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Up in smoke
Have you ever been to one of those dos where almost every face around you is familiar yet out of place? The women were dolled up to their teeth and the men as fine as men’s boring couture would allow them. The evening was a true example of the kind of yuppy preview shows that one is subjected to these days. Due to the inevitable closure of the more popular venues in Karachi, Daira, End of Production show was held at a club near Seaview.
The club has a noveau riche appeal and the only new thing it can boast of is the twelve alley Brunswick bowling place. The reason one is straying from the actual subject is that, frankly there was nothing to it. Daira is the adaptation of Moth Smoke written by Mohsin Hamid who lives abroad. The only reaction Mohsin gave to the handling of his first novel, that gained success a couple of years ago, was a plastic smile. He smiled even when Shahzad Nawaz hammed on screen while depicting Mohsin’s main character in the book, Dara Shikoh. He even smiled through the lewd comments Fakhr-e-Alam made about Mumtaz, another of Mohsin’s characters, played by Ayesha Alam. “Will we get to see more of that when the whole thing is telecast?” asked Fakhr referring to the shots of Ayesha seen during the brief screening of Daira. Ayesha is portraying a married woman who is having an affair with Dara Shikoh.
The showing of Daira, that the organizers insisted on calling the preview, gave the audience brief shots of the various characters in the ninety-one minute telefilm which is a Shahzad Nawaz production directed by Azfar Ali under the banner of Coup d`etat Films. The handouts given to the guests said that Daira was not really Moth Smoke but an adaptation. Go figure. Nadeem Jafri has leant his musical genius to the film, which Adnan Siddiqui (also part of the cast of Daira) seems to think is a movie and such a big deal that the actors will forever be banned from television. Doesn’t he know that nobody in this country has the ‘round things’ to make something that real.
Fakhr and Ali Salman were the hosts and one wonders exactly how many jacks it takes to host one show. Anyhow, after a peek at Daira, Fakhr took on the role of host and once again introduced the cast, this time we got to hear their views on the shooting and their roles etc. Yawn yawn. Ayesha Alam thanked her husband for being supportive while she took on such a meaty role. Aijaz Aslam is playing a drug addict-cum-drug peddler and seems to have done as good a job as Aijaz is capable of doing.
The telefilm will have a lot to do with mind altering elements for that is what the book is about, and if it manages to capture the essence of the drug using section of Lahore, it should not do too badly.
There was a strange mix of people present to witness the event. On the one hand there was the usual brigade of photographers, which are expected at any preview, and then there were the familiar faces mentioned earlier. Arjumand Rahim, Noshin and Sakina Sammun were seen whispering together. Saleem Javed, Bunny, the team of Sub Set Hai, Shariq Roomi, Nadeem A. Khan and Tahir Khan were just a few seen mingling with each other. Since Adnan Siddiqui is part of the project, naturally his wife, sister-in-law and mother-in-law were present. Tapu Javeri and Mubashir respectively made a brief entrance and a hasty retreat. Mr and Mrs Sajid Hasan, who don’t keep anything ‘bottled up’ walked in while everyone was dining.
Let’s mention how the food turned out to be worth the trip. We all know how the artist community just loves food, therefore, everyone congratulated Azfar and Shahzad on a brilliant effort (come on people, we hardly got to see anything of the telefilm). I guess it was the chicken in mushroom gravy and egg pudding that augured such a positive response from all corners. Hope the flavour lasts when the film is actually telecast.
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