Saba Ahmed reviews the drama serial ‘Bashar Momin’
A truly grand undertaking, the drama serial “Bashar Momin†(BM), is being billed as Pakistan’s most expensive production yet. Faisal Qureshi plays the immoral and ill-tempered lead, along with a host of other talented actors. I sat down with Faisal to talk about BM, a serial packed with twists, and laden with bad-boy appeal.
Faisal tells me it was the desire for perfection of director Ali Raza Usama (of Shahid Afridi fame) that just the initialisation of serial, fine tuning the script, casting, etc., took over five months to complete. The look and wardrobe for each character was carefully hashed out. The team was expanded to feature specialist superstars including Nabila, TT Baji (the makeup artist extraordinaire), Ahmed Bham for exquisite suits, Rani Siddiqui for women’s wardrobe, Samia Azmay for women’s accessories, Humayun Alamgir for menswear, Cotton & Cotton and Nadia Chhotani, premium jeweler, to name just a few!
“We took our time and did not rush shooting,†says Faisal, adding, “the culture of conducting acting workshops on set prior to shooting — something that has become rare in television productions nowadays — was revisited for BM.†They had script readings and the actors took time conducting workshops to discuss the shades and hues of their characters.
“I receive many messages that say, ‘I hate you, Bashar,'” Faisal laughs, to which my response is always, “It’s a drama!”
“Along the way,†laughs Faisal, “it was revealed to me that my character is a terribly angry dude. Truth be told, I was a bit anxious after this piece of news!†Bashar, an bitter, angry alcoholic, has a complicated back story that will be revealed much later and — spoiler! — may make everyone hate him less. “Playing Bashar was very new for me and I personally do not get angry as he does,†Faisal told me. “I have not played a particularly villainous role before.†Bashar’s character uses anger and intimidation to cover up his insecurities, which makes for very enjoyable cliffhangers along the way. For example, he will just have yelled at someone and will come sit quietly and calmly with his sisters. “I receive many messages that say, ‘I hate you, Bashar,’†Faisal laughs, to which my response is always, “It’s a drama! And you may not feel the same after episode 20!†Certainly, our audiences are much less receptive to a character that is grey, and not categorically a villain, or a hero.
I found Bashar’s character callous, terrorising Rudaba, his sister’s nand at whim, and using brute force to convince those close to him. Rudaba and those around him are shown as subjugated by his moody behavior, with no way out. His character in these early few episodes is portrayed as possessing no redeemable human qualities.
Once, while shooting a basant scene, they were scheduled to start at 8 am sharp and just before everything was just ready, a great wind blew down the whole set
The cast and crew came together as a family, Faisal tells me; everyone lent a helping hand. Once, while shooting a basant scene, they were scheduled to start at 8 am sharp and just before everything was just ready, a great wind blew down the whole set. “But everyone struggled to put back the set — every crew member, every technician, and all the girls in full hair and makeup!†says Faisal. “I was running around doing something or the other and Sami too was running around putting out fires.â€
A new documentary featuring Pakistani superwomen
Having toured across the United States, “Pakistan Four,” a heartwarming documentary, is finally making its way to the motherland. Director Shehzad Hameed has taken the ongoing slew of negative media that surrounds Pakistan and has turned it on its head, shedding light on the inspiring acts of determination as exemplified by four young Pakistani women.
A fencer, a heavy weight lifter, a chef and a comedian: these are the women whom the documentary follows. Their professional lives and aspirations are showcased alongside their lives at home within fairly traditional Pakistani families. “I was very emotionally involved myself while making the filmâ€, Shehzad told me. “I wanted them to win and was supporting them while I was filming. I was there at every match and screening and tournament.”
The four featured women — Hareem (the saber fencer), Fatima (the sous chef), Kulsoom (the weightlifter) and Nadia (the actor) became known to Shehzad one by one through Facebook, personal friends and the internet. Hareem turned down her previous career as an investment banker to pursue her passion for fencing and trained to become a professional fencer. She is shown revelling in glory at the Fencing World Cup in Chicago and then later, giving fencing classes in her spare time to girls from underserved communities. Fatima fought hard to break the shell of her traditional background to become a chef. She is shown becoming the Chopped champion, a national competition that is also a popular reality television show on The Food Network. There is a moving moment where, after having been announced the winner, she says how winning was so important to her because it solidified her own faith in her chosen path. “It is a huge stamp of approval.”
Kulsoom, who practices strict hijab, is shown in her home, cooking with the women of the household. Next she is shown struggling with the national weightlifting regulations that decree that the arms and legs must be bare. But Kulsoom perseveres, building a case for why a hijabi can also be a weightlifting champion. (She wins the Emory Weightlifting Championship after having been allowed to compete). “It wasn’t just an individual challenge, it was a global one that was going to affect women in many countries,” said Kulsoom, who has been the only one representing Pakistan twice at global tournaments. She was later hosted at a reception by Hilary Clinton where she spoke about the growth of Pakistani women in national sports. Nadia, the actor, is featured working on a play where she chronicles the experience of coming from a conservative Pakistani family in England. The play is full of familiar hilarity, scenes documenting what it’s like to be a Pakistani who is raised abroad. But the documentary also shows the darker side of strict parenting and confused cultural identities.
Fatima is shown becoming the Chopped champion, a national competition that is also a popular reality television show on The Food Network
“When asked what it was they want to do with their lives, many of my Pakistani friends would say ‘get married,’ and I always wondered why that was the only thing they seemed to want to do,” Shehzad told me. Certainly, as part of Pakistani society, locally and abroad, we tend to believe there are certain roles for men and women. Not only are women supposed to play the specific roles of mother, sister and daughter, men too are stereotyped into the various roles of breadwinner, patriarch and homeowner.
“This is the message I want to convey to Pakistani women: If these women can do it, you can do it too,” says Shehzad. At the screenings in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, Shehzad is curiously awaiting the audience’s reactions.
Nida Bano Qureshi on the business of making videos
Pakistani women are constantly pushing boundaries. The most promising entrant into the world of video production is 28-year-old Nida Bano Qureshi. Nida has worked with a diverse group of clients ranging from the World Bank and Alliance Francaise to L’Atelier. Her most recent venture is with couture giant Élan. I meet Nida in her light-filled drawing room on a cool April afternoon. She is quick to smile, and immediately puts me at ease. During the course of our conversation, I am struck by her facility with words, her confidence. Though she works behind the camera as a producer, she could easily be in front of it.
Nida started as a researcher for TV anchor Ejaz Haider’s show on Dawn News. From the very beginning, she has adhered to the wisdom imparted by her aunt: you have to do your job, but also everyone else’s. Swearing by this advice now that she’s her own boss, Nida has done it all — on-site reporting, post-disaster analysis, anchoring talk shows. The “keera,” as Nida affectionately calls it, was the moment she decided to make her own documentary, Once Upon A Reality. The documentary compares 17th century English society to 21st century Pakistani society through the lens of the harsh realities underlying fairly tales. Lucky for her, the people at Dawn loved the idea. They gave her the support she needed to move her documentary along. It was the beginning of new things and while at Dawn, Nida subsequently made eight more documentaries, all covering social and humanitarian issues including one featuring the long-term psychological effects of begging. For this documentary, she found herself eventually high-fiving with the kids in the Main Market roundabout. One day, says Nida, she came across a larger-than-life sound system in a jhompri! “Everyone loves to groove,†she laughs.
One day, says Nida, she came across a larger-than-life, high-tech sound system in a jhompri!
Ayesha Alam’s morning show on Express TV was Nida’s first baby, from the conception of the show all the way to production. “We started off with a newspaper section, and then Raza Rumi would come in for a small segment called Paper Cut,” she says. “We would also do social stories. It was really informative.” She pauses and smiles: “I loved the show but am ironically not a morning person!†Nida recalls how it was a treat to not have to dress up in elaborate clothes until she had to fill in for Ayesha Alam. The morning hair and makeup were not her cup of tea, and Nida knew in her bones that her strength lay in production.
Who, pray tell, is the lady with the French accent?
A stunning new video for design house Elan shows that Nida means serious business. “I gave Cybil, the model, the character of being this vivacious personality oozing with energy,” she tells me. Khadijah Shah’s Élan Vital is a collection for the fierce, free-spirited woman. The video is shot on stretches of grass and dappled sunshine. Nida decided to throw horses in the mix for an added layer of beauty. Having grown up with horses, she picked the friendliest one for Cybil. Cybil, it turned out, had to wait for His Majesty the Horse as it sauntered around sniffing the grass. The shoot started at 5 am and Khadijah was on time, ready to go. “Working with a consummate professional like Khadijah makes the product so much better. You can work closely at every turn and execute the video exactly to the client’s taste,” says Nida. “I don’t want people to just like it, I want them to love it!†As I watched the final video, I was struck by the meticulousness of the project. Who, pray tell, is the lady with the French accent? Did Nida outsource the voiceover to France? Laughing, Nida tells me she hunted down a French lady, a professor, in Lahore. As Cybil glides by with her horse, a real French accent muses about the importance of joi de vivre. With Nida at the wheel, her production house is bound to go far.
