Khayal Festival: When cinema lovers meet film walas

Lahore responds enthusiastically to sessions boasting Waar, MHSA and Zinda Bhaag makers.

LAHORE:

It was heartening to see the turnout at the Khayal Festival sessions that touched upon Pakistani cinema. A tsunami of cinema and art lovers, curious young people and pristine Lahori aunties flooded halls at the Al Hamra Arts Complex, excited to hear prominent film-makers of 2013 speak.

The concluding session of Day 1, titled ‘Lights, Camera, Action’, brought together the teams of Waar and Main Hoon Shahid Afridi. Vasay Chaudhry, Shamoon Abbasi, Amir Munawar, Bilal and his father Kamran Lashari represented team Waar, while veteran Javed Sheikh attended from the MHSA camp.



Javed Sheikh’s experience and passion for cinema was lapped up by eager onlookers. “I was always optimistic that our youngsters would eventually revive cinema in Pakistan,” he said.

“I dreamed about a day when change in the Pakistani film industry would come. Finally it has,” he added. “There are now 100 film projects in the pipeline,” he continued, much to the delight of the crowd. “Waar grew on the foundation laid by Main Hoon Shahid Afridi. It was the first time I saw a film in Pakistan bag 16 shows in a multiplex.”

Kamran Lashari talked about the hard work his son put into Waar, which has received an overwhelming response at the box office. “He worked for nearly four years without getting a salary. Bilal would tell me, that if he could not make Waar a quality film, he did not deserve any money,” he said. Waar producer Hassan Waqas Rana had hired Bilal, but at the time he wondered where the capital would come from.

“Initially we had thought this would be a smaller film,” said Bilal. “But as we got involved in its making, it just expanded. “I honestly feel that a film’s budget is only one aspect of making a good film, because the greater the budget, the higher the expectations. For me, this project was a means to help me improve as an artist,” he added.

Main Hoon Shahid Afridi script writer Chaudhry said he kept reminding himself of 95% percent of Pakistanis who dream of a better life. “By addressing the class divide in our society, I feel I was able to connect better with a wider audience. I also wanted to bring a fresh outlook to the social struggles within the Pakistani society.”

Audience members couldn’t get enough of these film-makers. Questions thrown at Bilal were mostly about the film’s funding and budget, but the director chose not to disclose figures. Some women went on at length about the responsibility film-makers have, as their work is viewed by millions of people. There was criticism leveled at Bilal for the use of profanity in Waar. However, there were many who appreciated his cinematic venture and expressed a desire for more. One elderly gentleman remarked that while MHSA is about the ‘awaam’, he recalls the refined and educated cricketing legends of the ‘50s.

The Zinda Bhaag team was on the panel of a session titled ‘Pakistani Cinema Today’. The debate at this session centered on how an expanded film industry would take shape, with some suggesting that Pakistan should mimick the Iranian model.

Mazhar Zaidi, Farjad Nabi and Meenu Gaur of Zinda Bhaag gave a humble yet incisive look at their experience of making a feature film in the context of art, while meeting the commercial requirement of large-scale cinema at the same time. The trio had worked on the idea for several years before getting into production.

“There is space for first-time film-makers to try and experiment with things. When we started to explore the theme, people inevitably told stories to us,” said Nabi. Gaur added that making the film connect with a wider audience was done by making sure that the initiative was collaborative. “We made sure that everyone had a voice and was heard in the process,” she said.

At a separate session titled ‘Prevalent themes in Pakistani Television Dramas’, director Sarmad Khoosat of Manto had an enlightening discussion of sorts with actor Salman Shahid on writer Saadat Hasan Manto. He spoke of his film Manto, which will be a biopic on the life of the famed writer, but said he has been wary of too much studio-style institutionalisation. The session was also attended by Haseena Moin, Sarmad Sehbai and Asghar Nadeem Syed.

The festival concluded with Zeba Bakhtiar, who shed light on the changing idea of stardom for actors. It seemed suitable since she, like Shehnaz Sheikh on the panel, represented the older lot of the film industry. Her production venture Operation 021 is still under production.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2013.

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