SAL (Rouvan Mahmud) points the gun at Lisa (Meher Jaffri) as Rumi (Ali Junejo) looks on.–Photo by White Star.

KARACHI: When Albert Camus wrote that brilliant essay The Myth of Sisyphus in the 1940s it gave birth to a great idea, which perhaps had already been espoused by the existentialist thought that ‘life has no inherent meaning’.

This created the notion of the absurd. Playwrights such as Samuel Becket and Harold Pinter are two of its best exponents. A play titled ‘The Man on a Black Horse’, written by Rouvan Mahmood and directed by Ali Junejo at T2F on Monday evening took the audience to a realm where the line between the profound and the bizarre gets delightfully blurred.

The play oscillated between surrealistic realisations and peculiar interpretations of fact and fiction, and managed to keep the audience, which had turned up in a thin number because of the volatile city situation, engaged throughout the 90-minute duration of the drama.

According to the makers of the play, it’s inspired by the writings of Ferdosi, Rumi, Galczynski and Erich Fromm.

When the play begins, the audience sees a cell and a chair in which a girl Lisa (Meher Jaffri) is sitting. She writes ‘Reality’ on a slate and shows it to the audience. It indicates that the progression of the story will be chapter-wise, and that is exactly what happens because the following two parts of the play are ‘Madness’ and ‘Revelation’. This, however, cannot be considered in the same order. The story goes back and forth, in flashbacks and probable real-time so many times (not to mention with layers of storytelling shifting from linear to parable-like) that it becomes difficult for the viewer to ascertain which is which — reality, madness or revelation.

The story basically pivots around two soldiers Sal (Rouvan Mahmud) and Rumi (Ali Junejo). Sal is loud and assertive while Rumi, as the name suggests, is a bit of an introvert with a poetic streak. He keeps a diary from where he once reads The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in which four beings ride out on white, red, black and pale horses; black symbolises famine and pale death. Lisa appears as the mystery woman. She is not. She plays multiple characters. She can be construed as both soldiers’ conscience, their love-interest, their guilt pangs and their comfort zone.

The soldiers are fighting a war. As it happens in battles, they are confronted with situations over which they have no control. This makes them look back on their lives through different lenses. They fear death. They crave immortality. They commit heinous crimes. They long for love. So there is a kaleidoscope of feelings, situations and consequences, at the heart of which all is the feeling of a ‘lack’ of something, something that they cannot come to grip with.

Lisa keeps emerging in the scenes eliciting all kinds of feelings out of the two soldiers. Though the two men themselves often ask questions (about the futility of war, bloodshed and the rest of the evils that come with it) she is the one who instills in both the men the urge to look themselves in the mirror. At a poignant moment, for example, Sal raises the point, “Is the killer of a killer also not a killer?”

It is the movement called Madness that the existentialist thrust of the play comes forth with full force. The issue of ‘choice’ is touched on. The basic existentialist tenets ‘man is what he does’ and ‘choices in retrospect’ are nicely highlighted in the tussle, hence underlining the absurdity of the whole state of affairs.

While the makers of the play insist that their inspiration is purely literary (and it can’t be disputed) one couldn’t help notice a bit of Quentin Tarantino-like scripting. The refrain of “Is that right” by Lisa sounds Quentinesque and when Sal speaks about the horse being a dirty animal it takes the viewer back to the line from Pulp Fiction, “Pig is a filthy animal”.

Ali Junejo should be commended for directing the play well, because he chose limited physical space (only a cell) to talk about a big subject. The acting of all the three principal performers was praiseworthy. They did justice to their roles. Meher Jaffri is a natural actress. She looked particularly special when she philosophised about ‘birds’ in one sequence. Ali Junejo was at ease with being a brooding chap (he could have raised his volume a bit though). Rouvan Mahmud did well as Sal and despite being a bit excessive with his gestures never came across as over-the-top.

Now let’s come to the low points of the play. It could have been trimmed down a bit. There came a time in the play when the audience started to look at their watches. The actors are young. Hopefully, with the passage of time they will know the virtues of ‘editing’. Then some of the scenes, such as when the story of a seven or eight-year-old girl is narrated, certain things could have been left unsaid and they still would have had the right kind of effect.

On the whole, kudos!

Zeba Bakhtiar responds to a question as Asim Raza (to her left), Nadeem Mandviwalla and Meher Jaffri listen avidly during a discussion on the revival of Pakistani Cinema at T2F.–Photo by White Star

KARACHI: Some interesting as well as oft-repeated points were raised during an interactive discussion titled ‘The Revival of Pakistani Cinema’ between ad and video filmmaker Asim Raza, actress and director Zeba Bakhtiar and exhibitor and distributor of films Nadeem Madviwalla at T2F on Friday evening.

The first question put to the panellists by the moderator Meher Jaffri was on the kind of stories that Pakistani films should have.

Bakhtiar said they should reflect the aspiration of Pakistani people and have positive elements in them. She said the kind of society we lived in needed positive tales told with dignity. For that, she argued, we didn’t have to look towards India, because sufficient material could be had from our own literature and poetry. Raza echoed what Bakhtiar had said and added that romance-based stories could be written, not necessarily in the typical sense but the kind that Merchant-Ivory or Guru Dutt used to show in their films. They should have substance and provide the right kind of balance.

Mandviwalla took a different route. He informed the audience that since 2007 a change had occurred. Before that, beginning from the 1980s, there used to be gandasa films, makers of which thought that that was the kind of material that sold, even if one out of ten of such movies ran successfully. He said from that time till 2007 there was a huge gap and the entire infrastructure of the film industry collapsed. Today’s audience was different. He said now that he ran foreign films at his cinemas people teased him that he’s making money.

Mandviwalla likened films to a factory. “You produce a film and take it to a retail shop. You have to have a minimum base. You have to go according to the demand of the market.”

He remarked that Pakistani filmmakers made films for Pakistan, whereas they should make them for the international market.

He gave the example of Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Ke Liyey and Bol which made money from the Indian circuit.

On the question of the financial aspect of movie making, Bakhtiar said it was important because one needed to get an investor to make a film and the investor than had to make money out of it. Some investors, she said, had been using the profession for money laundering. She insisted that at the end of the day filmmaking was a business.

Raza pointed out that youngsters took filmmaking as a hobby. They must consider it a profession. Reflecting on how society saw filmmakers, he said there was a time when people would meet him and upon knowing that he was a filmmaker would ask what else he did, because they didn’t think movie making was a profession. As for artistic expression, he said in India they had different categories and among other genres there was meant for substantial cinema. Anything made in an intelligent and interesting manner should work. He said anyone who made a film for personal expression shouldn’t expect the audience to like it no matter what.

When the moderator asked Raza why people intended to throng to atrium mall to see Ranbir Kapoor’s latest film Barfi whereas the situation at Nishat cinema was different Raza said we needed to educate people and engage them. There was a time when an Ashfaq Ahmed play would glue families to their TV sets, but nowadays Star Plus soaps did that. He reckoned the environment that cine-goers had at cineplexes made them go there.

Mandviwalla differed with Raza and said all over the world there were rights for theatrical releases, for DVDs, and for satellite TV, but in Pakistan there were only theatrical rights. “Pakistan’s is one hundred per cent pirated market.” He said if one was getting to see free DVDs and free films on cable TV, then why would one bother to spend money. He informed the audience that India had totally followed the Hollywood model which was based on one-week recovery, that is, they made a certain target for the first week of the film’s release and built up on that. He said in Pakistan we were class conscious, not quality conscious. In India, they catered for three tiers of market — high-end, middle-end and low-end. In Pakistan we were catering to the high-end market alone and were unable to improve the low-end one.

Mandviwalla lamented that we were a seriously strange society. We let people snatch our mobile phones worth Rs5,000 and kill us, but never bothered when our intellectual property was stolen. He said the debate why we weren’t making quality films was futile because we weren’t making any films. He insisted that Shoaib Mansoor was an exception, not a rule, because had he been the latter, people would have followed him.

On the issue of pre-production hassles, Bakhtiar said there were no qualified screenplay writer, no production designer, no makeup artist and no choreographer in Pakistan. Apart from that, she commented we needed to create our own heroes. She said our girls and boys were more good-looking than Indian actors but bad lighting and makeup made them look ordinary on screen.

Raza agreed and said we needed to give respect to the technical staff involved in filmmaking. Everybody in Pakistan wanted to become a director, he lamented.

Replying to the question of formal training for acting, Bakhtiar in a lighter vein said every Pakistani woman knew how to act, and one day she decided that she should get paid for it. With regard to the issue of the censor board, Mandviwalla narrated a few amusing incidents. He then apprised the audience that after the 18th amendment it was a provincial matter; but Sindh and Punjab were yet to have their boards. To date films went to Islamabad for certification where someone did the needful but he couldn’t watch the films because they were a provincial subject.

After the discussion the floor was opened to the public for a question-answer session.

(L-R) Mohib Mirza and Aamina Sheikh

A chance to see husband-wife duo Aamina Sheikh and Mohib Mirza together on screen is pretty much all the motivation needed for a Pakistani movie and drama buff to watch the latest indie wonder “Seedlings” also known as “Lamha”

Lamha weaves through the life of a young couple Maliha (Aamina Sheikh) and Raza (Mohib Mirza) and those affected by their deep struggle to reconnect after the loss of their only child in a tragic accident.

Maliha is an artist who suffers from OCD and recluse behavior since the death of her son, and Raza, a photographer who ignores his own feelings since the death of his son. Both have come to a cross-roads in their relationship where they may completely fall apart or be brought together to overcome their trauma.

Director Mansoor Mujahid, a SZABIST graduate, seamlessly layered the obstacles of each character into each scene.

Sheikh and Mirza perfected the role of the tortured husband and wife – struggling to find what each had before the accident. Their road to re-discovery is one full of the typical misunderstandings between the man and woman relationship dynamic except the background is based on a terrible tragedy.

Lamha’s most intriguing character was Anil (Gohar Rasheed), a guilt-driven driver. Anil is uncomfortable and shifty – never having suffered the consequences of his actions – making the audience members just as uncomfortable and shifty in their seats. Rasheed seems to have crossed the bridge and become the new look-out artist; his adaptability is an art in itself.

The most enthralling scene is when Maliha and Anil finally confront each other after months of agony. The confrontation is jolting if nothing else – flood gates that spilled real anger and hurt.

Gohar Rasheed.

Intentional or not, Mujahid had a fourth main character – the silent character is his use of light. He used light, darkness, and shadows to portray emotions rather than speech. There is a quiet scene where Maliha stands in the shadows and Raza behind her in the light – not saying a word but the tension built up around them spoke volumes. It had a creeping emotional result – which was not too abstract – it was just the right amount for its purpose.

Whether or not, Mujahid planned for this feature film to become what it is; heartbreaking, captivating, and an engrossing piece of work – “Lamha” has ultimately set the standard for future feature films that come out of Pakistan.

The production house is Bodhicitta Works whose CEO Meher Jaffri was also one of the main the producers for “Lamha.”

“Lamha” or “Seedlings” is currently being shown in New York as part of the New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) – one of the 100 films picked from thousands.

It has been nominated for the following categories: Best Picture, Best Director (Mansoor Mujahid), Best Actress in a Lead Role (Aamina Sheikh), Best Actor in a Lead Role (Mohib Mirza), Best Actor in a supporting Role (Gohar Rasheed) and Best Original Screenplay (Summer Nicks).

The author is a former Dawn.com staff member, now based in New York.

Aamina Sheikh plays a leading role in the film “Lamha” along with her husband Mohib Mirza. – Image taken from film promo

KARACHI, July 3: The entire cast and production team of Lamha, a Pakistani feature film, is excited about its chances of winning awards at the New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) where the movie will have its world premier this August.

“Some 3,000 films entered from which they narrowed the entries to a 100 films to be screened at the festival. But Lamha, besides being short listed, has also been entered in the competition making it eligible for the best producer, best director, best writer, best actor awards,” said Meher Jaffri, the film producer, and CEO of Bodhicitta Works, a relatively new production company, while speaking to Dawn on Tuesday.

Lamha has been publicised as Seedlings in English internationally.

NYCIFF is held annually at Times Square, New York, and runs in conjunction with the NYFilmMarket, the only film market in the US East Coast.

The producer is quite upbeat about the chances of the film after the response they got from the festival director Roberto Rizzo who wrote its press release himself with nice comments for the film. “Then this film is also the only thing coming from Pakistan at the festival. New York, anyway, is also a hub of filmmakers,” she said.

The film is scheduled to be released in Pakistan by late fall.

The story of Lamha revolves around three lives that are bound together by a devastating accident, in an intricately woven story of loss, forgiveness and redemption. The characters, played by Aamina Sheikh, Mohib Mirza and Gohar Rasheed, face the terrifying prospect of piecing together the semblance of normal life.

Aamina Sheikh’s breakthrough performance comes hot on the heels of her 2012 Lux Style Award Best Actress nomination, while this marks yet another accolade for Mohib Mirza after his win as the Best Supporting Actor at the International Filmmakers’ Festival 2009, at Kent, the UK.

Sharing their experience, Mohib Mirza and Aamina Sheikh said, “Working with Bodhicitta Works was tremendous. Their thorough and detailed pre-production process, dynamic and effective rehearsals, tight team-work, professional follow-up, cast and crew treatment, level of mutual respect and realistic scheduling was nothing short of impressive. The project getting international recognition at the NYCIFF is surely a reflection of such unwavering commitment and dedication of all those who literally ‘lived every moment of Lamha’. We feel that this is just the start of making a difference and creating opportunities. Its fruit belongs to the risk takers who stood for it while others weighed and waited.”

The story of the film has been penned by Summer Nicks “also a producer and my partner in our production company”. Asked if it is just a simple story or does it also involve the politics or social problems of Pakistan, the producer said, “Well, it is a story based in Pakistan, but it is just a human interest drama and doesn’t carry any political or social agenda, although our second project Kolachi, the highly anticipated sci-fi feature still in pre-production stage, is more current affairs. Another short musical film Ruckus featuring Usman Riaz premiered in Karachi with his debut album launch on June 15.”

Lamha has been directed by debutant director Mansoor Mujahid.

The New York City International Film Festival takes place this year from Aug 9 to 16.

The music of Lamha is to be hailed as a piece of art in itself. Usman Riaz – the 21-year-old musical prodigy and 2012 TEDGlobal Fellow — has composed the musical score of the film that features vocals by Zoe Viccaji. The rest of the film comprises classic songs by the renowned Mehdi Hasan in a tribute to the late ghazal singer. “We have used original old songs of Mehdi Hasan,” said Ms Jaffri. Usman Riaz and Zoe Viccaji have also been nominated this year in their respective musical categories for Lux Style Awards.

During correspondence through emails and phone calls with the team Bodhicitta Works, we found out that “Kolachi” was only a trailer packaged and completed by them to showcase it to the production companies and since the script and the whole vision needed a large-scale kind of production, the team decided to wait to get to the right time to do it without any equivocation.

However, what we also found out was that the team has been working on a feature length film, known as “Seedlings – Lamha” which is finalised and ready to hit the theaters soon. Dawn.com met up with the team Mansoor Mujahid – the director, Summer Nicks – writer and producer and Meher Jaffri – producer, to know about their exciting journey of making “Seedlings – Lamha”.