When I first met Shazia Ali Khan she felt like a misfit in the overly-ambitious, self-regarding showbiz-y nature of the film industry. Meek, soft-spoken, a little aghast at the box office of bombastic commercial films, Shazia and her producing partner, Raza Namazi, were at Eveready Pictures finalising distribution for their maiden feature film Pinky Memsaab — a film, I had vaguely heard of until then.

Satish Anand (of Eveready) had taken a liking to the project, even with its lack of star power. Pinky — a story of a Punjabi woman from Pakistan who becomes a maid in a Dubai household, and then finds her own path in life — stars Hajra Yamin, model-turned-actress Kiran Malik and Adnan Jaffar.

The premise and the actors — all excellent performers by the way — doesn’t exactly spell box-office gold. But then again, “gold” doesn’t really apply to 20 of the 25 “commercial” films that are churned out like bad confetti every year.

Shazia Ali Khan’s small-budget film Pinky Memsaab tells the compelling story of the struggles of the  South Asian working class which forms the backbone for Dubai’s glamour

Perhaps freer than other films that are shackled by worries of raking in big business, the makers of Pinky, in a moment of utter rarity, are concerned more about telling a compelling story.

“It felt good supporting new filmmakers who show promise,” I remember Anand telling me later. Shazia had knots in her stomach when the film was previewed at Eveready. She kept walking in and out of the room, unable to see the film with a judicious-minded audience.

Her concern was understandable. No filmmaker (especially a first timer) can bear to see their ‘baby’ judged so pragmatically; especially if the baby is not of the norm.

Two months later, with some minor cuts (I am told), Pinky is in the midst of release promotions. The film will be released in Pakistan and the Middle East (the GCC distribution partner is Vox Cinemas, a rapidly expanding cinema chain with 335 screens in the region — about double that of Pakistan).

Meeting Shazia at a press junket, she tells me her backstory. “There is nothing spectacular to tell,” she says. An MBA graduate from Lahore University of Media Sciences, she was a corporate executive at a multinational, “but didn’t like it.”

Shazia relocated to the UK, learned filmmaking from the London Film Academy, “dabbled in TV while in London”, producing and directing the show Talking Divas for ARY and directed documentaries for The Citizen’s Foundation and School Aid in South Africa. She also had her own women’s fashion line, and then settled in the UAE. As she puts it, she’s “a jack of all trades, but nothing spectacular.”

Pinky is an international hybrid, directed by a Pakistani filmmaker, with a Middle Eastern, Pakistani and Indian crew (the editor in particular), starring both Pakistani and Indian actors. The production house is based in Dubai, so technically this is a Middle East production with a bulk of Pakistani talent.

Eighty percent of the story is set in Dubai, following Pinky (Hajra Yamin), Mehr (Kiran Malik) a Dubai socialite, and her business-driven husband Hassan (Adnan Jaffar).

The story, Shazia tells me, deliberately stays away from commercial norms. “In fact, the narrative is non-linear, which most people say doesn’t go down too well with audiences.”

“I’ve told the story in a very simple manner, straight from the heart, based on my experiences. Having lived in Dubai, [the city] is misjudged as the beacon of this brazen, glamorous lifestyle that doesn’t hold too much substance. It is much more than that. The backbone of Dubai is literally formed from the South Asian working class that works so hard, and goes through so much. That is the underlying theme, based on my observation of the city and its people. It’s nothing but real life experiences,” she says.

The inspiration for Mehr would be Dubai itself,” she continues. “Living here for the past four years, I have learned that you have to juggle a lot of things just to pretend sometimes.” As the story unfolds, this mindset becomes a burden for the Mehr. “It’s about having your own identity within the rat race,” Malik concludes

“Some people might call Pinky minimalistic, maybe even too simplistic, but I take that as a compliment. It’s like that deliberately, because we are presenting a very real face of life. When you strip away everything fancy, sometimes what’s deep down beneath becomes more relatable. That’s what I am hoping, that the audience find a few tears and a few laughs in these moments.

“I guess you could call [the subject] something I was more able to do justice to,” she adds. The characters are modelled after real people, but not anyone in particular, I am told.

“Pinky is just another girl,” Yamin tells me of her character when we find a moment to talk at the event. “She’s very flexible as a person and she’s very accepting. She’s not someone who would reject people.

“One thing Pinky and I share — and an aspect I stuffed bhar bhar kay into her — is the struggle,” Yamin continues. A native of Islamabad, where she trained in theatre and did her bachelors, Yamin moved to Karachi in 2015 — “alone” (she adds with emphasis). “Shifting from once city to another and facing the challenges and the struggles that [shape] you as a person — I used that experience to my advantage as an actor,” she says.

Kiran Malik, who was set to debut in Shaan Shahid’s upcoming actioner Zarrar, had auditioned for Mehr’s role after Shazia learned about her. The character is a stark representation of the class she is portraying, she tells me. “Mehr is a socialite, and half of the women in Dubai are socialites. They are on their husband’s money, or belong to big families, [indulging in] kitty parties. So when I moved here, I got into that shell.

“The inspiration for Mehr would be Dubai itself,” she continues. “Living here for the past four years, I have learned that you have to juggle a lot of things just to pretend sometimes.” As the story unfolds, this mindset becomes a burden for Mehr.

“It’s about having your own identity within the rat race,” Malik concludes.

At Jaffar’s turn, he says that his character is both arrogant and ambitious but has been thrown at the deep end of the pond. “[The husband and wife Kiran Malik and I play] are at a juncture in life where one feels incompleteness because of personal desires. The gap between the couple brings in certain conflicts.

“Things catch up with you eventually, and that is the concept of this highly realistic drama,” Jaffar simplifies.

As we talk about the film, the word “indie” catches my attention. Pinky is being promoted as an indie (independent) film — a term, misinterpreted by most filmmakers. In a voice message a few days later, Shazia clarifies her understanding of the term: “In my opinion, contrary to what people think, an indie film is not a specific genre, [nor is it] the so-called realistic treatment some filmmakers use [it for]. I think an indie film is exactly what the name suggests — an independent-minded film which basically means that the narrative and the story and the characters are the responsibility of one — the storyteller. He or she doesn’t really let anything else affect the narrative, whether it’s the commercial element, or the sponsors saying that place this or that brand in place.

“It’s independent. It’s genuine. It’s free-thinking. It’s free,” she says.

It is a feeling few, if any, filmmakers can enjoy in today’s business-centric, intensely commercial time.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 2nd, 2018