LAHORE: For any film-maker story telling is the most important tool. If a film-maker cannot tell a story with passion, detail and emotion drawing in audience then the film will only end up being a useless product.

Mumtaz Hussain has taken firm hold of these reigns and has managed to not only write and direct films since over a decade, but also write a few books of short stories.

The man has a head-turning appearance with his matted hair, long pointed beard, and very round glasses. He wears a casual gray shirt with a muffler around his neck. Some may even say he himself is a quaint character from out of a story or a film. And truly, for Mumtaz, he is mostly inspired by vintage greats.

“I have always looked up to film-makers like Ingmar Bergman and Vittorio De Sica,” he says. He speaks passionately about De Sica’s Umberto D., a beautiful story of a poor old man in Rome, trying to make ends meet, with only his dog to accompany him – really not much help in the context of things. “The story telling of De Sica and his technique is so compelling, that it is not a film you can get over, perhaps ever.” In fact even Ingmar Bergman counted the film among his favourites.

Mumtaz says: “Moving towards our own region, I have always been inspired by Satyajit Ray, and the very underrated Pakistani director Khalil Qaiser, whose film Clerk is a good example of social realism, and then also Jamil Dehlvi – again very underrated – who has made Tower of Silence, Immaculate Conception, and Jinnah.”

He says though Nazrul Islam and Mushtaq Gazdar were also very good directors, Nazrul was more commercial while Gazdar was more into docu-dramas. “I have also been greatly inspired by Guy De Maupassant,” says Mumtaz. “Like him I have tried to incorporate surprise endings in my stories too.”

In his own words, Mumtaz Hussain’s style is that of fusion blending in elements from Pakistan, New York (where he lives), and Europe. His stories are about regular people. “It is the common man who is my hero,” he says.

Loaded with artistic expression, Mumtaz is also painter of mix-media. He has tried to paint stories which, he says, is a different take on the interpretation of a short story.

But while Mumtaz has made around seven films in the last 15 years, and has also bagged prestigious awards for them, this time he plans to make a film and release it in Pakistan, using a Pakistani cast. His lead will be played by Farhan Tahir (Star Trek, Escape), who is Pakistani but works in Hollywood. The story is titled Desi Shakespeare and Mumtaz says it is a rollicking comedy from beginning to end.

“It is the story of a professor obsessed with Shakespeare who is blackmailed and challenged by the local feudal lord to compete with him in directing a Shakespeare theatre,” he explains. “The plot is interwoven with Shakespeare’s original stories, including Macbeth but primarily Romeo and Juliet, and therefore a connection has been made with our local lovers Heer and Ranjha and is based in Jhang.”

But Jhang is also Mumtaz’s own hometown, even though he studied in the National College of Arts later. He cannot forget his own experiences in theatre and in studying Shakespeare in the Jhang College. “My main character is based on Prof Khan Khalilullah Khan who taught us in college and was obsessed with Shakespeare. Because of him I was involved in acting in plays too.”

He remember the hands-on approach the students used in producing the plays. “For storm sounds we made noise by banging a stick on the inside of a steel drum. Then we made the lights go on and off. It was magical when it finally happened. We ourselves broke steel containers to make crowns for the lead actor in Hamlet. And our professor aptly renamed the plays in Urdu. It was Denmark Ka Shahzada for Hamlet, and Venice Ka Habshi for Othello.”

He was reminded of his experiences in Jhang College and once related them to writer Mohammad Hanif while they were both in London. “Hanif got a good laugh out of the reminiscences but then told me I should write it – in fact he threatened to write it himself if I didn’t,” he cracks a smile. “Now I’m going through the pre-production phase, and I plan to start shooting hopefully by the end of this year with the help of a lot of Pakistan-based crew.”

The film then might take a year for its release if things go smoothly, he says.

Previously the director has made a film on Tara Masih called The Kind Executioner where he explores the hangman’s relationship with his ‘victim’, the jailed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. There is irony and conflict in the story. Where Bhutto was the most powerful man, Masih was the weakest but in the context of the jail they both reverse their power roles. But at the end of the day, Masih is made to hang the only man whom he believes can help protect him as a citizen. “All my films are well researched and this too I did after intensive research,” says Mumtaz.

Apart from films, Hussain has served as Art Director for Simon & Schuster, one of the leading U.S. publishing houses. He has also worked as a graphic designer or art director on accounts including Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.

Hussain continues to paint prolifically, and his artworks have been featured regularly at the LRBT art auction in New York, consistently fetching the highest bids.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2017