A much sought-after architect Tariq Qaiser admits he hasn’t been getting much time to watch movies lately. Says he “These days, if I do get the time, I just watching light flicks — whatever I can lay my hands on, without going in search of movies. There was a time, though, in the eighties when I thoroughly enjoyed watching Kurosawa’s movies. They are fantastic works of art actually. Now, I watch inconsequential stuff like Mr Bean!”
Qaiser feels that films are a powerful medium and enjoys those that are visually powerful and strong in their content. He cites an example: “William Hurt’s movies, for instance have some tremendous stories. They are epic movies. The closest movie to an epic that has come out lately is Out of Africa. Its cinematography leaves an indelible impression on the mind. Meryl Streep is my all time favourite actor and I thought she is terrific in the movie.”
He adds: “Being a father of a ten and a 15-year-old I also watch a healthy dose of teenage and Tarzan movies. Last weekend we watched Jungle Book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it’s very difficult to pick just one favourite movie for I’ve found different movies fascinating for different reasons. From the storytelling angle, I love The Hours and A Beautiful Mind which I found to be highly intelligent movies. The former, particularly, about different women in different times but with their stories co-relating and the sequencing of the scenes almost poetic, it is an amazing film. From the visual aspect — I thought Out of Africa is perfect. For pure dramatics, Kurosawa’s movies are the tops — they are like opera without the music.”
Qaiser confesses he doesn’t like Indian movies, particularly the dances in them, which he finds offensive. However, he enjoys the British-Indian movies such as The Monsoon Wedding and Bend it like Beckham as they explore relevant issues and are a good fusion of western and our cultures. As for Pakistani movies, the last complete one he saw was Armaan!
With regard to music, Qaiser says his taste is very varied, although he admits he prefers music sans lyrics. He recalls as a kid he used to hear western classical music because his parents played it, but would find pop music much better. He began listening to it out of choice when he went to college and got hooked on to Bach and his violin concertos, which he describes as “mentally stimulating”.
He explains “I translate his music to visuals and find that it helps me to concentrate on my work. I enjoy Mozart too, whose pieces are brilliant. He takes a line of musical thought and then brings in something so unexpected that only someone with extreme brilliance or insanity could do it.”
Of late, Qaiser has become fond of Indian (read Hindustani) classical music. He says “I used to think that western classical music has a lot of depth and timelessness because it was conceived, composed, written, recorded and followed, whereas our music lacks depth because it is not formally written. But in the last year or two, I’ve been listening to a lot of fusion music and have realized that Indian classical music is probably much more powerful than western. The fact that the raags are based on emotion and interpreted by the ustaad or the player means that they are constantly growing and developing.”
Qaiser claims over the last few years he has begun to enjoy opera a lot too, but only the opera that he doesn’t understand. For instance he enjoys Italian opera as he doesn’t comprehend the words but doesn’t enjoy German opera as he follows the language. “The minute the beautiful sounds get meanings, they create imagery and become contextual. I want to just imagine the human voice as an instrument,” says Qaiser.
Surprisingly, Qaiser is also into the Gregorian chant. “They are so rich and powerful.” He also enjoys George Winston and loves the Ukrainian folk songs that he plays on the piano. Recently, he has been listening to the various radio stations that have opened up and is thrilled with our young pop singers. He thinks Pakistani music is going through a renaissance, with all the fresh talent coming up.
Qaiser wishes he could read more than he does. He likes “good stories” written well and says he looks “for emotion and context in books rather than intellectual content. He adds “I’ve gone through phases — for instance I’ve read books on religion, Zen, existentialism.
It’s very difficult to ear-mark a favourite though, for the richness of the resource is so wide.”
The architect speaks highly of Agony and the Ecstasy and The Fountainhead. A book that he read recently which he enjoyed tremendously was Kazuo Ishiguro’s An Artist of the Floating World. He reflects “I don’t seem to read too many best-sellers and normally read books after they have been recommended to me by someone. I generally read three or four books at the same time and don’t mind re-reading books.” In fact, Qaiser says he likes to buy books, pile them next to his bed and then read them slowly.
Qaiser likes biographies and autobiographies and is currently reading Nelson Mandela’s new book. Says he, “I read books for stimulation and don’t like to read anything stressful. When I was young I used to enjoy Michener’s books a lot which allowed me to see times and culture from his eyes.”
Among the lighter books Qaiser likes Moth Smoke and has read a lot of Kushwant Singh, too. He found The Alchemist terrific, and has read a lot of P.G. Woodhouse. But, the writer he claims he admires the most is Hemingway, because “he has no pretensions and has a direct, powerful style of writing.
“His Old Man and the Sea was wonderful. It’s a simple story beautifully written, and running through a gamut of emotions.”
Being a visual person, for whom words become a series of images, Qaiser does feel that if he had to choose a favourite book on the basis of its imagery it would be The Name of the Rose, a book about a monastery in which monks are being murdered. He recalls a particularly evocative description running into four pages of the arch of the gate of the cathedral, which he says communicates terror vividly.
A much sought-after architect Tariq Qaiser admits he hasn’t been getting much time to watch movies lately. Says he “These days, if I do get the time, I just watching light flicks — whatever I can lay my hands on, without going in search of movies. There was a time, though, in the eighties when I thoroughly enjoyed watching Kurosawa’s movies. They are fantastic works of art actually. Now, I watch inconsequential stuff like Mr Bean!”
