“Razia is different from anything I’ve done before. I would call her jhalli,” says Amna Ilyas
“The reason the couple run away is because they belong to different zaats [castes],” Munawwar says. “The reality of life is that, no matter how far we think we’ve progressed, issues of zaats till prevail in Pakistan. When I sat down to write the film, something similar was happening with someone I knew.
“The message is a part of the story, but it is not the story,” Munawwar explains.
Holding a B.A. Hons in Film from Beaconhouse National University (BNU), Lahore, Munawwar is a stickler for story and structure.
“We were always aware that we would have to make a lot of compromises when we went on set. So we tried to sort most of the logistical problems at the screenwriting stage,” he tells me.
“I’ve followed Robert McKee from my film school days,” Munawwar says. McKee is a screenwriting guru in Hollywood who is popular for his seminars and books; a version of McKee was played by Brain Cox in Charlie Kaufman’s film Adaptation . “McKee would be my reference point. However, when you get to comedy, which has a different set of requirements than drama, even that fails. The only thing one could rely on is the classic structure of a film.
“I had put in so much time in following the logic of screenwriting that there came a time when my brain stopped working. Since it was my first project, I simply wanted to play it safe,” Munawwar says.
With a humble production budget, casting A-listers, whose prices hiked with each passing picture, was out of the question. Munawwar’s first choice, Iman Ali, had date problems and couldn’t commit. Then, eventually, Amna Ilyas came into the picture.
“I liked the script but only committed after sitting down to read it with Hisham,” Ilyas tells me on the phone (honouring her commitments, Ilyas was out promoting Baaji at a cinema in Karachi).
The reason the couple run away is because they belong to different zaats [castes],” Munawwar says. “The reality of life is that, no matter how far we think we’ve progressed, issues of zaats till prevail in Pakistan. When I sat down to write the film, something similar was happening with someone I knew.”
“We clicked in a blink. He’s ambitious and a bit introverted. When I started reading the script with him, I started to enjoy it. I kept asking him if I was doing anything wrong, but Hisham said ‘Amna, the way you are delivering your lines is just who Razia is’.
The Faisal in the film and the Faisal Saif in real life are quite different people
“I have a strong intuition and I believe in my instincts,” Ilyas continues. “I had a feeling he [Munawwar, a first-timer] was going to do a good job as director.
“I like doing bold, substantial roles. I’ve played a feminist, an independent young woman, and characters who are inspirational — roles that do not necessarily fall into the typical heroine category,” she continues.
“Razia [her character from RSN ] is different from anything I’ve done before. I would call Razia jhalli [crazy]. She’s young and stuck in la la land. She hasn’t seen the dark side of the world. When we were reading the script, I would ask Hisham ‘How can a girl do these things?’
“I did that character a year back, and now that we’re talking, things are coming back to me,” Ilyas recalls. “Razia is very loud, while I, myself, am understated. Even when there are no dialogues, Razia would still be giving off expressions. If she is standing in a group, even then she is doing something. She is moving, she is shaking her head, smiling, making different sounds. She’s a sweet, happy, loud girl.”
The young man Razia elopes with is a stark contrast.
“He is a very nice boy who hasn’t done anything wrong in life,” Faisal Saif, the lead actor opposite Ilyas, tells me. “He has a very strict mum who is the boss of the house, and a henpecked father. But unlike his father, he has a bit of his mum in him. He’s a bit of a rebel.
“In a way, it’s a coming of age film; he becomes a man from a boy,” Saif says.
Saif’s screen character is also called Faisal, by the way. The name was always meant to be changed, he says. The Faisal in the film and the Faisal in real life are quite different people, he clarifies.
“While he’s a mama’s boy. I’m not. I would swim against the tide to get things to go my way — and there’s great satisfaction in that.” Saif comes from a film background. His grandfather was the noted poet, lyricist and producer Saifuddin Saif who wrote and produced box-office successes Saat Lakh (1957) and Kartar Singh (1959).