Pakistan's Film Industry

[imran02feb79]

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[imran02feb79]

[imran02feb79]

[Plasma.]

Download Zibahkhana [ 2007 ] Hell's Ground



Zibahkhana
(English: Hell's Ground) is an Urdu-English film directed by Omar Khan. It premiered at the NatFilm Festival in Denmark and has since been screened at festivals all over the world including Toronto, NYC, London, Neuchatel, Stockholm, Cape Town, Austin, Philadelphia, Cambridge, Puerto Rico, Sitges, Valencia, Oslo, Helsinki with several more festival dates lined up. Recently the film has passed censors in Pakistan (with 8 - 10 seconds cut) and will soon become the first non 35mm, HDV feature film released in Pakistan cinema history.
ZIBAHKHANA - HELL's GROUND WON the BEST FILM 2008 JURY'S AWARD at the RIOFAN Film Festival, Rio, Brazil ZIBAHKHANA - Hell's Ground WON the JURY's SPECIAL AWARD For BEST GORE at the Fantastic Film Festival, Austin, TX 2007

Rapidshare Links
http://rapidshare.com/files/12975845...2007.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12975039...2007.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12973528...2007.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12951220...2007.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12949898...2007.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12948535...2007.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12946887...2007.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/12944614...2007.part8.rar

Ziddu Links
http://www.ziddu.com/download/165007...part1.rar.html
http://www.ziddu.com/download/164922...part2.rar.html
http://www.ziddu.com/download/164940...part3.rar.html
http://www.ziddu.com/download/165030...part4.rar.html
http://www.ziddu.com/download/165030...part5.rar.html
http://www.ziddu.com/download/167611...part6.rar.html
http://www.ziddu.com/download/167629...part7.rar.html
http://www.ziddu.com/download/164090...part8.rar.html

Im gonna watch it today, been waiting for a long time.

[Intoxication]

[Pakia]

PS I'll attempt an interview summary in English, if anyoone cares for it.

[imran02feb79]

[imran02feb79]

"The weeping queen"

KARACHI: The weeping queen of Quetta

By Khursheed Hyder

KARACHI, July 15: Quetta was known as Little London during the British rule. Today, this once thriving city has become a land of turmoil and political disharmony, where violence, bomb blasts and unrest have become an everyday scenario.

The premiere of The Weeping Queen, a docu-drama depicting the glorious past and ugly present of Quetta, was screened at a local hotel on Monday. According to the film’s writer, director and producer Talha Ghaznavi, the film is an anguished voice calling for help.

Nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains, the capital of Balochistan has the Chiltan range on one side of the city. One of the mountains is shaped like a sleeping woman and this is where the story begins. Zeba Bakhtiar plays the main role of the sleeping woman who takes on a human form, symbolizing Mother Earth, who brings the city of Quetta to life while journeying through its past, present and future. There are small enactments of historical events and Zeba Bakhtiar as Mother Earth is seen commenting on them.

In the welcome speech, Talha Ghaznavi said the sleeping woman, known as the Chiltan Queen, had intrigued him for a long time and what was visualized as a documentary initially developed into a docu-drama.

“We take so much from the land but we don’t give anything back. Quetta – a border city – is full of history. It has welcomed newcomers, borne the brunt of armies and colonization, suffered a severe earthquake and yet survived all this, continuing to sustain everyone and remaining peaceful, strong and steadfast all the while,” the director said.

He revealed that the docu-drama was an indigenous production with the artist, editor and cinematographer belonging to Quetta as well, hence there is depth of feeling for the topic by everyone involved in the project.

Sindh Minister for Information Shazia Marri, who had walked in late and missed most of the film, congratulated Mr Ghaznavi on the film and what it stood for, but said she disagreed with some of the points in the film as some of the causes of the problems were not shown.

Replying to Ms Marri, the director said The Weeping Queen was not a political statement; it was about the soul of the land, a historical document on Quetta as a city.

The premier for the moment had turned into a dialogue when the information minister, who has also lived in Quetta, shot back saying that the documentary did not show the deprivation of the people as well as the reasons for the present situation.

The chief guest, Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro, seemed to save the situation when he was invited to speak. He said the documentary should be shown internationally. He praised Zeba’s acting and said the director had depicted the land as the weeping queen, and its soul was the people. “Showing history in 50 minutes is not easy. We should be optimistic and hopeful about the land. Talha Ghaznavi has done a good job.”

As the story begins Zeba Bakhtiar is seen getting up from the mountain and states Quetta was known as Shalkot, which means chador, which protects everyone and people of all religions lived in harmony. Gradually, as the city’s problems grow, from the time of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the influx of refugees and drugs, gun culture and violence, she starts to wither.

Zeba Bakhtiar’s acting is good; what is lacking is her vocal intonation, which seems to quiver and thus jars the impact of what she is saying.


http://www.dawn.com/2008/07/16/local13.htm

[imran02feb79]

[imran02feb79]

[imran02feb79]

[Pakia]

Wonder why Pakistan's English print media is not covering it as much.

This film is just a hope that Pakistan film industry could be revived, even if it means importing actors or technical help. Therefore its important to give such new films all support possible.

[Pakia]

An actor par excellence, Maria Wasti has been a familiar face on Pakistani television for long. She has been seen wowing audiences in her blow away performances in television series such as Paranda, Kuch Dil Nay Kaha, Boota From Toba Tek Singh and her super hit drama series Kallo which left audiences raving over her performance. Maria has been seen playing diverse roles through out her career and hasn't yet been typecast into a particular role. It is her strength as an actor and her confidence in her abilities that sees her doing diverse roles ranging from portraying prominent Pakistani women Salma Murad and Bilquis Eidhi in a serial while managing beautifully to act as Kallo in her acclaimed television serial Kallo.
Her best performance yet was recently brought to the limelight when we saw her playing the part of Kamla, the warden with much heart and soul in the recent heart-felt and critically acclaimed Mehreen Jabbar film Ramchand Pakistani. Though all the actors in the film have rendered their roles brilliantly and beyond expectations, specially the young Ramchands played by Syed Fazail Hasan and Navaid Jabbar, it was Maria Wasti playing the warden, and the beautiful relationship she had with young Ramchand that touched the heart of the audiences the most.

In Mehreen Jabbar's magnum opus project, it was Maria Wasti's performance that was a delightful surprise and left the audiences stunned, which proved once again why she remains such a bright talent in the television and now film industry.

After seeing the same faces again and again in films over the past many years, we badly need fresh faces in the film industry and Maria Wasti's move from television to films is a much welcomed move.
And so this week, after seeing her most moving performance as an actor, we pick Maria Wasti as Instep's Hotstepper of the week. And if you haven't yet seen the film, do watch it to know what we are talking about.

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2008-w...p/article5.htm

[siamu maharaj]

Actress par excellence? Maria Wasti? Hahaha

[Intoxication]

She's good though! I like her!

[cntower]

Same here...

[imran02feb79]

Reviving the Pakistani Cinema, One Film at a Time
A review of Mehreen Jabbar's Ramchand Pakistani by Laila Kazmi
August 2008

For those who have been following the recent slow but promising trend of indie films from Pakistan, watching Mehreen Jabbar's feature-length debut, Ramchand Pakistani, is a thrilling experience. Recently released in Pakistan, the film premiered earlier this year at the Tribecca Film Festival in NYC then played at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Osian's Cinefan Film Festival in New Dehli. It is perhaps only the second Pakistani feature to make it to major international film festivals.

The first was of course the much-celebrated Khamosh Pani (Silent Waters) of 2003. And for those of us who have since been patiently awaiting another quality film by a Pakistani director, Mehreen Jabbar has just provided a reason for excitement. Ramchand Pakistani is skillfully directed, beautifully shot, well acted and offers a moving sound track.



Produced by Mehreen's father, Javed Jabbar, Ramchand Pakistani is a fictionalized account of a real-life story of a Pakistani father and son of the Hindu dalit (untouchable) caste, living in the desert village of Bhimra near the Pakistan-India border. In 2002, as tensions between the two countries flare up following an attack on the Indian Parliament, eight-year old Ramchand (Syed Fazal Hussain) and his father, Shankar (Rashid Farooqui) inadvertently cross the marked but open border into India. The pair is immediately arrested and jailed by Indian security on suspicion of being spies. While the father and son spend years in prison (with an older Ramchand being played by Navaid Jabbar – no relation to the director), the mother, Champa (Nandita Das), struggles at home, awaiting their return.

Das is of course the versatile Indian actress of Fire and Earth fame. Jabbar has put together a talented cast, which includes several well known actors from Pakistani television. Maria Wasti is Kamla the feisty prison officer, Noman Ijaz is the interloper Abdullah, who admires Champa from afar, and Shahood Alvi is the officer in-charge of the Indian prison.

Even though the protagonists of Ramchand are Pakistani Hindus wrongfully jailed in an Indian prison, this film is not about religion and not even about political ideologies. Instead, the film is about people and bonds forged out of circumstances. There are strong women characters and no unnecessary plot-twists. Mehreen, who was present at the SIFF screening, described the film herself as “a simple story of a family torn apart through no fault of their own.”

If you are looking for a hard-hitting film on the lives of prisoners in Indian or Pakistani jails, that is not this film. Here the prison is a bit too clean, the guards a bit too likeable, and the prisoners a bit too accepting of their grossly unjust fate. And perhaps the least interesting thing about the film is its unoriginal title. A film so beautifully done deserved a more intriguing title. But don't let that distract you.

Even in its soft representation of a troubling issue lies one of the strengths of the film. Ramchand focuses on the human similarities that draw us together even under adverse circumstances. In a way, the Indian prison guards holding the innocent prisoners are as much at the mercy of the system as the prisoners themselves. Resulting from decades of antagonism and suspicion between the two neighboring countries, the system of course is likely the same on both sides of the border.

Through the story of Ramchand and Shankar, Mehreen aptly brings attention to the plight of hundreds of innocent people held in both Indian and Pakistani jails in border-crossing cases, often forgotten in the system for many, many years. Although, here the protagonists are Pakistanis jailed in India , the film makes a point to remind us of the similarly situated innocent Indians jailed in Pakistan . Bollywood addressed this topic, though less directly, in a typical song-and-dance love-story, epic hit ‘Veer Zaara' in 2004.

Unlike Mehreen's short films and teleplays, which tend to consist of a small number of cast members – sometimes even just two, Ramchand is filled with a variety of characters. There are the cellmates with whom Shankar and Ramchand spend their years of imprisonment, the Indian prison guards, and the villagers back home in Pakistan . Each of the characters, the protagonists and a handful of supporting characters, is uniquely human with individual idiosyncrasies. It is a sign of a skilled director, when all the actors fit into their roles naturally as they do here.

On that note, all of the actors in this film, from supporting to the protagonists deserve credit for their fine performances. Child actor, Syed Fazal Hussain, playing the younger Ramchand, is superb as he very naturally portrays a range of emotions – childish curiosity, anger, fear, and longing. The 12-year Navaid Jabbar, playing the older Ramchand, is a newcomer with an endearing smile. To Mehreen's credit, the transition between the two actors is so craftily done that it is tempting to believe that we are actually watching the same child develop into an adolescent. Of course, the alluring Nandita Das shines in her role as usual. Among the cellmates, the political activists Sharma (Adnan Shah) and Vishesh (Saleem Mairaj), who has lost his mind from being locked up for some ten years, make a lasting impression.

The cinematography is beautiful. Sofian Khan captures the desert skyline of the Thar in riveting wide shots, making it a film worth watching on the big screen. The musical director is India 's Debajyoti Mishra, whom Jabbar recruited after being impressed with his work for the Indian film Raincoat . And with lyrics by the renowned Pakistani writer, Anwar Maqsood, performed by Shafqat Amanat Ali and the Indian singer, Shubha Mudgal, the film is a truly collaborative effort between Indian and Pakistani artists - a recent phenomenon that seems to be occurring with an increasing frequency. Mehreen's co-editor, Aseem Sinha, is also from India .

Pakistan 's once-strong film industry has suffered from severe neglect and lack of funding over the past thirty years, making television the primary source of entertainment. Ramchand is the latest among a sporadic number of films marking a slow but hopeful re-emergence of a viable film scene in the country. While the talented Sabiha Sumar raised the standards high with her finely directed Khamosh Pani , films like Raat Chali Jhoom Kay ( A Long Night ) (2001) by Hasan Zaidi and last year's super hit among Pakistani audiences around the world, Khuda Kay Liye (In the Name of God), were refreshingly bold and non-formulaic. Still, despite its relevant subject, Khamosh Pani didn't get a theatrical release in Pakistan , and Raat and KKL could not compete on an international scale. Raat , about a young man's late night adventure in a seedy part of the busy city of Karachi , was an all-too-obvious low budget production. KKL tells the story of two musician brothers from Pakistan who take two very divergent paths. One comes to America to attend a music school, only to suffer dire consequences in a post-9/11 America, while the other is persuaded by zealots to join the ‘jihad' in Afghanistan. Even with a much higher production quality and being credited with bringing the mainstream audiences back to the theaters in Pakistan , KKL suffered from some very weak acting by some of the cast members. A small number of short films by Pakistani filmmakers screening at various festivals over past several years have also been signaling the talents that are yet to emerge.

After the commercial success of KKL in India and Pakistan last year, Ramchand is now the second Pakistani film to have a theatrical release in India. As for the audiences in Pakistan, release of Ramchand has given them another reason to return to the theaters.

This film is yet another sign that the Pakistani indie filmmakers may yet succeed in reviving the country's ailing film industry and competing in the international film scene.

Mehreen Jabbar currently divides her time between Pakistan and the United States. More on the film at: http://www.ramchandpakistani.com.

http://www.jazbah.org/ramchand.php

[cntower]

I think that's the only way to go about it.

All I know is that Pakistan needs more thought provoking films. Enough of these fantasy crap films, we need films which are going to get the public talking and Khuda Kay Liye REALLY got the public talking!

I'm sure this film will also get people talking about how Hindus do actually live in Pakistan and that how are they are treated in Pakistan. As much as we'd love to sugar coat it, minorities aren't treated fairly we need to change that.

[NewYork-wala]

Interesting look at the movie Khmosh Pani.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpRVKuEf19g

[s6demon]

Originally Posted by NewYork-wala

Interesting look at the movie Khmosh Pani.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpRVKuEf19g

one of the best movies i have ever seen, period, Pakistani or otherwise.

I started watching the first part and couldnt stop untill it was finished, I loved it. Thanks Newyork walay