Written by: Hamad Ali
Posted on: April 19, 2019 | 
| 中文
Shooting of 'Mauj Bay Harkat Si' in process
Thinking Films is a venture initiated by Sabeeh Ahmad, who is a filmmaker and a story teller. This one of its kind venture started a month back where cinema junkies and artists alike would come together and watch short films, curated mostly to explore different forms of cinema ranging from Art House to blockbusters. The screening followed a discussion with the filmmaker and the audience on ideas around creative decisions and nuances of scripts. The second edition of Thinking Films was held at The Second Floor (T2F) on Wednesday, April 17th, and short films from independent filmmakers were screened.
Indie films are featured films or short films that are produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies. These films are sometimes distinguishable by their content and style and the way in which the filmmakers' personal artistic vision is realized. The short films that were screened at the event had really significant and different aesthetic styles, which brought out the originality of each filmmaker, making these works of art their very own and separate from mainstream cinema.
Apka Order Agaya Hai, directed by Hassaan Islam, was a seven-minute short film depicting a day in the life of a coffee addict and how his day unfolds when he runs out of coffee. The film had themes of addiction and mental health. Islam wanted the viewers to indulge in an imperative conversation about habits and withdrawal symptoms which most of us, in minimal and massive terms, experience. The film had a very Requiem for a Dream vibe, with montages of closeup shots and a musical score which induced anxiety and kept the viewers on the edge of their seats. Though shot and edited within a span of two days, this film exudes the same urgency and a state of unrest with which it was made. The filmmaker mentioned that the team did not sleep in those 48 hours and were surviving on coffee and food deliveries, hence the name of the title, Apka Order Agaya Hai.
Mauj Bay Harkat Si was a thesis project of Sibtain Shabbir, a media sciences graduate from SZABIST. It was a story about the relationship between a 10-year-old boy and his paralyzed sister. Every living being has a mauj (a wave) in them which enables them to move around and communicate with each other, and that difference in the ways of communicating creates a unique individual. A person with paralysis lacks that mauj because their differently abled bodies don’t let them communicate or move around like an able-bodied person. Their lack of control over their expressions and voice makes that process tougher. With discourse of family and disability, Shabbir churned out a very striking and thought provoking nuanced story.
The screen writing for the film came with a lot of decision making because the film has a voice of a 12-year-old, and there was an immense amount of thought that went into realizing about the decisions that a 12-year-old can make. The evident age gap between the screenwriter Sibtain Shabbir and the young actor makes it a promising film in the indie cinema scene. Mise en scene of this film proves a very detailed eye that the filmmaker had in deciding which shades of green go on the wall and which shades of brown the mother would wear. Each color, combined with the heart wrenching musical score, exudes a feeling of closeness and love.
These films started very important conversations about disability and addiction, not only within the realm of stories that were projected on the screen, but also by making the audience question about their relationships and habits and gain insight into the nuances of their feelings. Sabeeh wants to continue this venture, and I feel that it would make us more informed.
All pictures provided by author, unless mentioned otherwise
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