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Lagging behind
Recently, there was news that Warner Brothers was hiring a Pakistani-American, Kamran Pasha, to pen the script for one of their forthcoming films based on the fabled Taj Mahal and the legendary love story of the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan and Arjumand Bano. The movie has been described (or pitched — the word used in showbiz lingo) as “Gladiator meets The Last Emperor.” Such would be the hugeness of the scale on which the project will be handled. How well it fares at the box office or whether it receives affirmative nods from acerbic critics, only time will tell.
Kamran Pasha has worked as a television writer in the US and before signing up for the Warner Brothers’ project, his only claim to fame was the script that he wrote for popular sci-fi\horror TV series The Twilight Zone.
The movie pivots around the intriguing story of Shahjahan and Arjumand Bano. Queen Noor Jehan tries to throw a spanner in the blossoming relationship in order for her daughter, Ladli to get hitched to the emperor. Her efforts turn out to be an exercise in futility. As fate would have it, Arjumand Bano dies, leaving Shahjahan utterly disconsolate. What ensues is the emperor’s resolute endeavour to construct the awe-inspiring monument, the famous Taj Mahal, in her memory. Quite a tale, isn’t it?
Who is going to direct this epic saga is yet to be decided. But names of masters like Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott have already been tabled. Whoever helms the project, it wouldn’t be disputable to guess that it’ll be no bread and butter stuff. The film needs painstaking attention to detail and a grand vision to be executed in the manner befitting its scope, not to mention the true-to-history yarn spinning of the script.
At this point, one halts and thinks: how come any foreign studio, any western director or the Sydney Pollocks of Hollywood never get in touch with our very own Pakistani writers and directors to draft scripts or direct films with subcontinental subject matter or plot-settings? We claim that we have a wealth of extraordinary scriptwriters, actors and directors (of the TV kind), yet their work never gets noticed in the international market. Why do Indian directors and actors get ample chances to display their talent in front of the global audience, as it were? Kamran Pasha received the opportunity because he was there, in the thick of things in America. Otherwise…
From Satyajit Ray to Shekhar Kapoor and from Victor Benerjee to Nandita Das, artists from the other side of the Line of Control have been impressing with their versatility and incisiveness in the realm of glitz, glamour and, at times, visual literature, as Akira Kurosawa would call it. Recently, two of their respected actors, Naseeruddin Shah and Amitabh Bachchan have signed up for two international cine-ventures. The latter will appear in a film focussing on the life of the great South African statesman, Nelson Mendela, while the former will be seen working alongside Sean Connery in a psychological thriller. Also, Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor and Deepa Mehta are already working on their future films, produced by non-Indians.
Why are Pakistani artists, no less talented, ever seen shining on the global firmament? Is the question one poses. Save for Zia Mohyeddin, there doesn’t seem to be any Pakistani individual who’s made any mark in the global showbiz fraternity. In fact, Mohyeddin’s claim to fame has been tiny roles in a few English films. Apart from that, he hasn’t done anything worth mentioning, at least with reference to biopics that the Pakistani art aficionados would feel proud of. And the body of work that he managed to exhibit in the West End is as obscure to our countrymen as Krystoff Kieslowski’s Decalogue is to Lollywood filmmakers.
So what is it that’s confining the immense potential of our artists to their own geographical peripheries? Aren’t our directors learned or scholarly enough, our actors resolute enough? How much time will it take for our directors and writers to come up with a story like Taxi Driver? Or will we keep on wasting our energies and potential trying to accomplish literary finesse on the smaller screen, like we have been doing for more than 30 years?
Perhaps one is being overly cynical. Some people argue that our television industry has achieved feats that are unmatched. We have actors and technicians of the highest order in our ranks. The only problem is that they haven’t the foggiest how to market themselves. Show business is all about how you pitch your product. It doesn’t matter if your work is contextually rich or technically devoid of blemish. Unless you’re able to package and present it in an attractive manner, nobody’s going to pay heed. Pop musicians are a cogent example. Show business is fast turning into a world of the vendor and the vendee. If that’s the case (which is still debatable) it’s time we discerned the need of decent packaging and savvy marketing. If some of our pop stars can rule the roost in India, so can our actors, directors and writers.
Having said that, our directors, actors and writers have to ponder over one significant query: what does it take to become a Satyajit Ray, Sir Laurence Olivier or Tennessee Williams? The answer is not just the gift, but also a lot of wisdom. Art is the imitation of life. And life is not an easy discipline to study.
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