A 14-years veteran of the industry, with a prolific career as a Director and Producer of gritty, hard-hitting films for Pakistani Television, meet Mehreen Jabbar
BY SUPRIYA DAVDA | JUL 17, 2009
Q. How did you come across the story of Ramchand Pakistani?
A. This story is based on actual events and was brought to my attention by my father, Javed Jabbar who met the actual family on whom the film is based on one of his trips to the Thar desert where he has an NGO (non governmental organization) that works in the region providing schools, water wells, loans, etc. After meeting them, my father wrote the synopsis of the film and showed it to me and I was immediately drawn to it because of its simplicity as well as the layering of the story because it dealt with the consequences of a forced separation of a family for no fault of their own as well as taking on wider issues of India Pakistan, Hindu Muslim, caste relations as well.
Q. What challenges did you have to face while filming?
A. The challenges were several. Starting from raising funds for the film. My father who is also the producer of the film approached several colleagues, friends and acquaintances to invest in the film and our first break came with my mother investing the much needed initial amount. Eventually a group of 19 individuals all of whom had never invested in a film before together with a biscuit and phone company became the investors.
The other challenges were to put together a team for the film. The Pakistani film industry has suffered a serious decline in the last 3 decades and there is a lack of technical facilities as well as crew members. We eventually got together a very dedicated and talented group of people from the television industry which is more established and finished the film, almost without a hitch. Once the film is made, it is imperative to get people to see it and there the challenges are to submit to the right festivals, to approach distributors, sales agents, figure out a proper strategy, etc. I think a film poses a challenge right from pre-production to post production and then to the endless marketing world and having the film shown in as many territories of the world as possible.
Q. Did you cast Indian actress Nandita Das as she fit the character or more so you wanted to have Indo-Pak coming together?
A. Nandita Das was cast for both those reasons. When the screenplay was being written, I knew that she would bring honesty and integrity to the character and I have admired her work. The second reason was that because the film is about Pakistan and India, it was important for me to have an actor from India as well.
Q. Has the family, which the film is based on seen the film?
A. They have seen the film. In fact the father and son were present throughout the filming and some scenes were shot in the actual village in the Thar desert where they live.
Q. You have always had very strong female characters in your plays. Is this a deliberate effort on your part as a Pakistani woman filmmaker?
A. I think it comes naturally to me because I started my career in television working with a very good woman writer, Azra Babar, as well as adapting stories from writers like Ismat Chugtai and Khadija Mastoor. It is important to me to show the real and varying faces of women in television and film, with all the complexities instead of portraying stereotypes. Also I have had very powerful women figures in my life, starting with my mother who has been a dynamic business woman all her life, as well as my grandmother who was one of the first Muslim women to go to Cambridge in pre partition days.
Q. What's next for you after Ramchand Pakistani?
A. I am currently working on 2 television serials for HUM TV, a Pakistani satellite channel and working on story for the second feature film.
Q. Who is your inspiration?
A. My parents and my family, Bergman, Vittorio de Sica, Satyajit Ray, Shehzad Khalil (Pakistani TV director), Sahira Kazmi, Mira Nair and Michael Haneke.
Q. Is there anyone you’d like to work with from the Indian Film Industry?
A. Konkana Sen and Irfan Khan, I love their acting.
