It’s been over a year since the release of critically acclaimed Punjabi film Zinda Bhaag, but the accolades continue to roll in. Being Pakistan’s first official entry, in over 50 years, at the 86th Academy Awards in the category for Best Foreign Language Film, the flick is all set to accomplish another first.
Zinda Bhaag will be the first Pakistani film to be released on Netflix. The producers of the film are currently in the process of finalising a deal with internet streaming-media Netflix.
Mazhar Zaidi, the producer of the movie, told The Express Tribune that Zinda Bhaag has already been made available on a similar platform, iTunes UK.
Zaidi divulged little information about how the deal came about, simply stating that it was the team of Zinda Bhaag that in point of fact approached the executives of Netflix.
He elucidates his reason behind approaching Netflix, saying, “It is an immense platform in the western world and the number of cinemagoers has actually decreased over the past few years.”
The journalist-turned-filmmaker said that Zinda Bhaag has already gone through a very rigorous “selection criteria” as Netflix and iTunes tend to have an extensive procedure. The film needed to meet their “technical requirements like audio, video and legal documentation”.
Zinda Bhaag, despite being a critical success, was unable to merit the same level of success at the local box office. As to what might have appealed to the executives of the internet streaming-media service, Zaidi responded, “A film cannot be judged in numbers. In my opinion what might’ve appealed to the people of Netflix about the film could be its global appeal. Our film has content which will be appreciated by international audiences worldwide.”
To explicate the impact the film has had on intercontinental viewers, he narrated an incident in Canada when a Bulgarian woman approached him after the screening of the film, and said “The boys you showed in Zinda Bhaag are the boys I went to school with. That’s how much I related to the film.”
He further added that, “localised content will only work in Pakistan and what people like about the movie was that it portrayed Pakistan in a different light.”
Zaidi was hopeful that other Pakistani film producers would start looking at the greater picture rather just thinking about box office numbers. “Basically, the Netflix deal will open up the idea that a film has many revenue streams and that the box office is only a small aspect in the longer run. For instance, we’ve explored many alternative avenues and are also on the Emirates movie catalogue,” remarked the producer of the hit flick.
He also thought that directors and producers will gradually learn to fully capitalise upon the many revenue streams and “shall design their content to cater better to it”.
The movie is expected to be made available on Netflix in the first quarter of January 2015, once the deal is finalised. He was also optimistic that the movie would garner a strong audience on the platform and help create more awareness about Pakistan.
Other accolades for the film:
Winner Best Film at 13th Lux Style Awards
Winner Best Actor (Film), Khurram Patras at 13th Lux Style Awards
Winner Best Director (Film), Farjad Nabi & Meenu Gaur at 13th Lux Style Awards
Winner Best Story, Meenu Gaur & Farjad Nabi at 1st ARY Film Awards
Winner Best Male Playback Singer, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan at 1st ARY Film Awards
Winner Best Actor (Female) Jury, Aamna Ilyas at 1st ARY Film Awards
Winner Best Film Jury at 1st ARY Film Awards
Zinda Bhaag chosen as CLOSING NIGHT film @ Delhi International Film Festival. Tomorrow 4:30pm NDMC Centre. http://t.co/pgtUZ1tvcn
— Zinda Bhaag (@ZindaBhaagMovie) December 26, 2014
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2014.
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