Kamran Faiq’s directorial work is rooted in the subcontinent’s culture!

When I first interviewed Kamran Faiq for a weekly paper, our discussion spanned across a number of genres, from romance to action thrillers to drama, for, commercially speaking, Kamran has worked in almost all of these genres as a director and a producer, be it the Michael Hudson penned “Driven”, the Syed Noor helmed “Devar Bhabi” or the Mahira Khan starrer, “7 Din Mohabbat In”.

However, it was when I came across his Vimeo profile that I realized his vision, which is targeted at depicting the almost forgotten culture of the Sub-continent.

Starting with the popular art-film, “Mah e Mir”, the opening sequence of which was directed by this young man who also took his thesis film on Manto’s “Gurmukh Singh Ki Wasiyat” to Italy, one comes across a setting that is very much indigenous and at the same time aesthetically pleasing. The scene seems to have been shot in an old haveli-like building, carrying in its architecture, all that is part and parcel of our regional designing of buildings, be it latticed windows or clay lamps lit at their edges using oil drops. Amidst this setting, a lady steps down from stucco stairs and starting with a swirling of her hennaed feet and bangled wrists, performs classical dance; soft and elegant. The lighting stays minimal through-out the dance sequence, the only light being given out being the one coming through countless candles in grandiose stands placed at every few inches surrounding the dancer. Faiq introduces us to the kind of content that awaits us, classy, literary and artistic, while the proceeding sequences of this Fahad Mustafa and Sanam Saeed starrer film have been directed by Anjum Shahzad.

The scene seems to have been shot in an old haveli-like building, carrying in its architecture, all that is part and parcel of our regional designing of buildings, be it latticed windows or clay lamps lit at their edges using oil drops

Another one of his videos that is rooted in our culture is that of a hair oil ad which, if you are a reader of South Asian Literature, definitely takes you to either the initial pages of Amrita Pritam’s popular Partition novel, “Pinjar” or to Bapsi Sidhwa’s “Water”, for what materializes on screen seems to be an apt visualization of the Subcontinent’s terrace culture; pungent coloured spices spread on sheets, ready to be grounded using pestles and mortars. Moreover, one also gets to see pigeon cages, something that one can still come across if one makes a visit to the winding alleys of this region’s inner-walled cities. Glimpses of deewans placed against parapets that have turned mossy owing to countless rains can also be seen, adding to the beauty of which are the colours that have been chosen. Red, orange and yellow are hues that define much of the Subcontinent, be it the spices, the wedding dresses or the flowers, and all of these colours find their place in the ad in the form of powders, pots and dupattas.

When asked why indigeneity recurs in his works, Kamran Faiq said that our region is one with a rich culture, which is sadly being ignored and much of which has been forgotten. He claims that the people of the Subcontinent are oblivious of the fact that they are but sitting on a pot of gold. Keeping this in mind, his next project, the medium of which has not been finalized yet, is a docu-drama that covers Pakistani songs starting from the 1950s.

“The songs reflect different decades, and along-with that, narrate the socio-political upheavals which the country has witnessed over the years,” says Kamran. “The songs include those of greats like Noor Jehan and Ahmad Rushdi.”

Not only this, but the director and producer is teaming up with Faseeh Bari Khan again for probably a web-series that might depict Lahore’s walled city’s culture. Khan is already known for bringing his works down and close to the lower-middle class residing in Pakistan’s slums, and his first drama serial after shifting to Lahore was also shot in the interiors of the city. With two people who respect the native culture collaborating once again, Pakistanis will hopefully get to see something that is authentic as well as entertaining.

The writer is a freelance journalist and can be reached at m.ali_aquarius85@yahoo.com