The world has been in lockdown for over a year; cinemas have been closed for just as long. But Fizza Ali Meerza and Nabeel Qureshi, who have given us four successful films in seven years, have been busy regardless.

Back in December 2019 they were on floors with Quaid e Azam Zindabad starring Fahad Mustafa and Mahira Khan in the lead, and had announced Fatman with Ahmed Ali Butt when Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. A lot changed with the turn of the decade so some plans were halted while others progressed, albeit slower because of state implemented SOPs.

On a somewhat hot day in March, Fizza and Nabeel sat down for a candid tete-a-tete with Instep. We met over pudina chai at the sprawling green campus of Karachi Parsi Institute, where they are currently shooting their next film, and caught up on where the film industry was heading…

Instep: First of all, how has the pandemic affected your work as filmmakers?

Fizza Ali Meerza (FAM): We lucked out because we had just finished shooting for Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad and post production for the film had just begun when COVID-19 hit Pakistan. The lockdown gave us the isolation we needed to hyper-focus on the film’s edit.

Instep: What new projects are you working on now?

FAM: The film we are currently shooting is called Khel Khel Main with Sajal Aly and Bilal Abbas Khan in the lead. We also have a web series in the works, for which the script is almost ready. Ali Abbas Naqvi (screenwriter for Laal Kabootar) and Basit have scripted it for us and then we have another feature film script ready that we wrote during lockdown.

Instep: What about Fatman, which you were about to shoot last year?

FAM: The script of Fatman is also ready to be shot and it’s a project very close to our hearts. Amidst the lockdown Ahmed Ali Butt, our lead for Fatman, had lost weight by the time we were gearing up to resume shooting and we didn’t want to ask him to gain weight just for our film. So that project is currently on hold.

Instep: Cinemas are currently closed and many of your contemporaries have moved towards different mediums of storytelling. Why do you still feel it’s important to shoot feature films for the big screen?

FAM: It doesn’t make sense for people to make films right now but we really don’t know any better. If we stop filming, and with Bollywood films banned, there won’t be any Pakistani films to watch. It’s taken so much blood and sweat to revive the Pakistani film industry from scratch; we can’t just let it die now. It’s fundamentally a passion driven job.

Nabeel Qureshi (NQ): We made our first film seven years ago in 2014 and there were only 50 screens in the country. Only three Pakistani films released in 2013, after which domestic releases increased and so did the number of cinema screens. So we must keep making films.

Instep: With multiplexes taking over affordable single-screen cinemas, how do you see your films reaching masses from all classes?

FAM: It is our dream to screen our films for everyone in the country. The problem is cinema owners only invest in urban sectors. If the government gives relaxation over land then one can contemplate building an 800 seat-theatre with a 200 rupees ticket. When you plan a society it’s mandatory for you to plan a space for a park, a mosque or for a community centre. So why can’t the same rule apply for an open-air theatre for mass film screenings? Films can instil mental harmony amongst the masses. One of the reasons why we are so aggressive and anxious as a society is because we are desperate for quality entertainment.

NQ: The funny thing is there is no single organized body that streamlines things for filmmakers or grants filmmakers permissions for shoots. There is no proper structure in place that gives us access to locations, monuments or state owned properties. It is so difficult for us to shoot outdoors and there are no proper in-door film studios either. But the moment we put our cameras on the road, every other state-run municipal organization comes and claims the space and begins to impose all sorts of legal red tape and bureaucratic laws upon us. They claim the space as if we have trespassed their private property illegally. Whether it is an overflowing gutter or a neglected dirty lane in some colony, the authorities become possessive only when there’s a camera filming it.

Instep: The state appears to be pledging a lot of support for filmmakers. Do you feel any of that in play?

FAM: The government needs to understand that we are not kids who they can keep persuading by handing us a lollypop each time we ask for some structure. The State needs to acknowledge the film industry as an actual legitimate industry. We have been waiting for the national film policy to fall into place for years. I have personally met ministers and concerned authority persons several times; everything is written, designed and pretty much approved and yet there has been no momentum. The film industry is a thriving industry that can bring so much revenue in terms of taxes, employment, tourism and export.

We’re not asking the State to fund our films, but we need a proper film policy that recognizes us as an industry, gives us rebates, tax relaxations, transparency in accessing locations across the country and a formula to export our films, just like other exports. There are no unions, no insurances available for crew members, technicians and the funny thing is there’s no award or form of recognition for a film’s technical crew. They’re the ones who work day and night to piece the film together and they don’t get any acknowledgement. Who’s the last Pride of Performance recipient that you may recall from the makers’ end or a producer or director who may have gotten a civil award in the last five years? We made Load Wedding and it brought a change in the sense a bill was passed in the assembly which officially banned dowry and no one in the press talked about it! The film even went to India and won an award at the Rajasthan Film Festival.

NQ: That’s because there’s no follow up journalism in the country. The big brands that invest in large scale advertising campaigns whether furniture brands, insurance firms, or even mattress manufacturers, they all promote dowry through their ads. Films are such a big cultural export, just like any other foreign export, this medium is such a form of soft potent messaging that is capable of changing a nation’s global image entirely. If films like Load Wedding are spreading awareness then we should also be offered tax exemptions so maximum number of people can watch and learn from them. These are small efforts that can motivate makers and producers to make better social, informational and educational films.

Instep: If cinemas are shut for another year, would you release your films on OTT platforms?

NQ: No, we have been very clear from the start that our feature films are meant only for the big screen and we want them to release in Pakistan first domestically and then internationally as well in movie theatres.

FAM: We were actually approached by a leading international OTT portal, and they were offering us good money as well for Quaid-e-Azam Zindabad, but we refused because the screening canvas is too large for a film of this scale and it is not meant to be viewed on the small screen. We are optimistic that when cinemas reopen, our film will be one of the first ones to hit the screens.

– Afreen Seher is a creative writer and a Digital Media professional with special interests in Film, TV and Pop culture. She can be reached at afreenu3@gmail.com