Smells like a revolution

Chambaili, the latest Pakistani film to hit theatres believes in the combining power that both hope and the vote can bring. With elections just round the corner, Chambaili couldn’t have been released at a more opportune time.

It’s a country that looks, sounds and behaves almost exactly like Pakistan. Some of the characters remind you of the friends you could’ve had, the politicians depicted in the film seem uncannily similar to those that have been operating in Pakistan for decades. The situations are either what we’ve been through or heard about from someone else. Falakabad is the Land of the Pure in every sense except in name.

Chambaili: the Fragrance of Freedom, is the latest Pakistani film to hit theatres and with much fanfare. Running a campaign prior to the film’s release that relied almost solely on engaging people through social media, trailers for the film began running on TV just a short while before its release. The film has been co-produced, written and with art direction by Shahzad Nawaz whose previous work includes the commercially unreleased Botal Gali (2005) and Daira (2003) — a film based on Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid’s book, Mothsmoke. This time around Shahzad Nawaz has taken a backseat when it comes to direction. That task was taken up by Ismail Jilani. And he’s done a pretty decent job. Abdullah Kadwani has also co-produced the film.

Everything in the film was made from scratch — from the national flag to the number plates on the cars to the logo of the local police and the names of the political parties, the visual identity markers to the names of the places and institutions etc. The entire country is, in short, fictional.

The plot

Chambaili is the story of four friends in a country called Falakabad where political rallies have a tendency of turning violent, where ruling political dynasties are the norm and corruption is rampant. There is land grabbing, targeted killing, political deals and all that’s on TV is the news, political talk shows or news about how bad things are in the country. Sound familiar?

These four friends find themselves unwittingly caught between a case of land grabbing and extortion by a major ruling party, assault, the police’s utter unwillingness to take action and peoples’ apathy towards the conditions of the country. Through the strength and courage of one friend, Musa, they decide to stand up to the injustice they feel subjected to and see taking place with impunity around them. Sacrifices are made along the way and the friends face a lot of hardships, but stubborn belief in their cause keeps them going.

The actors

The film’s main cast includes Salman Peerzada, Khalid Ahmed, Maira Khan, Shafqat Cheema, Omair Rana, Sadia Hayat, Saiqa Khayyam, Ali Tahir, Ehtisham, Khalid Qureshi, Fatima, Ali Fateh, Humayun bin Rathor and Shahzad Nawaz with a special guest appearance by Ghulam Mohiuddin.

Maira Khan hasn’t been as prominent on TV screens of late and she delivers a stellar performance in Chambaili as Kiran, a die-hard idealist with courage that defies any sense of caution. Shafqat Cheema as Musheer (city president of the Inquilaab party) also gives a noteworthy performance as a politician who would switch sides and betray those who trust him simply to get ahead. Fashion model Mehreen Syed plays the role of the protagonist’s love interest and looks breathtakingly beautiful in almost every frame. And she surprised with her acting skill as she was quite convincing in her role — more so than another model-turned-film actor who has starred in two previous high-profile productions.

Salman Peerzada as chairman of the Inquilaab party, Sardar Jan Sher, and Khaled Ahmed as the president of the religious/political party, Hizbe Haq, both are seasoned performers in their own right and have delivered stellar performances.

The real star of the film, however, remains Ehtishamuddin as Musa Azeem — a conscientious, driven idealist who leads his friends into taking a stand against the injustice they are suffering and work to bring about change. It is his words that define the essence of the film’s message. They spurred the ‘revolution’ that takes place in the film.

The soundtrack

Except for maybe one or two songs, the soundtrack is nothing to write home about. Most of the songs lacked originality and weren’t memorable. One song that did stand out played towards the end of the film, just when the credits begin to roll. Called Azadi and inspired by the struggle of the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, the song has a beautiful, melodious and haunting quality to it.

Hailing the winds of change

Chambaili has very strong dialogues that resonate long after the film is over. It is a well-made film that flows smoothly throughout its running time and keeps the viewer engaged which is a feat in itself. Chambaili is a testament to how far Shahzad Nawaz has come from Daira and Botal Gali.

The film believes in the combining power that both hope and the vote can bring. With elections just round the corner, Chambaili couldn’t have been released at a more opportune time.

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Ethno-nationalist movements in Europe discussed

KARACHI, April 25: History of the ethno-nationalist movements in Europe and their impact on immigration was discussed at a workshop titled “Politics of identity in contemporary Europe: challenges for the cultural coherence of the European Union in the context of national, ethnic and ultra-right politics,” organised by the Area Study Centre for Europe at Karachi University in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad on Thursday.

Dr Rashid Ahmad Khan, dean of the faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Law at the University of Sargodha, began his talk by describing the inherent difference between what is considered ethnicity and nationality. He said the rise of xenophobic movements in Europe relates directly to Europeans living for decades in conditions of mass unemployment and job uncertainty. He explained that they felt threatened that new waves of immigrants were taking over the few employment opportunities they were left with. “There is also the fear of alien culture or of being swamped into a sea of alien culture,” he added.

Adding to a growing sense of paranoia and hostility in Europe is the rise of right-wing politics in the region, said Dr Mutahir Ahmed, a professor at the Department of International Relations at the University of Karachi, while providing a brief history of right-wing politics in Europe.

“This has propagated the fears of a clash of civilisations in the West,” he said, adding that this had been gaining momentum for the past two decades.

Dr Tanveer Khalid from the Political Science Department of Karachi University spoke about the ‘Identification of Europe by the international community: A Pakistani perspective’.

Referring to the war against terrorism, she said: “Pakistan’s strategic position must be better analysed by European states. This should be done in a way that does not show extra concern regarding religious, ethnic and ideological issues while ignoring the political and security aspect altogether. Pakistan expects more and is willing to do more but has concerns regarding certain global issues as well as dialogues on issues of specific concern to Pakistan i.e. relations with India, the situation in Kashmir and Palestine.”

Sajjad Ahmad, a research fellow at the ASCE, talked about using Scotland as a case study when discussing European integration and the challenges of nationalism.

He gave an account of the history of nationalism and the system of government in Scotland and how it was linked and affected by the UK. Mr Ahmad mentioned that the nationalist movement in Scotland was not as violent as was in other parts of the world. He also highlighted the UK’s accommodating nature when dealing with Scotland’s nationalist movement where the people of Scotland would get to decide upon its secession at the referendum that would take place there next year.

Earlier, Dr Uzma Shujaat, official in charge of the ASCE, said: “Globalisation and the process of economic de-territorialisation will stimulate the demand for a redefinition of identities in Europe.”

She said developing a European identity was high on the list of EU priorities. It would be interesting to see how institutions created a European culture while retaining national identities, she added.

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‘First political film made in Pakistan’ introduced

KARACHI: “Sheer belief has pushed me to make this film, which is the first political movie made in Pakistan over the past 65 years,” said filmmaker Shahzad Nawaz about his upcoming film, Chambaili, while speaking at the South Asian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday.

Mr Nawaz’s previous films include an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s book, Mothsmoke, into a feature called Daira (2003) and Botal Gali (2005), a film set against the backdrop of a conflict between bootleggers and bonded warehouses, resulting in a dearth of alcohol in Karachi.

Responding to the suggestion that Botal Gali couldn’t find a cinematic release due to a lack of avenues, Mr Nawaz said, “You open avenues yourself. I decided not to. You have to demand your right — especially in a country where your rights are taken away every day. I will release it the day I feel like it. And it will find a release.”

Fully titled, Chambaili: the fragrance of freedom, the film has been written and co-produced by Shahzad Nawaz and directed by Ismail Jilani. Set against a political backdrop, the film purports itself to be a ‘saga of courage, romance and sacrifice of a group of friends who are led by circumstances and incidents to find themselves at the crossroads of fate’. Some of the actors starring in the film include Salman Peerzada, Khalid Ahmed, Maira Khan, Shafqat Cheema, Omair Rana, Sadia Hayat, Saiqa Khayyam, Ali Tahir, Ehtisham, Khalid Qureshi, Fatima, Ali Fateh, Humayun Bin Rathor and Shahzad Nawaz with a special guest appearance by Ghulam Mohiuddin.

“This is a 100 per cent Pakistani film and we take great pride in saying that,” said the director while introducing the film. “The revival of cinema doesn’t take place with one film or by corporate-sponsored projects on TV. How is the corporate sector going to bring about a revival? They’re here to sell products.”

“What does a film have anything to do with TV?” he questioned, “There will be a revival of cinema when we start treating films like films.”

“When I made this film I only had Rs7,000 with me,” the filmmaker said hinting at the struggle involved in making the film. “Yet I believe it’s the biggest film ever produced in the country,” he said. “Every intelligent person told me that this would sink. But when you connect with your soul, you lose the fear of losing. Every time the film ran out of money, it came in from somewhere,” he provided.

Asked about his decision to cast relative newcomers in the film, Mr Nawaz responded, “What’s the point of picking up established stars to ensure the success of the film? Where is my input then? I haven’t cast actors — I have cast characters. And the characters need to be bigger than the film.”

During the talk, he showed videos of two songs from a film, Bahar, which showed the making of the film and is dedicated to his cast and crew, and Azadi — a song inspired by the freedom fighter, Bhagat Singh.

Talking about the potential impact of films as a medium through which to communicate ideas and educate audiences, he said, “There is always hope. I realised I have a bigger platform than that of our President, Prime Minister, Army chief and a two-hour press conference put together. This will become a part of our cultural archive and people will give references to it 50 years from now.” He related that a roundabout in Lahore where a part of the film had been shot was now officially called Chambeli Chowk.

As a word of advice to the film students, he said, “Whatever you do, do it from the heart. Even if the world tells you you’re wrong. We weren’t born to spend the rest of our lives trying to prove to people that we’re right.”

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Pushing the pedal for a cause

Photograph courtesy: Critical Mass Karachi

KARACHI, April 22: It is always heartening to see people give back to the community. What better way to do it than in an activity that is both healthy and fun to do?

Learning how to ride a bicycle is a skill most parents teach their children, yet they rarely ride bicycles themselves as adults. Although there is a Tour de Pakistan that takes place from Peshawar to Karachi every two years courtesy the Pakistan Cycling Federation, bicycle riding as a sport has yet to capture our national fancy the way cricket has and the way hockey used to.

Critical Mass is a part of a global social movement to reclaim the streets. It is present in over 300 cities around the world and requires no formal membership — the only criteria being that interested participants should know how to ride a bicycle. Critical Mass exists in Pakistan predominantly in three cities: Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

After organising approximately 88 successful rides in the past three and a half years, Critical Mass Karachi did a charity ride in support of Deaf Reach. A part of the Family Educational Services Foundation, Deaf Reach schools aims to provide education to hearing-impaired children throughout the country. Most of their faculty is also hearing-impaired and are previous graduates of the school.

Appealing to their friends, families and acquaintances for financial support, each rider rode 20km in exchange for a donation of Rs 1,000 from each person. More than 90 people showed up to participate.

The ride started shortly after dawn, around 6.30am and concluded around 8.00am. The riders assembled at a fast food restaurant on main Sea View road and followed Sea View road into Defence’s phase 8, completing a loop back to the restaurant.

Several celebrities were also spotted on the ride including Pakistani-British film and TV actor, Alyy Khan, and musician Ali Alam besides a few others.

Critical Mass Karachi usually does not conduct rides for charity but they made an exception in this case because, according to a senior member, Mustansir Bandukwala, “Daniel Marc Lantheir (who works at Family Educational Services Foundation is one of our regular riders. And because everyone else supported it.”

At the end of the ride, Deaf Reach announced that the event raised enough money to support the education of seven students at their school.

Ahsan Qadir
— Photography: Zahid Younus Habib

One of the advanced riders from the group, Ahsan Qadir, broke previously held records for maximum distance ridden in a month by bicycling 3,000km in March. As a show of appreciation for his achievement, another member of Critical Mass Karachi supported the education of one child at Deaf Reach in his name.

“I wasn’t expecting that my efforts were going to be rewarded that way,” he said. When he was short of 200km in reaching his 3,000km mark another member from the group promised to sponsor the education of one child at Deaf Reach if Ahsan met his goal. He did.

“On the one hand I was feeling a lot of pride at completing 3,000km in one month and on the other I was incredibly happy that that effort helped educate a child as well,” said the ace bicycle rider happily. Although completing 3,000km in one month was no mean feat, Ahsan said that he would happily do it again. “As long as it helps educate another child,” he added.

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‘Tell story of Pakistan to world through your films’

Mira Nair via Skype

“No one knows the world in Pakistan as well as you do. Tell that story through your films,” said award-winning New York-based Indian filmmaker Mira Nair during a session on ‘Independent film financing and publicity’ on the last day of the International Conference on Film and Television.

The three-day conference organised by the South Asian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Television ended on Wednesday.

Ms Nair’s, whose session was broadcast over Skype to the audience, is set to release her film, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, based on Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid’s eponymous titled book, sometime later this month. The film starring Pakistani artist Meesha Shafi in a supporting role will be released in Pakistan and India in May.

“It took me five years to make. Longer than any other film I’ve made,” said Ms Nair while talking about her film. She mentioned that she was inspired to make that film during a trip to Lahore sometime in 2004 or 2005.

Her father was born, bred and educated in Lahore and later moved to India. “We were raised as Lahoris in India without realising it,” related Ms Nair, “When I went there, Lahore was both familiar and dazzling for me, because it showed a portrait of Pakistan that you don’t see in India or anywhere else for that matter.”

She mentioned meeting Mr Hamid and discussing the possibility of converting his book into a film. But it took around eight to nine months to find a writer who was able and would be willing to adapt the book into a screenplay — an unusually long time, according to Ms Nair.

“There is a lot of ignorance in this part of the world about South Asia and there is a lot of arrogance in that ignorance,” she said.

Pakistani artiste Meesha Shafi, Indian actor Om Puri and Mira Nair

She enlisted the help of a writer she had worked with for almost a decade, Ami Boghani, and he and Mr Hamid set about working on developing the script. Later on, William Wheeler, joined hands with them in the scriptwriting process as well.

Financing the film was extremely hard. “No one wanted to touch the film,” said Ms Nair. “A producer once offered two million dollars which, considering the Hollywood cast, crew and foreign locations, was barely enough to cover costs.”

She added that the same producer, under the influence, very blatantly said to her ‘You can shoot at Rockaway Beach, darling, but when you have a Muslim protagonist, that is all you’re going to get’.

Undeterred, Ms Nair continued to work on the film. “We set up the movie twice and it collapsed twice with the same cast and crew,” she said. “One of our investors ran away so we had to send everyone home at one point. In the end we only had one investor left.”

They shot the entire film in digital format and had the postproduction done in India, which reduced their costs on a very large scale.

The end result, according to Ms Nair, was well worth the effort. “The film was made with complete creative freedom. Not a single thing was censored, which not a lot of film-makers can say,” she said proudly.

When asked as to how she managed to secure financing for her film she responded: “The magic potion is money. My films usually don’t lose money. When investing in a film, no one is handing down charity. Also, you develop relationships with distributors who believe in your work.”

Ms Nair praised the work of New York-based Pakistani filmmaker Mehreen Jabbar, saying that it was very important for her that Ms Jabbar made her second film. “She is really talented and has a singular vision. I’ve never seen the kind of work she has done in her films anywhere else. They are like jewels.”

“Do not burden yourself with the idea of going global,” she said as a word of advice, “Don’t go with the fame before you make the film. If you are true to your work, the message you are trying to send will be universal. No one knows the world in Pakistan as well as you. Work with your community to make a film that touches you.”

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‘Saving a cinema house is like saving film industry’

Nishat Cinema in 1978

KARACHI, April 16: “A film runs in cinemas. It is their retail shop through which they get their product to the people. It generates revenue for the film. If you don’t have cinemas, then you don’t have a working film industry,” stressed Nadeem Mandviwalla, the owner and managing director of Mandviwalla Entertainment — that also owns several prominent cinema houses across the country.

Mr Mandviwalla was giving a talk on ‘Film censorship, distribution and exhibition” on the second day of the International Conference on Film and Television currently being held at the South Asian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Television.

At the beginning of the session, a small video clip of film director Syed Noor was shown to the audiences in which he was alleging that film distributors and exhibitors who were bringing in Indian films were simply doing it for profit-making purposes and working against the development of the Pakistani cinema industry.

Nadeem Mandviwalla

Responding to that allegation, Mr Mandviwalla said that not a single Indian film had been imported into the country for 40 years and yet the state of the Pakistani cinema industry kept deteriorating. “Indian films were allowed to save our cinema industry,” he said. “When 250 cinemas closed down between 2005 and 2007 that is when the government decided that in order to save cinemas they needed to do this.”

He added that a ‘formula’ was created through which each individual film has to be approved by the relevant authority before it can be imported. “Every film is imported on a case-to-case basis,” he stressed.

“Syed Noor is saying cinema owners have been reaping money all their lives. He should’ve made a cinema from the revenue he generated from his films then!” he retorted humorously.

Talking about the large gap in terms of quality of production, storytelling etc. that exists between Pakistani films when compared to foreign films as the real reason behind the downfall of the local cinema industry, he said that two major Pakistani films were released on screens in Nishat and Atrium cinemas last year. In one of them, only eight people attended the first show.
And, according to him, they left halfway in between the film.

“Whoever comes to see a film doesn’t think in terms of India, Pakistan, American, patriotism etc,” he said, “They think in terms of whether the film is good or bad. They don’t care about anything else.”

Adopting protectionist policies isolates the Pakistani cinema industry from the world. This approach that has not worked in the past and it prevents local industry members from creating a film on a globally acceptable standard. “You can’t isolate yourself from the world,” he said. “You can try. If you promote yourself then you have to do the work for it. When Bol was coming on cinemas, Shoaib Mansoor didn’t demand that we take Indian films off. He worked. And his films, as a result, worked.”

Mr Mandviwalla mentioned that a strong revenue-generating model was essential for the growth of the cinema industry because producing better quality films require bigger budgets. Hence the more cinemas you create, the more avenues there are for films to be shown, the more money can be generated out of the industry.

“If your whole country is watching stolen material, how are you going to make money off your film,” he asked, while talking about the adverse effect rampant piracy has on the cinema industry.

Relating an incident in which he unsuccessfully tried to get members of the cinema industry involved in an anti-piracy campaign, he said, “Your local industry is of the opinion that piracy is not their problem. They consider that it is the problem of the Indian cinema industry because, well, Pakistani films aren’t getting pirated!”

Talking about the difficulties faced by cinema owners in Pakistan, he mentioned that Nishat was the only cinema that was insured when angry mobs in Pakistan set fire to cinema houses in September last year. “Even then the insurance company refused to pay saying that the insurance policy didn’t cover damage on these grounds!” he said.

Mr Mandviwalla is of the opinion that the Pakistani cinema industry is already on its way to a revival. “Before we were making films in isolation,” he said, adding that, “That standard was acceptable only in Pakistan, not anywhere else. Now the films we make will be acceptable around the world.”

“Stop complaining,” he advised, “stop complaining. Stop blaming Indian content. When I came in 1980 there was nobody and everything was in decline. Bit by bit, the industry kept dying. In 2006, we overturned it. Before, you never had a chance. Now you do. It is up to you to prove you can create something.”

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‘Addiction to piracy keeps cinema from growing’

Javed Jabbar at the South Asian Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Television
— Photo by Madeeha Syed

KARACHI: “How can our cinema grow when we are addicted to seeing what we can for free? We’re lining the pockets of the pirates instead of artists and those investing in films,” said former minister, advertiser and rights activist Javed Jabbar while responding to a question from the audience on the first day of the International Conference on Film and Television (ICFT) on Monday.

“Pakistanis have become addicted to piracy, while no action has been taken on the legal front to enforce it,” Mr Jabbar said during a talk on ‘Public service broadcasting, the role of Pemra (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authortity) and the electronic media’.

“We as citizens have completely lost respect for the law and that has resulted in us adopting a very warped sense of ethics.
Changing this will require a fundamental change in our society,” he added.

Earlier, he opened the talk by giving a brief but colourful background of how Pemra came into existence and his role in the introduction of privately-owned broadcast media in a non-discriminatory fashion.

In response to a question about accountability and lack of checks and balances that are enforced in the electronic media by Pemra, Mr Jabbar responded that there were two sides to this story and that Pemra couldn’t be held solely responsible. “The moment Pemra serves a notice on a television channel, the channel immediately rushes to get a stay order on that notice,” he explained.

He mentioned that at the moment there were over 72 cases pending in the high court with stay orders on them. “The judicial system also needs to work on this but at the moment their focus is elsewhere,” he added.

About the challenges of monitoring electronic content, he mentioned that one of the major mistakes made by Pemra was to allow cable network operators to run their own channels. “We officially have 87 registered channels,” he said, “but we have 15,000 de facto channels. A fundamental error by Pemra was to allow each cable network to operate four to five of their channels. They are not regulated and they are running pirated content. How can any regulatory body monitor 15,000
channels?”

Public service broadcasting
Highlighting the need for public service broadcasting, Mr Jabbar outlined the two factors that differentiate it from other mainstream media. He said that it should be subject to any control, especially by the state, and free of commercial and profit-making interest.

He also outlined six potential sources of financing that included philanthropy. He cited the Indus Hospital and the Layton Rehmattulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT) as examples of initiatives that have been running on donations while doing a commendable job in serving mankind. Mr Jabbar added that other sources of financing included local and foreign grants, sponsorship by advertisers, user subscriptions, endowment funds etc.

Referring to the content, Mr Jabbar was of the opinion that the tone of public service broadcasts should not be adversarial. “I believe there is a lot of drama in good news. Unfortunately, in Pakistan, our media generally believes that only bad news has drama. This is something journalism all around the world suffers from,” he said.

He stressed that focus on the quality of content trumped the importance placed on ratings in a public service broadcast medium. Should a public service broadcast be limited to conventional channels? “Social media has opened up new channels,” said Mr Jabbar, adding that in this day age, conventional channels shouldn’t be necessary in a public service broadcast, but due to high poverty, “social media’sreach is very limited in Pakistan and it will take around ten to twenty years to change that.”

The conference was organised by South Asian Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Television (Saampt).

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MADEEHA SYED

Smells like a revolution

Ethno-nationalist movements in Europe discussed

‘First political film made in Pakistan’ introduced

Pushing the pedal for a cause

‘Tell story of Pakistan to world through your films’

‘Saving a cinema house is like saving film industry’

‘Addiction to piracy keeps cinema from growing’

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