This year, I've gotten into the habit of watching a lot of TV shows, albeit very rarely on the actual Television. Torrents, I've found, are a great way to actually stay in step with most of my favorite shows and movies since by the time they're shown on the channels we recieve, they're at least a year old.

Today, after about a week, I got the chance to watch some TV and forcibly, the new Kaun Banega Crorepati with Amitabh Bachan. When the show first started, people were glued to their sets across the subcontinent, not just to find out who the smart-ass is who gets the one Crore Rupees, but to watch Amitabh Bachan. Unsurprisingly, a show of the same franchise popped up in Pakistan as well, with Moin Akhtar as the celebrity host. Unfortunately, a combination of a host of copycat quiz shows with huge monetary rewards and the lack of sheer star dazzle brought in by Moin Akhtar who's more an Everyman comedian than a glamorous legendary action star adored by millions, finally brought and end to the Pakistani version just as the hype died down everywhere else as well. Eventually, Amitabh Bachan's movie career was revived (as soon as he stopped playing characters in their thirties and started playing people closer his own age) and KBC, as it was fondly known, came to an end as well. As of late, they started up the show again with double the prize money and I was just wondering who could take Mr. Bachan's place in a possible Pakistani version.

To be honest, I don't see any real star power or glamour in any of our Television or Film personalities. Given the chance, anyone in the respective countries that house Hollywood and Bollywood would give their eyeteeth to trade places or emulate their idols. Every kid wants to be the dashing Amitabh Bachan or Sean Connery and every young man wants to be like the charming Shahrukh Khan and Tom Cruise and every woman wants to be like Aishwariya Rai and Angelina Jolie. Why is it then, that you would only elicit disbelieving laughter if anyone were to say they wanted to be like any of our major Heroes/heroines such as Shaan, Babar, Reema, Meera, etc.? Simply put, there is honestly no 'X factor' associated with these people. These people are supposed to reflect the heroes of our time, the sort of people the general public wants to emulate. While I could accept that the average Pakistani male would quite enjoy being able to leap off two story buildings and land on their feet with a macho "Ruk ja kameenay!", I cannot accept that the average female of Pakistan would enjoy running around half naked and getting no better prospects that Shaan and Babar for their trouble.

Why do we have no up and coming filmmakers to turn our industry around? With every Tom, Dick and Harry thinking they can make a decent video for the multitude of bands popping up, why is it we seem to have absolutely zero efforts to revitalize Pakistani Cinema?