Indus Blues showcased at PNCA festival

A documentary about the struggles of Pakistani folk artists along the length of the mighty Indus River was showcased during the Divvy Film Festival at the Pakistan National Council of the Art (PNCA) on Friday.

The six-week film festival has been organised by the Foundation Art Divvy in collaboration with PNCA and shows films from the depth and breadth of powerful independent Pakistani cinema at the council’s open-air theatre every Friday for the duration of the festival.

On Friday, two films were screened. The first was “Some lover to some beloved” by Umar Riaz. It traced the life of veteran actor Zia Mohyeddin. Key events, moods and character of the actor were strung throughout the documentary like words written in a Faiz Ahmed Faiz poem.

The film even showed footage from one evening in Lahore where Mohyeddin paid tribute to Faiz by reciting his poetry. The other documentary was “Indus Blues”. Directed by Jawad Sharif, it traced the struggle of folk artists who, like the once-mighty river in many areas, have been fading away.

It showcased dying musical instruments such as Raanti, Balochi Banjo, Sarina, Suroz and the Murli Been being played by perhaps their last remaining maestros. It also took the audience on a mystical journey from the coast in the sought to the heights of the Karakoram mountains in the north, chronicling the music that emerges along the 1,500 kilometres between those to points where the river snakes and meanders.

More than just how the folk culture changes as per the height and depth of the river, the film showed how the lives living along the river and their traditions have been impacted.