Marriage seemed to be the repetitive problem during the Sixties in Lollywood!

While Indian cinema was turning a page towards a happy and light-hearted first half of the film, during the so-called innocent decade, Pakistani movies were strait-jacketed in the forced-marriages issue.

Film after film, Dil Mera Dharkan Teri, Ghar Damad, Kaneez, Lakhon Mein Aik, Azmat, Chand Aur Chandni, Pasand Apni Apni, Insaniyat, Arman etc etc, all had this same problem. You can see that the same issue is revisiting our domesticated drama today. Almost ninety percent serials are based on forced marriages. But, why?

Was there the spectre of Globalisation even then? I don’t know, but our cinema then was very dark. With black-&-white cinema in full flow, and top leading heroes and heroines emerging, to replace Santosh, Darpan, Aslam Parvez and others, it was excess baggage. Remember, directors like Anwar Kamal Pasha, Luqman, Khalil Qaiser, Hasan Tariq, and Riaz Shahid were fighting the trend. But, they were a minority!

Of course, arranged marriage is different from forced marriage. That shows that however much make-belief goes into the celluloid in the sub-continent, there are images, which paint the silhouette of the society, overall. If 80 percent homes had this issue upfront, no amount of progressive content could throw it in the background!