For over a decade, the name Shaan Shahid has been highlighted on the silver screen in Pakistan. With over five hundred films to his credit, he has witnessed the absolute peaks and the most challenging times in cinema history.
In a recent candid podcast interview, the veteran actor did not hold back about the current state of the industry, delivering a sharp, reality-checking critique of why local cinema is struggling to find its footing both at home and on global platforms.
One of Shaan’s biggest issues, according to him, is how restricted and seasonal the movie-going experience has become. He pointed out that filmmakers have grown incredibly lazy, relying entirely on festive seasons to rescue the cinema while leaving the rest of the year completely barren.
“Today, you see that films are not released except on Eid,” Shaan observed. “Apart from that, there are twelve months in a year, but no one puts out a movie.” Sharing that this seasonal approach prevents a sustainable movie culture from actually growing.
Shaan expressed deep frustration with the repetitive, formulaic content dominating local screens today, describing them as “run-of-the-mill subjects that keep running year after year.” He believes this happens because the industry has become disconnected from the general public, choosing instead to chase a tiny demographic.
Speaking on the modern obsession with forcing a certain young aesthetic, he noted that creators are misjudging and dividing the audience based on wealth. “We have put a label on Gen Z,” he said, questioning whether filmmakers are trying to reach the broader population or just catering to a select few. “Are you looking for the masses, or are you just going to go for that one or two per cent?”
For Shaan, entertainment shouldn’t be a luxury reserved for the elite. “You can’t deny people entertainment just because they have less money or a lower status,” he insisted.
This firm belief in staying loyal to his roots is exactly why Shaan famously rejected major Indian offers in the past, including the iconic villain role in the film Ghajini. Reflecting on why he chose to stay back instead of crossing the border, Shaan addressed the common romanticised view of international art.
“Artists say that art has no boundaries, music has no boundaries,” he noted. “See, there are no boundaries, but the boundary between India and Pakistan exists today. All those artists who used to say this should go and show their visas now.”
For Shaan, true pride comes from building up your own home industry rather than chasing external validation.
Even when discussing the biggest local success story of recent years, The Legend of Maula Jatt, Shaan maintained his blunt honesty, revealing a surprising detail about his view on the massive hit. “I haven’t watched Maula Jatt 2,” he admitted, explaining that he prefers to look forward rather than look back at remakes of older cinematic eras. He feels that true progress doesn’t come from reshaping past titles but from carving out entirely original ideas.
“Netflix has been around for so long, but nobody could crack the code,” Shaan remarked. He explained that the industry is deeply gatekept and overly exclusive, which kills its own momentum. “You are so tightly controlled that they aren’t even taking your dramas, let alone films,” he pointed out.
According to Shaan, the barrier to entering the global streaming market isn’t a lack of talent, but rather a habit of over-complicating technicalities and missing the bigger picture. He argued that industry insiders love to create their own roadblocks over minor administrative details.
“These are problems we have made ourselves,” Shaan said, criticising how people constantly stress over “how things will happen, how much the card ratio is, or how much funding there is.”
His upcoming film, a psychological project called Psycho, is his own practical attempt to break the boring cycle of modern cinema. He urges audiences to support unique stories, hoping that the industry will finally stop playing it safe and start creating meaningful cinema for everyone.
