Karachi from a wanderer’s gaze

Lahore-based film-maker Hira Nabi screens two Karachi-centric films at The Second Floor on Friday.

KARACHI:

Karachi doesn’t seem to scare film-maker Hira Nabi. While most of its residents bad-mouth the city, Nabi sees the beauty of Karachi through her lens. On Friday, she screened two of her films at an event titled Karachi Conversations, at The Second Floor (T2F).

“It’s like experiencing different moments — some intimate, others based on oral history,” said Nabi. “People are often scared of Karachi, but these are just myths. I am from Lahore yet still exploring this city through my films.”

Hampshire College graduate Nabi, who studied video, gender studies and post colonial theory, is a teaching artist. She is also a part of Lahore’s arts collective called Chalo Chalo Lahore Chalo. The two short films titled Beach Kahani and Karachi Sessions, which were made at the end of 2012, are set in contemporary Karachi. The film-maker believes both of her films are an informal way of adding value to the city. “I am an outsider and my eyes are a wandering gaze, delving into the intimate kind of knowledge about Karachi,” she added.

Beach Kahani

The film is almost four-minutes-long, and was screened first. It deals with issues of patriarchy which is very evident in our culture. The story is about a young girl in Lahore, who plans on visiting a beach in Karachi. The men in her life, however, tell her not to go due to the high crime rate and the fear of what could happen.  The voices in the background do justice to the patriarchal mind-set that governs other people and their lives.

Karachi Sessions

The other film was 15-minutes-long in which Nabi re-lives how the old Karachi was, with her mother’s voice in the background. She visualises the city and the intricate details of life which we miss. Her mother’s nostalgia is evident in the film which shows that the city reeks of pollution and the roads are always congested. But her mother reminisces the old times; when there used to be a “fresh sea-breeze” which would calm the residents of Patel Bagh (now Nishtar Bagh).  Nabi’s mother also speaks of the late night jalsas and learning to dance and how she would apply fresh coconut water on her skin.  She also mimics a koel, which used to visit their verandah. She cries, remembering the good old days of the city, where she was born and brought up.

After the screenings, when Nabi spoke in detail about the films, she explained her mother’s emotional bond to the city. “My mother missed her childhood,” said Nabi. “She missed the best time spent in this city and definitely her parents.”

Nabi also commented on the “old Karachi” which she feels has faded away. “I went back and forth to Karachi,” she said. “Nostalgia is a dangerous emotion. I had my experiences that I could see through.”

At the end of the session, the film-maker also commented about the audio and video of her films. “Visuals came first,” said Nabi with a smile. “And the audio was already in my head.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2013.

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