THE ICON INTERVIEW: CAKE TALK

Published March 25, 2018
Photos courtesy Asim Abbasi
Photos courtesy Asim Abbasi

Four weeks ahead of the release of his first feature film Cake, Asim Abbasi squeezes out time on a “super-crazy” day between meetings and cab rides in London, where he is based, to speak to Icon via an online call about why he thinks it is important to do something “different” for cinema. Following are excerpts from the interview:

Q. Are you nervous?

Of course, I’m anxious. But I am also optimistically positive. I can’t predict what happens at the box office but I am optimistic that people will appreciate Cake for the performances, the visual language that we have used and for the storytelling.

Q. Why did you decide to switch from banking to films?

When I was still in high school, there wasn’t so much of a culture to study filmmaking or do anything creative, and the standard thing was studying economics. It was only later when I was living in London that I realised that film was something through which I could explore my creative side.

I got my master’s degree in filmmaking at SOAS University of London where I was exposed to international cinema. It was a totally different kind of environment where I studied psychoanalysis, film theory and a variety of interesting subjects that I never had exposure to earlier. Afterwards, I made a few short films and wrote a couple of features. Following that, I wrote Cake and spent time building a team and finding a financier who believed in the idea of doing something different for cinema.

Q. What kind of films inspire you?

My all-time favourites are Tarkovsky’s Mirror, Bergman’s Persona and Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love.

Q. What is Cake about?

It explores a parent-child relationship, the day-to-day struggles of a family, how they grow up together and then grow apart, how time changes people, how parents grow old and how you make decisions around looking after them and pursuing your own life. It is about the passage of time and how choices and mistakes made in the past affect our present. It is a family film, and everyone has families. They know love and loss and grief.

Banker-turned-filmmaker Asim Abbasi talks to Icon about the making of his debute flick Cake.  The film is set to premiere nationwide on March 30

Q. Why did you choose this story for your first feature?

I like to write or direct intimate stories that closely connect with people on an emotional level. I would like Cake to change the audiences in a small, intangible way as they leave the cinema halls.

Q. Is Cake catered to the Pakistani or the international market?

I have tried to give it as wide an appeal as possible but it is primarily targetted at the Pakistani market with an international feel to it. Shot on the outskirts of Hyderabad and Karachi, and a little bit in London, the film doesn’t have bright colours, lip-sync songs, or women dancing around trees, masala or song and dance, because the story does not demand it. I have nothing against commercial cinema but I wanted to tell a story that is true to what life is for a lot of people. There is no melodrama, but the moments of joy and grief will connect with audiences.

Q. How long did it take to bake this Cake?

The film took a little over a year to complete. Hard prep for the film started in October 2016.

Q. Isn’t daring to be different a risky thing to do?

I didn’t want it to be a rehash of what has already been done over and over again. Unless you try something new, only the formula would work, a bit like the chicken-and-egg thing. Any film that does well and is loved by audiences is by default a commercial film.

Photos courtesy Asim Abbasi
Photos courtesy Asim Abbasi

Q. What if it doesn’t do well at the box office?

For some, the whole idea might be to rake in the dollars. I want the film to do well at the box office and be a success but then I have to take the risk of being able to do new things. On the one side, if it doesn’t do well, it doesn’t do well, but if it does do well I know that there will be at least 20 other filmmakers who will have the courage to tell the stories they want to tell, which they are too scared to tell right now, because everyone tells them [to stick to] ‘only formula films!’ It is important to set a trend because we are a young industry not a mature one. So the choices we, as filmmakers, make will define what our history looks like in the time to come.

Q. What are your expectations from the film?

I feel after watching Cake you will call your parents or family members, send them something or give them a hug. I want the audience to be moved when they watch the film. How it translates to money, I am least concerned.

Q. Isn’t money important when making a film?

Money is always a challenge when you say that I want to make a film but not the way you want me to make it. I was very lucky that Zulfi Bukhari was my producer as he believed in my story and let me do things the way I wanted to.

I didn’t want Cake to be a rehash of what has already been done over and over again. Unless you try something new, only the formula would work, a bit like the chicken-and-egg thing. Any film that does well and is loved by audiences is by default a commercial film. For some, the whole idea might be to rake in the dollars.”

Q. What was it like to work with Aaminah Sheikh, Sanam Saeed and Adnan Malik?

I think there was something that connected with each of them on a personal level. I don’t think anyone would deny what Aaminah, Sanam or Adnan have delivered in the film, irrespective of whether the film was a hit or flop. They are some of the best actors in the country. If I picked up ‘X’ or ‘Y’ for my film because they have been in an ‘X’ or ‘Y’ film that was a big success then I would be making a formula film and I am not. Aaminah was one of the first actors I approached for her role and she immediately fell in love with the story.

I am lucky and humbled to have Aaminah and Sanam in my film. They fit their roles as siblings, they look like sisters and their chemistry is spot-on. The performances exceeded my expectations. I don’t know if my actors will agree or not but I am trying to give my actors the freedom to express themselves in whatever way they want. I never direct an emotion or say “Iss scene mein apko rona hai/hansna hai [you have to cry/laugh in this scene]”. For me that doesn’t matter.

In real life, I have seen people laugh in hospitals when people are dying. The emotion did not matter to me but the process of what and how they were thinking did. What was sometimes unprecedented and took me by surprise was that the actors had the freedom and sometimes delivered something that was not in the script. I was happy that they had the freedom to deliver and no fear of failure.

Q. What is novel in the film?

We have done a 10-minute single continuous climactic shot that is a first for a Pakistani film. It involved six or seven characters and was super-exhausting and strenuous for the crew, the actors and me.

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 25th, 2018

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