KARACHI: The third day of the first Lyari Film Festival in the Rangoonwala Hall on Friday afternoon began with a rather longish Balochi feature film ‘Mani Reesh Espetan’ (My beard is white) directed by Shakir Shad.

While it is nice to see that young filmmakers are trying to touch upon social issues that they feel society needs to confront and resolve, it is important for these youngsters to know and learn that there are several ways of putting a message across. It is early days in their careers, so they cannot and should not be faulted for getting vociferous in their effort to drive a point home.

‘Mani Reesh Espetan’ is about how the elderly are treated by their offspring. It tells the tale of an old man who is not looked after well by his son. The son is in love with his wife and believes everything she says. As the story moves along, he and his wife treat the old man badly, and he leaves the home.

The film moves back and forth from an old-home type of facility, where some old men including the protagonist are being interviewed by a journalist and his cameraman. Although the thought behind the effort is worth praising, the movie could have been trimmed to make it more impactful.

A five-minute documentary ‘Minglish’ directed by M. Yousuf Ramzan was next. One felt so heartened to know that the subject of the film was the Urdu language and the appalling way it is being treated in Pakistan, but it was so disappointing to see that the director tried to tackle such an important issue in just five minutes, and that too with the help of brief interviews of three persons, one of whom was writer Anwar Maqsood. The documentary skimmed through the surface of the problem without giving out any historical perspective of the issue or coming up with concrete solutions.

‘Minglish’ was followed by a 23-minute film ‘Sukoon’. Directed by Arif Baloch, ‘Sukoon’ revolves around the character of a heartless man named Rafiq. He is alcoholic and handles his two physically and mentally challenged young boys with callousness. The film suffered from over-sentimentality and loud music. However, it was evident that the young director’s intent was to show that a morally corrupt man cannot escape retribution.

A 14-minute documentary ‘Flight’ helmed by M. Zohaib Hasan focused on extreme sports. He tried to prove that indulging in such activities is a type of addiction.

Some of the other films lined up for the day were: ‘Zara Der Se’, ‘Working Women of Lyari’, ‘Faisla’, ‘Masters of the Sky’ and ‘Preoccupation’.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2014