The Pakistani film Aurat Raj is getting a worldwide DVD release through Pagan Films. The worldwide rights are held by the people at the Hot Spot Online, check out this link for more details:

http://www.thehotspotonline.com/moviesp ... ratRaj.htm

oh no... i dont know if this is good news or bad news!! Thing is with pakistani movies is that the original transfers are soo bad that its hard to work out whether the movie is not filmed on sandpaper or wat!! The transfers are so pathetic, its hard to justify whether that such movies are justified when delivered on the DVD medium!! like ali has previously previewed the pakistani movies Deewarien and reshma...... the quality is kinds shite!! if pakistani movies are to be transfered onto DVD i think lollywood shud actually invest into devloping quality original transfers before converting to DVD...!!

I think that if DVd authors get the actually orignal negative of the film then do the telecine transfer on to DLT tape in a proper lab, then the film would look more better. Pakistani films tend to look bad not because of the negative (as they use old Indian/Russian cinema scope cameras) but becuase of the actually negative to negative/tape process for cinema or home releases, since thier labs are the worse in the world.

I don't have much knowledge on Pakistani films as I have only seen two in my whole life (jeeva & sargam). The actor Nadeem (in Jeeva) has screen presence, Bollywood should use him in thier films. What is the best Pakisatni film?

Nadeem was in a Bollywood film - I can't remember what this film was called but I think that Anita Raj was also in it. It was a pretty dire movie and Nadeem's role was very bad.

But on the subject of general Pakistani movies there have been some real gems - a few that spring to mind are Naela (*ing Shamim Ara), Lakhon Mein Ek (later re-made in India as Heena), Koel (Noor Jehan), Intezar (Noor Jehan), Zehr-E-Ishq (Noor Jehan - banned on it's initial release), Heer Ranjha (Punjabi version - probably the best version of this film), Behist (Nadeem), Qatil and Saheli (Shamim Ara).

I haven't seen a whole load of Pakistani movies - but I have found that many of the films from the 50's and 60's were way ahead of their time - and they really pushed the boundaries of what would be considered decent and acceptable in Hindi movies - it was generally accepted that the heroine could wear revealing clothing etc. Another interesting thing that I found when watching Pakistani movies is that a lot of photography techniques that were used were pretty strange and these types of techniques were not used in Hindi movies until the 70's.

Finally the music and lyrics from the majority of movies from these two decades was mind blowing.

Many great music directors (Rashid Attre), singers (Noor, Jehan, Iqbal Bano, Farida Khanum, Naseem Begum, Mehdhi Hasan, Ghulam Ali, Runa Laila) and lyricists (Faiz Ahmad Faiz) lent their talents to film music creating some unforgettable masterpieces of Pakistani film music.

As far as the best Pakistani movie - I would have to say I personally enjoyed Naela - I found that even though it had a very simple story line the treatment was excellent. What starts as a light romantic musical soon turns in to a dark moody film - with a tragic ending.

I have not seen any Pakistani movies from 1980 onwards and have little or no knowledge on how these films are. I have only seen snippets of songs here and there and I have not been impressed with what I have seen. I found out that there is a book about Pakistani cinema that has been published by the Oxford University Press - I am trying to get hold of this - if I do and I find any intersesting bits and pieces I'll post some info on Zulm.

Hope that this helps - sorry for going off the subject a bit.

Muz.

I doubt if they'll ever use the negative transfer. Even Hollywood rarely does that. The only film which I know that used the negative to transfer to DVD is "Seven". I think its probably because the final cut of the film is never in a negative form but in a inter-positive or a positive. Therefore, to get a negative transfer, the film will have to be re-edited on the negative or on the video transfer.

Not to sound cynical but who is gonna watch this film anyways ? Isnt it pretty much outdated ? (I saw it was made in 1979 ! and I dont think Indians hardly know of any Paki films anyways ?)...

Btw someone mentioned Ali had done preview for 2 Paki films ? Can someome direct me to those links ?.... I once had a chance to watch a Paki film (B&W) on PTV a few years back and boy was I not bored by film..That was even worse than an old Indian film.... The actors ( I mean the men) had no life in their dialogue delivery ...

Out of curiousity folks..can someone tell me what is Mohsin Khan doing these days ? He came out a cropper in Bollywood anyways and since then no news abt him ?

The only one I've done a preview of is Reshma. I have got another - Dewarian - but not had a chance to check that out. Both are done by Super Digital.

Ali

pakistani films are utter shite... i wont lie to u! but the older comedies... are the best... look at Dostana (Nanna, Ali Ejaaz), Pagal Puttar (Ali Ejaaz) , Maula Jatt tey Noori Nat(Nanna Ali Ejaz) these are classic comedies.. these movies are really good, unfortunately they just kinda disappeared and u can hardly find decent copies of these movies!! i know u guys may think im being cynical but majority of the Bolywood flicks have actually been ripped off from pakistani movies!! and this is no bullshit... the older ones were very good but now the newer ones spend more time flashing flab than actually doing any acting... proper bollox if u ask me!! Some good new movies that i have seen and are worth a mention are Choorian and Mehndhi Wale Haath!! The lattar is showing in cinemas around the uk next week so if u get a chance watch it!! It wud be nice to see a nicely transfered copy of choorian.. the soundtrack is one of the best punjabi soundtrax in ages.. but arseholes dont spend a penny on the production!!

Talking about paki movies, i wud really like to see some PTV dramas converted to DVD.. some dramas are excellent and are addictive... dont know if anyones had the chance to watch ansoo.. but that is the best drama in ages. it showed on channel east a while back!! EXCELLENT stuff. the bird in their is well sexy!!

I haven't seen that many Pakistani films, the only ones I have seen are recent ones like Qaid, Jeeva, Aanchal, Nikaah and No Paisa No Problem. But I have to agree with Faddy, some of the dramas are fantastic - Dhoop Kinarey, Tanhaiyan and Tum Hi To Ho are well worth checking out, and I would certainly get these if they were released on DVD.

damn andhera ujala on DVD is a must buy...!!

i thought choodiyan was a very good film with good music i caught it on zee few weeks ago,... but yes majority are very badly made.....

but the dramas are excellent there are the classics tanhaiyan, dhoop kinare, kasak dramas are very realistic.....and they dont tend to over strech them like they do in hindi serials....

I even remember Tanhaiyan when it was shown on BBC2 few years back - 'tum mujhse kafha hoi?' (are you angry with me?) was the catch phrase in every episode!

Ali :where:

I agree with the previous posts. I ahe not seen that many Paki films and the ones I have were pretty bad. The TV serials on the other hand .... I would love to get on DVD.

Does anyone know if there are any decent Pakistani cds of songs from the 70's by Mehnaz, Naheed Akhtar, Noor Jehan and Mehndi Hassan? ( I forget the names of the other males from that era but if anyone knows it would be great to know.)

Also if there were any dvds out from the same era? I've bought Aina, with Shabnam and Nadeem on VHS. Cheesy and fun, if you saw that when you were a kid but now its laughable, like most Pakistani films. We saw a lot of Pakistani films when I was a kid so we have a certain sentimental fondness for the music.

The others we've seen and I bought are Miss Hong Kong with Barbra Shariff, Talaq with Shabnam and Nadeem and Shaan with Barbra Shariff and Nadeem(love the music from all of these).

There was this one song by Mehnaz, I think, and it is from the 70's that I would love to find, it goes like this:

"o mujhe lachal lachal mujhe waheen lachaal, jahan se door na vadyon mai, jahan khoosbo hoan, jahan naghme hoon, jahan pyar mile" (sorry can't fully remember the exact words to the lyrics).

Maula Jat Info

I haven’t had chance to reply to this email I got from Omar from thehotspotonline.com - but here some exciting info he sent;

"Maula Jat has been prepared in a spanking new fresh print by Sarwar Bhatti and he has put back all the famous gore and violence scenes that the censors had objected to originally - NOW, the complete uncensored directors cut of Maula Jat - with all the gory stuff included - would be quite a catch on dvd........but Bhatti sahab is going to demand a vast quantity for the rights to his film..."



Ali