Azad is not a masala film, says director Rehan Sheikh

After some rescheduling, I met with Rehan Sheikh at his partner Hasan Naeem’s nondescript studio in Islamabad. Sheikh is expectedly excited for the release of his long-delayed directorial debut Azad, which comes out February 9.

He stepped out from the editing room for the interview. I’m told that the film is being cut to be made more concise and crisp - something the team realised after it was screened at a film festival in New York.

Azad, however, is not Rehan’s first experience with film. He helmed Mohabbat Ki Pehli Kahaani in the early 2000’s, unfortunately it ended up being televised.

“It was the pre-digital era, so there were issues with the pixels when I played its trailer at Nishat Cinema in Karachi,” he explained. “But there was always this hunger to make a film.”

While it might not be his directorial debut, Sheikh has had many firsts with Azad. Not only is he the director of the film, but he has also penned the script, co-produced it and played the lead as RJ Azad who explores the idea of freedom.

One wonders if such extensive multi-tasking compromise other aspects of filmmaking?

“Absolutely,” he responds, “but I was very inspired by Woody Allen. I could’ve casted someone else, and I would, but to ask a major star for 40-50 days this time would’ve taken another five years. We were pooling in our resources. I made a lot of mistakes also, but I learnt a lot from the entire process.”

It’s interesting how he sees the archive of performing arts as the representation of the time and era. In Azad’s case, Sheikh feels it will eventually acquire the ‘cult’ status for its subject-matter and portrayals. “If it’s just about making money then what’s most watched in the world is highly objectionable,” he points out; “Cinema or any other medium for that matter of fact cannot be meaningless entertainment.”

In conversation with Images, Rehan Sheikh discusses his film, the direction that local cinema has taken and why it needs to evolve. Read on:

Images: Azad went on floors in 2013. Why do you think it’s taken this long for it to come out?

Rehan Sheikh: You see it was our first feature film and we didn’t make it by any business formula, which is how most films are made now. After we made the film, we had to find a distributor, which is another world on its own.

Also because you haven’t spent a large amount on your film, they’ll tell you to postpone its release because there’s always a Shah Rukh Khan or a more ‘masala’ film coming out.

And I think we wanted to release it during the winters also, it resonates with the season well. I believe in synchronicity and that there’s a certain time for everything; now’s Azad’s time.

Images: Tell us a little about how Azad was conceptualised?

Sheikh: When I moved to Islamabad, my friend (Hasan Naeem) and I were looking for something exciting to do, and we started working on a pilot for a TV series. But that got delayed. When I revisited the script and showed it to a couple of screenwriters I trusted, they saw a film in it. And I always wanted to make a film.

As an actor, I spent the '90s wanting to work in films. At that time, however, there were no films being made. I think it’s after the digital technology shift that all these young people have come forward.

Nevertheless, Azad is an independent film, it’s not a bara masalay ki chaat, it doesn’t have three item numbers or explosions and fight sequences, it’s not something like that. It’s offbeat cinema, it’s not a ‘filmy’ film per se.

It’s more intimate, along the lines of Woody Allen or Hrishikesh Mukherjee, films that were light-hearted but had an audience of their own. I wanted to make a film that didn’t require a massive budget, had only a few characters and just provided people with an experience when they leave the cinema.

Images: Having dabbled in both mediums, what differences did you notice between working in film and television?

Sheikh: Look at Kramer vs. Kramer; essentially a drama. People here say drama and film are different, but they’re essentially the same. Drama means conflict, and without that, there’s no narrative. Pakistan is the only country where I hear people saying how film should be like a ‘film’. That’s rubbish.

Nobody uses the term ‘telefilm’ anywhere in the world. People make films within a single room. It’s all about the concept. Now that the drone’s fashionable, we don’t have to include it everywhere. What’s the substance? To me, what’s important is what you’re trying to say or make people feel through the film.

Images: Does that mean that the aesthetic of your productions will remain secondary?

Sheikh: As far as Azad is concerned, it was secondary to me of course. But then you have to design all of it like that from the outside. We were clear about the fact that we were making a low-budget, guerrilla-style film, so even if we wanted to open a frame, there was an expense attached to it. So I wanted to show that we could make a film, within the limited resources that we had. Like I said, it was a passion project entirely.

You do want your film to break-even or bring you some profit, but that became secondary to us. Now, if I want to stay in the business and work on my next film, I’ll have to look into that as well.

Images: Where do you think cinema is headed? 2017 was a fairly bad year at the movies.

Sheikh: I think it’s unfortunate that we’ve arrived at a formula. I think it was a lot more experimental a little while ago with Manto, Moor and Shah, and that to me, was more exciting. Now, the industry at large believes that action-comedies around gangs are the way forward.

You don’t necessarily change that, but you need other ideas as well. And even though it might not be liked by everyone, it holds its own value. I’m happy to see people like Nabeel (Qureshi) and Fizza (Ali Meerza), who fuse their own humour in their projects, especially their first two films [Na Maloom Afraad and Actor In Law]. But I feel filmmakers shouldn’t restrict themselves at all, they should explore different genres.

I don’t say that anything should be absolute. It didn’t happen in India overnight either; I worked in theatre across the border, and I met filmmakers there and I got to see how organised they are. I’m talking about the mid-90s and even then, they would provide the best filmmaking students with scholarships, and it was all very expensive back then. Vidhu Vinod Chopra, David Dhawan – they’re all graduates from there.

Unfortunately, as a nation, we never gave cinema and that culture the importance that was needed. I think we need the government’s support, we need tax-breaks, and especially for filmmakers who want to experiment, they need to be encouraged. The state needs to be involved beyond the propaganda films to subjects that for instance tackle some social issue.

Images: Lastly, are you planning on working on more films? What genre would you want to tackle next?

Sheikh: Yes, there are a couple of stories I’m developing. One of which I might just produce and act in, but the other I’d also like to direct. Let’s see how things shape up. As an actor, there are two upcoming serials that have kept me busy. I have been asked for some films also, but nothing’s really confirmed as of yet. After Azad comes out, I may just take some time off to write the next one.

As an actor, I feel I’ve always been offered very serious roles throughout, but when I used to work in theatre, in England, I was particularly good at comedy. In Pakistan, I think that aspect of me has been under-utilised; in fact I agreed to do Chupan Chupai also because of the comic bit. So I’ll probably dig some out-and-out comedy next because it’s something I want to do.