Imran Malik
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Imran Malik
The search for destiny
By Fariha Rashed
Imran Malik, a Lahore-based director, held the premiere of his telefilm, Justaju Jiss Kee Thee, for a select audience. His decision not to hand the film over to any channel, before its official public release, was commendable to say the least. The decision worked in his favor as Imran has now been offered the opportunity to premier his film at various reputed venues. Besides, the publicity and promotion of the film will be better accomplished by holding small yet meaningful viewings.
Imran Malik is no stranger to the world of film-making. Having done video production from NCA, Lahore, in 2004, he moved on to making the well-received short film titled, Bushra Kahan Hai (2005). After completing a film-making course from the New York Film Academy (NYFA) the next year, he made another short film, Last Kiss, as his final project at the NYFA and received the second position among a total of 18 projects. Earlier, in 2002, Imran had also directed a music video for Abrarul Haq’s Tere Rang Rang.
The story of Imran’s latest offering, Justaju Jiss Kee Thee, revolves around every man’s search for his destiny. “It is a powerful and brave social drama that highlights the frustrations of our youth, represented in the film by three friends belonging to the lower-income bracket, and their struggle to achieve their dreams.”
Unfortunately, the three friends’ sole purpose in life is to attain riches by whatever means necessary. This eventually leads to a sacrifice of friendship among the three and the death of one of them. On the other hand, Sakina (Myra Khan), a girl also living in the neighborhood and striving to achieve the same destiny as them, fulfils her dreams of becoming rich. However, she does this at the cost of her self-respect.
In the telefilm, Imran realistically manages to capture the boys’ issues, needs and how their immature minds can turn towards violence. While studying film-making in the Big Apple last year, Imran felt that most Americans have a wrong image of Pakistan. With regard to the Danish cartoons printed in the papers that offended Muslim sentiments worldwide, he feels that the Americans viewed the consequential Lahore protest-based riots to be the work of fanatics. Through Justaju Jiss Kee Thee he wanted to give a message that poverty and desperation exist everywhere in the world, and should not be linked to any one particular religion. “I couldn’t give this message directly so I interwove it in a story showing people’s miseries which often turn them violent,” he explains.
Imran also strongly believes that someone has to show the true face of our society and although some of the issues he has highlighted in the film may be taboos for the vast majority, he sees it as his responsibility as a director to point them out. “I want to give a message to the decision-makers of Pakistan to please do something to help the masses instead of always trying to exploit them.” As shown in the film, youngsters who can’t talk about their problems in a society like ours, or get counseling of any kind, eventually end up making mischief in the backseats of rickshaws, in cubicles of net cafes, and the dark corners of their homes.
It took Imran almost three months to complete the film, including pre-production and post-production work. He spent almost two months writing the script — two weeks on character development, two weeks on dialogues and a full month on the screenplay. To research the subject matter, Imran went the lower middle-class areas of Lahore repeatedly to get a feel of the lives of the people living there. He also visited net cafes and auto garage workshops.
One of the three friends in the film, Shoki (Atta Ullah), works as a mechanic in an auto workshop. Another, Ali (Ali Zain) owns a net café.
Lahore was chosen for the premier because the film’s events are based in the city. While most people liked the theme of the film, others appreciated the treatment adopted as well as lighting. A few had mixed reviews on the performance of the cast. Myra Khan and Ali Zain were particularly good with their facial expressions and body language which were in sync with their dialogue. The background music coincided well with the film with innovative camerawork. The shot angles were paid a lot of attention to and rendered the film visually pleasing.
While selecting the cast for his telefilm, Imran said he had initially contacted some senior artistes but did not receive an encouraging response. He eventually decided to hire fresh faces by placing advertisements in various institutions for auditions and ended up choosing from among 100 aspirants.
A Karachi premier of Justaju Jiss Kee Thee is next on his agenda. Imran also plans to send the film to different international festivals. .
