Knots and Crosses - Telefilm

Black magic may be one of the many ideas that have intrigued the youth but it is surely a difficult idea to portray on the screen at the same time maintaining the suspense and thrill for the viewers on every Scene.  

Knots and Crosses had managed to build the hype before the screening thanks to the trailer which made everyone curious about what is going to be in the whole video. 

The poster design by Sameen Agha is highly impressive, you can see a picture within a picture.. for me its a depiction of a mind game, a bad omen as the birds can be seen falling from the sky. Amazing depiction of what to expect from the video.

Knots and Crosses is a 12 min or less telefilm made by Xklucive studios that revolves around two daughter in laws, Asra and sara. Sara being the favorite of her mother in law ( Maria Hassan) results in jealousy and hatred from Asra ( Mahnam Zahid) and ultimately pushes Asra  to go to a baba jee ( Muhammad Farooq) for a magic spell on the obedient and sweet  Sara ( Tania Jafry).  I was slightly surprised when I rearranged the name Asra and it turned into Sara. Gives you extra touch of thrill right there.

At this level, it is a great achievement if the idea is understood by the audience and they manage to feel the emotions each actor is portraying on screen.  Tania Jafry says, “It was a team work hijab”.  I believe her, because the product I saw was so clean and smooth that from the cast to the crew, dialogues and the editing team who was involved in making the final video were fantastic.

Coming to little technicalities here, Hats of the camera man and how he/she was able to capture Mahnam’s smirk, eye rolling and Tania’s horror moments.  Music was there to build suspense and Am glad they didn’t over use it. They didn’t have to. You could actually feel the thrill and suspense pouring out of the screen.  Good dialogues and Convincing acting by Tania and Mahnam.  Moreover, Mian hamza and Saad butt who played the husbands to these characters were substantial and knew how to support the leading characters. Lightening was great as well, they used red light to depict evil and when they wanted to stand the certain scene out. I loved how they had used voice over and * shashkas*.

I am impressed by how the director managed to show different scenes to depict that the character Sara was under black magic influence such as, Door opening by itself, blood in the tap water, falling utensils and a black cloaked figure in the Bedroom. Great transition between the scenes. The ending is showed where Sara decides that in order to get over from the magic spell she needs to look upto the God only and does not go to some baba jee for the removal of the black spell, whereas Asra who had started the spell ends up in some form of insanity.

However, I wish they had shown more scenes in which Sara was favored more on Asra. The first scene showed Mother in law praising Sara and I loved how Asra got jealous but I wanted more of the jealousy to convince me fully that she will now choose the wrong path.  Secondly, I wanted to see what happens to Asra. Even if she ended up being crazy, I wish they had shown some mad and physco scenes of her, instead of showing her back to the camera. The doctor scene could have been better and so the ending. At the end, Tania’s voice is played to convince the viewers that the God’s power has won over the evil black magic. But It would have been nice if both Tania and Mahnam had come face to face in one of the scenes showing the conflict, before the God’s power won over the black magic.

Nevertheless, the efforts are clearly visible and am impressed by the Directors ( Tania Tahir) work. Although it was just a creative writing project. It did help a lot of people to figure out their talents.

I am posting their Trailer and will be sharing the Video of the Telefilm as soon as its posted. 

Link to the trailer!

3.5/5 Stars!

Forsaken - Theatrical Review

I have been to Karachi and I have  been to many places in Pakistan but I have never seen such passion and determination of the youth that is breathing in Lahore.  Theatrical scene in Lahore is massive and so is the talent.  There is talent, there is audience and there is passion but in order to bring the audience to your play you need good word of mouth and marketing.

 I heard about the play Forsaken when it was under process.  I knew people from the face who were acting in it and I knew I had to see this play. This play was produced by Mirrors entertainment and directed by Hamza Ghaznavi and Vicky Zhuang Yi-Yin. I have seen plays that have been produced by the mirrors entertainment. They pick up great actors, they have a mind-blowing script but then there is that extra tinch of something that is missing.  I will call it lack of coordination or lack of farsighted ness and ill planning to be exact.

It was 6:30 when I reached the Hall, I picked up a pamphlet that gave insights to the play and it looked promising.  Few printing mistakes that made me giggle. The audience was building up.  I saw families. The Lower portion was full of people but the upper portion was waiting to be filled. By the way this was the last show which I was attending and I wanted to see how much people can they attract because people who end up coming on the last day are usually the ones who have relied on the word of mouth.

The hall management was warm and welcoming and there was this hustle bustle going on. People were whispering and I saw some enthusiastic parents waiting for their children to come on stage. I was expecting a larger crowd .They had some  young singers performing in the beginning to warm up us a little. Good vocals. But they just wouldn’t start the play. The timings are important I believe. I know its very difficult to start a play, a lot of things and stuff is going on behind the curtains at that  very moment.

The play showed the biggest fight of all between the devil and the God.  Great script I must say. It showed how there is evil within us all. How easily we are fooled when our desires take control over us. How easy it is for us to be the puppets of our evil desires, intentions or worldly pleasures. The play brought the devil in front of us. The played show how easy it is for humans to let go of the righteous path and how important it is to not let go of the straight path.

 I am amazed by Hamza Ghaznavi who was playing the devil / Anthony Corleone and is also the director of the play. He had this gangsterish/evilish and devilish touch which was pretty convincing. I liked how he played with his face expressions. It was amazing when he had scenes with the other people. He stood out. His acting was really good. The scene in which the devil communicates with the audience and freezes everything else was remarkable.  If only he had made other characters work on their voice quality and taught them the manners of how to walk on the stage so that their faces don’t disappear, things would have been pretty easier for the audience.

Lightening was great and so were the sounds. I liked the music when they brought it during their acting.  I liked the special song , “ Everything is coming to its place …” that was played during the wedding of Kyle ( Sachel Ghani) and his bride.  Sachel played great as well and Hashim Imran was terrific. Sachel knew how to bring out the charm and make the audience realize that he is in love. Hashim Imran( James) is an actor who can actually pull of anything. I saw him as a friend, I saw him as a guy who wanted to do something in the world, I saw him having love for his father and I saw him when he had those naughty smiles, I saw the worry on his face and when things got bad. I liked it when he comes face to face with the devil.  I was astounded when he becomes the devil. Other female actors were great too but you need to accept the fact that these gentlemen were the best part of the whole play.

I didn’t understand why they wanted so many interruptions during the play. There was lot of curtain closing and opening which made me feel that broke the flow of the play. The set could have been better, If they had shown different backgrounds.  Actors were performing outside the curtain which made me feel a little uneasy. Some female characters were forgetting to face the audience but other than that the performances were great. The casting was wonderful and the evil characters looked evil like hell.
Coffee guy ( jack) played by Ahmed Akbar was actually very sweet. Such a chocolate boy.  Great acting by this gentleman as well.

In short, I liked the play. The reason it did not get the heavy response was because I belive they couldn’t master the small things that I just pointed out above. I loved the play because the script was great. I loved it when the devil took over but I wanted to run away when the other characters came. I would have liked more if they had shown more of the devil action sequences. Other than that, It was a good watch.

Rating 3/5

Theater Love

In Pakistan, Youth is very enthusiastic. Everyone is testing their creative skills to the maximum. There has been an increasing trend of watching theatre in Lahore especially. When I talk about theatre, I talk about good quality ones and not the usual ones that commonly popular among some class of people.

 There has been a  mushroom growth of production companies that are run by youth which caters to the demands of enthusiastic theatre lovers.

I have done Two plays with the  Student Blog Productions. First one was a musical play,” Into the woods “and the other one was, “The Three Musketeers”.  I thought it would be like one of the usual plays where they hand you an easy script and you got to learn it and then act it out, wear amazing costumes and rock the stage.  However, it wasn’t the case. It demanded full time devotion and constant tuning of our acting skills. I am thankful to Mr Hassaan Khalid who was an awesome producer and made me work with a great team. We would occasionally order pizza when he would be in a generous mood but it was usually the Daal chawal or some desi food that was given to us. But its not the food that counts, it the fun, experience and the amazing contacts I formed during my Alevels.

My second experience was with Talal ali jan and Theatre hub. It was a completely different experience. Talal is a young luminite who is trying to make it big in this world. He has done a lot of successful plays most remembered are Jaal , Khatra-e Jaan etc.  I was working with him in Nizam sakka and I still remember how tensed I was while giving the auditions but he selected me and then it was just a roller coaster ride. Since the team was mostly teenagers and young adults, it wasn’t difficult to get used to that warm environment. Like great team, before our play we went to watch plays by other production companies. All of them sucked, however Avanti was great.  Working with him, I learned how to walk on stage, how to act and I saw how a great play was made. The technicalities, sound, set design, costumes, handling the late comers, boring actors and finding new ones when old ones left. Hell of a ride it was.

I got a birthday surprise there. They said they had brought no cake for me but they DID. Aww!

I made a lot of friends there. Media is in my blood. I want to be a news anchor so bad. But while working there I met people who were aspiring actors, models and amazing people. I met the actress of Bol –  a Pakistani movie. She is a wonderful friend and things are just amazing.

I might not be working on any play again. But I might. You never know.
 Let’s see where my Media Love Takes me.

Cultural Blues

While searching for my discussion topic which talked about the cultural invasion of Pakistan by India, I was not very impressed by the material present on the internet.  There was one perspective that talked about increasing globalization and there was another point of view stating that yes we are invaded by the Indian media from every corner etc.

I appreciate good music, fashion trends and fine entertainment even if its coming from across the borders and so do a lot of people who know how to distinguish between what is wrong and right.

We ridicule our Lollywood actresses be it Veena malik , Meera or singers who have gone across borders to earn a livelihood and get some  recognition of their own.  Unless Pakistan does not officialy send these people , they are not representing our country.  They have their identity of their own. But we as a nation believe that if our star achieves something amazing  we like to take all the credit and when he does something not acceptable to us we refuse to even acknowledge the fact that they  were once part of us. Not forgetting random people asking Pakistani government to ban these people from coming to the country? Really? Why?  If you ask these people, they bring the religion in between.   Why doesn’t religion come between in discussion when there is talk about corrupt leaders or political instability, or when there are acid attacks on our women? Why does religion only come in the discussion when the entertainment industry is discussed?

Pakistani youth is strong and we have a Voice. We are educated and We know what we want in our lives. No nation is invading any other country.  Media is a free.  Pakistan drama industry is booming and so is the theatre. I know a lot of my friends who are part of the theatrical scene in Pakistan and some of them are aspiring directors.  Today a Pakistani believes that if its own product will be upto the standard there is no way any other country can culturally invade us. Thanks to Humsafar – a massive achievement which made every Pakistani believe that our stuff is all quality.