The film convention supposedly brought together a great number of showbiz people in Islamabad. The government highlighted its good intentions, as Maryam Aurangzeb gave a good speech! But, in the end, two vital questions remain unaddressed. Firstly, why this late in their term? Will the next govt implement it? Secondly, there’s nothing in writing as yet, which the press has pointed out.

But, I ask another question: the Lollywood has already died! Most artistes have shifted to Karachi for TV productions. The Lahore studios are veeran and haunted, with hardly any local productions being shot there. Even Syed Noor cast all the Karachi artistes in his film, which flopped. Punjabi film productions which revived our industry several times, are nowhere to be seen. Being a great fan of Lollywood, I don’t see any concrete plans from the government for the revival of our tinsel town.

Thousands of extras, stuntmen, fighters, makeup people, dress designers, secretaries, managers, cameramen, assistants, light men, choreographers, musicians, chorus boys and girls, comedian understudies, set-makers, processors, dubbing assistants, petty workers etc were connected with Lollywood for the last many decades, who grew up in the industry or their families resided close to the studios. Many of them have left the industry for greener pastures, or have shifted to other jobs.

Now, if you want to give a new film policy, it is not just of reviving the cinema; it is reviving the interest of the workers to leave all else and return to the industry, or new ones to join it. It’s a massive welfare work, welfare policy! The government has to think like the mother of thousands of its children. Or if this is another election stunt, then it will again be a vacuous jump into nothingness!