Dawn Images

In literature, the practice of cutting something out of your work when you don’t want to is often referred to as ‘killing your darling’. As sad as it is for any writer to do, what’s worse is when someone kills your darling for you — even when the darling in question is essential to the plot.

That’s exactly what filmmaker Umair Nasir Ali had to face on Sunday when he found out his award-winning film Nayab had been telecast on HUM TV with a few scenes missing.

In a story posted on his Instagram account on Monday, the filmmaker said the cuts were made without consulting the team behind the film and seeing his work altered left him with “a difficult feeling”.

Ali said cinema was like “an art form” and altering a finished film in such a way was like changing “a finished painting to fit a particular wall”. He said he understood that television has its limitations and that some edits are necessary, but asked broadcasters to “involve the filmmaker in that conversation”.

Speaking to Images, the filmmaker said a “key emotional moment” between the main character Nayab (Yumna Zaidi) and her brother Akka (M Fawad Khan) was edited out in the version aired on HUM TV on Sunday.

He also said a scene where Nayab’s father Shahid (Jawed Sheikh) explains his backstory to her was cut, which Ali said “holds one of the central themes of the film”.

He explained that the scene, where Shahid tells Nayab about his experiences living in Karachi during the turbulent 1990s, “gives context to his entire journey and brings together something the film has been building towards from the beginning”.

The filmmaker said shortening that scene in particular affected more than just the film’s runtime.

He reiterated what he had written in his story, saying there was nothing wrong with editing a film for television. “The concern is altering the final edit without consulting the director.”

He said he would “happily come in, watch the proposed broadcast version with the team and help identify what can be shortened without damaging the narrative, characters or emotional journey of the film”.

Ali said this wasn’t the first time such edits had been made to Nayab, this was just the first time he’d chosen to talk about it. He said he had been told of changes in earlier broadcasts and had asked HUM Films to ensure the full film was aired this time.

“Unfortunately, it seems that wasn’t addressed,” he said.