from Lahore. This includes actors Dev Anand, Kabir Bedi, and Prem Chopra; producer-director B. R. Chopra, the progenitor of the Yash Chopra legacy, as well as Chetan Anand and Kuldip Kaur, among others, who helped shape the Indian film industry.
In Pakistan, during the early years after Independence, films like Do Ansoo (1950), Sassi (1955), and Madam Noor Jahan’s directorial debut Chanway (1951) won the hearts of the people and helped entertain a nation scarred and traumatised by the horrors of Partition.
The Golden Era of the film industry began in the 1960s, which saw the emergence of actors and artists such as Waheed Murad, Muhammad Ali, Nadeem Baig, Neelo, Sohail Rana, and Ahmed Rushdie. The Nigar Awards launched in 1957 helped propel fledgling stars to greater heights. Director Riaz Shahid helmed films like Aag Ka Darya, Farangi, Neend, Zarqa, and Yeh Aman. These were not merely commercial ventures but works infused with political urgency, portraying the struggles of Palestinians amid the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the plight of Kashmiris, and even the historical downfall of Muslim rule in Andalusia. Another notable experiment in art house cinema was Javed Jabbar’s Beyond the Last Mountain, released in English in 1976 and widely acclaimed internationally. Zinda Laash, a reimagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, was also a first of its kind in South Asia and went on to garner a cult following.
Commercial cinema flourished further. Films like Azra, Shaheed, and Chiragh Jalta Raha ushered the country into the colour era and captured the public imagination. Others such as Dosti, Aina, Tehzeeb, Ehsan, and Salgira became massive commercial successes, drawing thousands to cinema halls and cementing Pakistan’s status as a major film-producing country in South Asia and beyond.
In the years 1970 to 1972, well over 200 films were produced in Pakistan as people turned to cinema to relieve the anxieties of war and economic disturbances. However, by the late 1970s, the decline had set in. While Punjabi cinema continued to find some footing, owing in part to the prowess of Sultan Rahi, the overall quality of filmmaking suffered. Restrictions and censorship imposed by a deeply reactionary regime, coupled with an increasingly intolerant social climate, made it difficult for filmmakers to innovate or compete globally.
The reasons for the decline of Lahore’s home-grown film industry are manifold, but the most significant has been the lack of sustained government support. While growing conservatism has certainly shaped the trajectory of motion picture production, it has been compounded by an enduring indifference, even disdain, within state institutions toward the film industry. Islamic conservatism in Pakistan, after all, has not been as institutionally entrenched as it was in post-1979 Iran, yet Iranian cinema continued to evolve and assert itself on the global stage.
What is particularly dismal is the neglect of Lahore’s historic role as the centre of filmmaking in Pakistan. Even television dramas, hugely popular both domestically and internationally, are seldom produced in Lahore or in Punjab more broadly.
Successive governments over the years have only paid lip service to the issue of the decline of cinema and have turned a blind eye to the plight of artists and the inviability of film production as a business under prevailing social and economic conditions.
Many have also failed to appreciate the role that films and cinema as a whole can play in elevating the soft power profile of a country and in enabling the state to further its narrative through visual storytelling.
The Chinese film Wolf Warrior and popular Indian productions such as the trending sensation Dhurandar are effective cases in point with regard to the role films can play in projecting the narrative of their country to their own people and abroad. Pakistan, which spends millions on such public-funded projects, often does not even meet a modicum of the success seen by other countries in similar efforts. The reason remains the same. There is a serious dearth of cinemas, production houses, available talent, and lack of a coherent policy for such projects to succeed.
That may, however, change altogether given the monumental project that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif is launching in the form of Lahore Film City. The project has outlined the establishment of studios, sound stages, post-production facilities, and training institutions, facilities this industry was not offered by any government even during its heyday.
Beyond the physical space, the initiative hints at a broader shift in attitude. By pairing institutional support with an openness to private investment and new forms of media production, it gestures toward an industry that is no longer confined to traditional cinema alone but is in conversation with animation, digital content, and an increasingly global audience. At a time when a young and expanding creative workforce is already finding its footing in these fields, such a project could provide both direction and anchorage.
A film city in Lahore could, to a large extent, restore the city’s position as the centre of cinematic arts in the region. Lahore has suffered years of neglect at the hands of government authorities, especially in regard to film, culture, and the arts in general. However, this government seems to have its heart in the right place. A project for the revival and re-establishment of old buildings, perhaps Lahore’s biggest asset, is being implemented under the auspices of the Lahore Authority for Heritage Revival (LAHR) which is being led by Pakistan Muslim League (N) Chairman Muhammad Nawaz Sharif who is serving as its chief patron – a project close to the heart of the former prime minister – according to many. It is hoped that the film city project will see a similar level of success as other initiatives pursued and implemented by the Punjab government under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif.