Written by: Farheen Abdullah
Posted on: January 15, 2019 | 
| 中文
Javed Shaikh as Jojo
Lollywood has only recently started producing a considerable number of movies each year with most Pakistanis showing up to support our local talent. However, films like Jackpot end up making the viewers wish that the time and money invested into the project, both by the team and the audience might as well have been invested elsewhere. Produced by Khurram Riaz and directed by Shoaib Khan, Jackpot is a romantic comedy revolving around a lottery ticket worth Rs.100 crores, which gets lost in a coat pocket. The cast, comprising of Javed Shaikh, Adnan Shah Tipu, Sana Fakhar, Noor Hassan and Sanam Chaudhary, can be found chasing after the coat during most of the film. A few unneeded cameo appearances were also made by Ismail Tara, Rambo, and Mehmood Aslam.
Quite a few things went wrong with the film, but perhaps its biggest weakness was the script and direction. Not only did the content consist of low-grade jokes and unnecessarily explicit language, the storyline itself seemed weak, with little thought having been given to the target audience. The poor plot also left little room for the cast to perform well. Even the direction of the film was such that the focus remained on capturing the beauty of international locations, which added no value to the quality of the movie, instead of focusing on creativity. For instance, the villain Jojo (Javed Shaikh) makes an entrance in a highly clichéd manner, with a close-up of him wearing shades (indoors) and smoking a cigar.
It is no secret that Pakistani media continues to be influenced by Bollywood, but the extent to which our movies replicate Indian productions is risible. The songs of Jackpot, for instance, seemed to be trying too hard to recreate scenes from Bollywood songs. While Asim Azhar and Afshan Fawad did a decent job with the vocals of ‘Hai Naya Naya,’ sadly the song reminded the audience of the tune and choreography of ‘Sooraj dooba hai’ from the Bollywood film, Roy. Another song of the movie, ‘Jojo janta hai’ was anything but catchy, and the choreography made us wonder if this is really the best our film industry can do.
Another mistake which Lollywood seems adamant on repeating is the strange dressing adapted to suit the foreign locations of the movies. On reaching Thailand, the female cast of Jackpot immediately changed into short dresses and cold-shoulder shirts. Even Sana, playing the role of a washerman’s wife, was shown roaming around the city in sundresses and backless sarees. The wardrobe malfunctions that followed were worse, which an ordinary viewer was able to point out at first glance, but the editors had somehow missed out. The shocking portrayal of women didn’t just end here, but went as far as naming Jojo’s assistant, a beautiful young girl, Selfie. The entirety of her role in the film was to take selfies, and she was never given an actual name or enough dialogues. The post-production process fell short as well, with poor transitions between scenes and childish effects, making it seem like the movie had been edited on PowerPoint.
It is clear that the team did not hit the jackpot, since the movie was initially set to come out in July 2018 but was delayed till January 2019 with minimum marketing. The cinemas in Karachi have only reserved one evening show each day for Jackpot, while multiple shows are available for other movies. Who is to be held responsible for the shortcomings of the movie is a difficult question, but one can hope that this project will serve as a lesson for the team to learn and improve from, and that Lollywood will carry on creating substantial content in the times to come.
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