Media and Entertainment

Media and Entertainment

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a globally renowned Pakistani Qawwali singer

Nazia Hassan was a pop singer-songwriter who introduced pop music to South Asia.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has won Oscars in 2012 and 2016 for her documentaries.

The private print media, state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) and Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) for radio were the dominant media outlets until the 21st century. Pakistan now has a large network of domestic private 24-hour news media and television channels. According to a 2016 report by the Reporters Without Borders ranked Pakistan in 147th on the Press Freedom Index, while terming the Pakistani media “among the freest in Asia when it comes to covering the squabbling among politicians”. BBC term’s Pakistani media as “among the most outspoken in South Asia.”

The Lollywood, an Urdu, Punjabi and Pashto film industry is based in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar. While Bollywood films were banned from public cinemas from 1965 until 2008, they have remained important in popular culture. Contrary to the ailing film industry, the Urdu televised dramas and theatrical performances are popular, as many entertainments media air the series regularly. Urdu dramas dominate the TV entertainment industry, and have debuted critically acclaimed miniseries, and have featured popular actors and actresses since the 1990s. In the 1960s–1970s, pop music and disco (1970s) dominated the country’s music industry. In the 1980s–1990s, British influenced rock music appeared and jolted the country’s entertainment industry. In the 2000s, heavy metal music gained popular and critical acclaim.

Pakistani music ranges from diverse provincial folk music and traditional styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal Gayaki to modern forms fusing traditional and western music. Pakistan has many famous folk singers. The arrival of Afghan refugees in the western provinces has stimulated interest in Pashto music, although there has been intolerance of it in some places. Pakistani media has also played a vital role in exposing corruption.