Lollywood

This article is about the Urdu, Pashto, and Punjabi film industry. For the entire film culture of Pakistan, see Cinema of Pakistan.

For the Punjabi film industry in India, see Punjabi cinema.

Lollywood
Main distributors	ARY Films Hum Films Geo Films Urdu1 films PTV Films Six Sigma Plus MD Productions Eveready Pictures
Produced feature films (2024)
Total	100+

Lollywood is Pakistan's film industry, which has served as the base for both Urdu- and Punjabi-language film production. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]}

Lahore has been the center of Pakistani cinema since independence in 1947 ^{[11] [12]} . However, with the Urdu film hub largely shifting to Karachi ^{[13] [1]} by 2007, the film industry in Lahore became synonymous with the Pakistani Punjabi film Industry.^{[ citation needed ]}

According to several media sources, the word "Lollywood" is a portmanteau of "Lahore" and "Hollywood", coined in 1989 by Glamour magazine gossip columnist Saleem Nasir, and is usually used comparatively with respect to other film industries in South Asian cinema.

Etymology

"Lollywood" is a portmanteau derived from Lahore and "Hollywood", a shorthand reference for the American film industry, Hollywood.

History

Prior to the 1947 partition of India into the Republic of India and Pakistan, the Lahore film industry was initially part of the British Raj-era cinema of India. The Bombay cinema industry (now known as Hindi cinema or "Bollywood" in modern India) was closely linked to the Lahore film industry, as both produced films in the Hindustani language, also known as Hindi-Urdu, the lingua franca of northern and central British India. ^[14]

Films

Main articles: Lists of Pakistani films, List of highest-grossing Pakistani films, List of Urdu-language films, and List of Pakistani Punjabi-language films

Lollywood films in Punjabi were most popular in the 1960s and are often referred to as the golden age of Pakistani Punjabi cinema. ^[15]

Casts and crews

See also: List of Pakistani male actors, List of Pakistani actresses, and List of Pakistani film directors

See also

• List of Pakistani films
• List of Urdu-language films
• Lists of Pakistani films by language
• List of Pakistani animated films
• List of highest-grossing films in Pakistan
• Central Board of Film Censors
  • List of films banned in Pakistan

References

1. "Have Urdu films taken over Lollywood? Insiders weigh in". The Express Tribune. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
2. "Severed limbs and rivers of blood: The film that inspired Fawad Khan's 'The Legend of Maula Jatt'". Scroll.in. 15 January 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
3. "Ejaz Durrani — Lollywood's favourite Ranjha". Dawn. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
4. "The Last of Pakistan's Cinema Artists". Vice. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
5. "Goonda raj". The Express Tribune. 25 November 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2022. The real-life characters behind the goonda and gandasa era of Lollywood... The scene is from the 1979 Lollywood film Wehshi Gujjar. On the face of it, to any modern critic of the Punjabi film industry, the story follows the 'tried-and-tested' Punjabi film formula: honour, bharaks (grandiose boasting), machismo and violence.
6. "18th death anniversary of Ahmad Rahi observed". The Express Tribune. 3 September 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
7. "Lollywood music special: Pakistani star Sultan Rahi like never before in 'Jasoos'". Scroll.in. 6 May 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2022. Though from an Urdu-speaking Indian immigrant background, Rahi did most of his acting in Punjabi films. Indeed, the whole genre of so-called gandasa (long-handled axe) movies, which has dominated Punjabi filmdom since the late '70s, is built almost entirely upon the face and voice of Sultan Rahi.
8. "Sound of Lollywood: Listen to Noor Jehan letting it rip in Punjabi". Scroll.in. 22 July 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
9. "Bilal Lashari's next project: A multi-million dollar remake of Maula Jatt". The Express Tribune. 14 December 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
10. "If you thought Lollywood was booming, let 2016 remind you why it's not". 30 December 2016.
11. DailyTimes.pk (29 October 2019). "Cinema of Pakistan — 72 years on and beyond". Daily Times. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
12. Aslam, Irfan (3 October 2021). "Khoj Garh -- a corpus of Punjabi film posters, books". Dawn. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
13. Rizwan, Sheharyar (30 August 2021). "Evernew Studios — a picture of film industry's decline". Dawn. Retrieved 12 September 2025.
14. Ghosh, Partha S. (2016). Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in South Asia. SAGE Publications. p. 263. ISBN   9789351508557.
15. Awan, M. Saeed (6 July 2014). "Cinemascope: Pulling the plug on Punjabi films". DAWN.COM. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2016.

Bibliography

• South Asian Media Cultures: Audiences, Representations, Contexts. United Kingdom, Anthem Press, 2011.

External links

• Search Punjabi films @ IMDB.com