There has been a fierce debate within the Pakistani entertainment industry regarding how films have kept flopping due to low popularity and attendance, and which created a divide between celebrities. Celebrities like Adnan Siddiqui and Ammar Khan asked for less screening time given to foreign films like Dr. Strange and Top Gun, while others like Humaima Malik and Mansha Pasha had asked filmmakers to stop blaming the audience and start coming up with more creative scripts and films that people would actually like.
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And now that since its release, Kamli has been receiving overwhelming positive reviews from audiences and celebrities alike, we can see that it is not that audiences have thrown Pakistani films under the category of being “mediocre”, they want good films and champion local filmmakers who come up with such content.
On twitter, a user pointed out that the success of Kamli was solely due to the fact that in a land overwhelmed with shitty scripts surrounding marriage, divorce and abusive men, Kamli took a step in a different direction and brought to audiences a story of three women and how their lives intertwined with each other. And this is what Pakistani audiences want, rather than regressive, recycled toxic love stories that horrify you.
“#Kamli is a lesson to Pakistani filmmakers to stop underestimating their audience. The film is faring well on the box office despite “niche content”. Pakistani audiences are ready for more ambitious projects than the average Eid half-assed flicks with no real story.”
#Kamli is a lesson to Pakistani filmmakers to stop underestimating their audience. The film is faring well on the box office despite “niche content”. Pakistani audiences are ready for more ambitious projects than the average Eid half-assed flicks with no real story. pic.twitter.com/96KZ7pejoC
— kay.🚶♀️ (@hersaItboxhouse) June 5, 2022
Other users shared how much they loved the film because of the phenomenal performances by Saba Qamar and Sania Saeed, and said that the theatres filling up every time is proof that people want good stories and will also watch Pakistani films if they deliver good content
As a fan of fast-paced action and thriller movies, I watched #Kamli and I must say, it’s a must-watch movie. The suspense, the story, the plot, the twist, the cinematography, the dialogues… WORTH WATCHING.
Most of all, I was surprised to see an almost-full cinema hall https://t.co/f2mSvOws5V
— Muhammad Abdullah 🇵🇰 (@abdullahkayan17) June 5, 2022
Other’s gave examples of dramas like Doobara, which is about a middle aged woman finding the courage to re-start her life after being married off young, and then Paarizad, to give proof that Pakistanis do watch local movies and dramas, and filmmakers should start listening to them and the kind of stories they are asking for
same holds true for tv dramas. making trash content because u think that’s what ‘sells’ or what the audience wants isn’t true. top ratings of plays like parizaad and dobara very recently are examples of this. you make good content, it WILL find its audience and make you money. https://t.co/7YBkuMOZCN
— Faizan. (@thoraoffbeat) June 13, 2022
We are so proud to see films like Kamli gaining prestige and popularity, and we hope that this is just the start for more films that step out of stereotypical standards and make more stories that enthrall and inspire us like it did!
