Churails, Cake and censorship

Filmmaker Asim Abbasi shares his ideas behind Churails

KARACHI:

For writer and director Asim Abbasi, freedom of expression is the ability to tell stories as openly and honestly as possible.

This he communicated during a session titled 'Freedom of Expression in Art and Literature' at the 12th Karachi Literature Festival on Saturday. "It is the authenticity that we strive for [in our stories] and that comes with having an honest conversation," said Abbasi.

Self-censorship in storytelling Discussing his web series Churails (2020), which had sparked a controversy, the filmmaker explained that using the burqa as a veil behind which women could do anything they wanted was a symbolic depiction of women superheroes in capes.

"For me…it was women hiding behind something that is usually used to hold them back," said Abbasi.

The filmmaker said his intention was to honestly depict women from all kinds of backgrounds and while he admitted that the depiction had cultural references, he clarified that any religious context seen in the film was not intentional.

Speaking about self-censorship, which Abbasi said had a significant role in the production of any work of art, he gave the reference of his film Cake (2018).

"It was a simple film, but I felt hesitant every time one of the sisters would crack a joke in the film, thinking it may sound slightly indecent," he shared with the audience.

Then, comparing his experience of making Cake and Churails, he said he had received multiple calls to censor the content in Cake, but since Churails was meant for the web, which is still a "free space," he faced no such problems during the making at least.

He was of the view that banning any content was a disservice to the people who worked on the project and it only leads to discouraging people from producing content in Pakistan. However, he added, there should be a proper rating system to decide what content is appropriate for which audience.

The session, which was moderated by the author of a collection of poems titled, Unbridled Romance of Love and Pain (2019), Safina Danish Elahi, featured novelist Osman Haneef besides Abbasi. On the matter of the integrity of a story not being compromised due to self-censorship, Haneef said it was important not to worry too much about the outcomes and reactions while writing or creating a piece.

Recalling his conversation with Turkish novelist Elif Shafak on writing on controversial subjects and the possible reactions to it, he said Shafak told him that thinking about these things would only prevent one from producing anything worthwhile.