Yasra Rizvi, who multi tasks with writing, directing and acting in the film, talks about the challenges in the process and up ahead.
TV and theatre actress Yasra Rizvi has truly come of age in the past couple of years. From sharing videos of reciting self-written poems that mostly tackle societal complexities and stereotypes on social media, to most recently starring in the thought-provoking short series, Ustani Jee that dealt with issues that women face in a neighborhood, her career has been versatile. Further widening her horizon, Rizvi is now stepping into the world of cinema withher debut feature film, Senti Aur Mental.
Having completed the first spell of the movie in Karachi, which ironically depicts a Punjabi wedding, Yasra feels that Senti Aur Mental “has created a world of its own in Karachi.” Produced by Eman Binte Syed of Jalaibee and Moor, Farhan Hafeez serves as the cinematographer, whereas Shumaila Hussain, Yasir Hussain’s sister, has produced the music comprising a total of eight songs on the soundtrack.
In conversation with Instep, Yasra opened up about how far Senti Aur Mental has come since it was first conceptualized over three years ago.
“The shoot was designed in a fashion that I was able to shoot about 65 per cent of the content, so I’m left with very little, all of which are sequences. Since it’s a wedding film, I still have to shoot the mehndi, shaadi and a couple of other songs,” Yasra shared the film’s current status. “But because it revolves around a family and has a total of 25 integral characters, that have gotten together for a wedding, it’s about how their lives come together.”
With a relatively newer cast, Yasra takes on the role of a ‘senti’ woman, sister to the bride, played by Faryal Mehmood whilst Syed Arez plays the groom and TV actor Zain Afzal takes on the role of the ‘mental’ in the equation. Apart from the four main protagonists, the ensemble cast also features seasoned actors Beo Rana Zafar, who was last seen in Cake and 7 Din Mohabbat In, Leyla Zuberi, Irfan Khoosat, Nimra Bucha and Saifee Hasan amongst others.
“I’ve been writing constantly for two-and-a-half years,” Rizvi laughs, sharing how the film has had its share of struggles. “I’ve chucked three scripts and finally locked the fourth that we eventually ended up shooting.”
Production values in the industry have alsoimproved in the last two years; more experimental stories are being written, the margin of box office earnings continue to increase and the need for substance in scripts has been evident through changes in the medium‘s competition, as the web-space has emerged with a wider range of content. “I’m a workaholic, I’m always working. I hadn’t announced it and just left it at that. I was constantly working on it, watching the kind of cinema that released,” Yasra maintained on how she’s been a fly on the wall as cinema has progressed.
“As a business student, I was determining the need for successful projects, which meant that the content had to reach another kind of level. Even production value is nothing without content,” she added. “So I had to think and rethink, to finally go ahead with a script that I found to be very rich, with a lot of layers and sub-plots, so you need at least that much to keep the viewer engaged. Also, I wanted to make a film with a reasonable budget, so that the stakes are not so high.”
Not only has Yasra written the script, she also steps into the shoes of one of the film’s central characters whilst also directing. Juggling three challenging departments of filmmaking, one wonders how she’s managed to multi-task without compromising on the final product. “You’re constantly on your feet!” she exclaimed.
“I think I’m a storyteller and nothing else. Even my poems are one minute stories where I’m the showman, the writer, I’m doing the lighting and I’m putting it out there too. It’s the kind of person I am,” she furthered her thoughts on always having been versatile in approach and execution. “I think I’m very instinctive; a storyteller will never compromise if they have the right instinct to tell a certain story. The person who introduced me to cinema was Woody Allen, whom I’d seen writing, directing, acting (in) one film a year, over decades. And as a die-hard fan, if he can do it, so can I,” she smiled, aiming for the sky.
Currently in the process of generating funds to begin shooting the second and last leg of the film as well as post-production, she hopes that the blood, sweat and tears gone into helming Senti Aur Mental pay off. “This is a completely independent film, we shot the first spell when six to seven people pooled in money to take it this far,” disclosed the Manchahi-actress.
“This film is not just a film but a movement, to be able to tell the kind of stories that the people I associate with want to tell, with all sorts of different actors,” she observes on a parting note. “We’re again on our financing spree; we’re constantly raising finance. Like I said, it’s a hardcore independent project so it’s a very organic process. The good thing is that I have so much material now with which I’ll work on the first look and show people this time instead of having them believe my word alone. It’s not over yet, I think it’s going to be one of those films which remains the longest in production, but hopefully it’ll be worth it.”
