In a prepare chugging someplace between Dera Nawab and Gotki, a younger lady travelling alone to Karachi will get a name from her husband who asks the same old questions: The place is the prepare now? What number of passengers are there within the cabin with you? — and, considerably surprisingly — Is there anybody sitting reverse you? Regardless of the satisfactory nature of his queries, and the calm in his voice, one thing is amiss within the assertiveness of his tenor.
When a lady (Arjumand Rahim) sitting within the younger lady’s berth exclaims, like most inquisitive travellers do, that the husband appears to be maintaining an in depth eye on the spouse, the younger lady says with a forlorn look that these questions solely come up when the husband is out on a “date” with one other lady.
Khalilur Rehman Qamar’s quick story Aik Sau Taeeswaan, directed with measured equanimity, tonal precision, a variety of coronary heart, nous and duty by Nadeem Baig (Jawani Phir Nahi Aani, Punjab Nahi Jaungi), is an anecdote about knowledge — and maybe, looking back — the sanctity of marriage, the needlessness of divorce, the simple predisposition for infidelity, kinked dominance and powerplays in strained relationships, and the compromises in love. Principally although, it’s about knowledge.
Though it comes on the tail finish of the movie Teri Meri Kahaniyaan, a set of three quick movies that carry no overarching genres, characters or motives, it instills a sense of human familiarity — you simply get the plight and dilemmas of the individuals on the display — and that emotion makes a world of a distinction for the viewer.
Regardless of the seemingly mixed-bag of genres Teri Meri Kahaniyaan professes to have — there’s a horror-comedy, Jinn Mahal, directed by Nabeel Qureshi of Na Maloom Afraad fame, written by Ali Abbas Naqvi and Basit Naqvi; the romance-comedy set in a marriage titled Pasoori, directed by Marina Khan, written by Vasay Chaudhry; and the aforementioned AST — the human ingredient (a much-practiced default of Pakistani makers) trumps each different side.
In Jinn Mahal, the longest phase within the lot that runs till the intermission break, a hard-lucked, homeless household dwell secretly in long-stationed derelict prepare coaches till they’re booted to the streets by the regulation.
With hardly something to eat (the youngsters need to resort to consuming paan to satiate their starvation at one time), the household, mockingly named after royalty — Shehenshah (Mani), his sons Jahangir and Alamgir (Falak Shahzad, Muhammad Hussain Naveed), his blind mom Razia Sultana (Gul-e-Rana), his spouse Mumtaz (Hira Mani) and her sister Anarkali (Khushi Maheen) — discover refuge in a haunted home that lies smack dab in the course of a bustling lower-middle-class neighbourhood.
Nabeel, in maybe his most interesting narrative-work since his debut movie Na Malood Afraad, retains the comedy earnest and interesting, as he wiggles in some temporary, however efficient bits of social commentary.
Whereas Mani is okay, as are the remainder of the solid, together with Salma Zafar Asim, Irfan Motiwala, Danish Arshad and Syed M. Jameel, it’s the kids, Hira Mani and Gul-e-Rana — in her most interesting and funniest big-screen efficiency — who steal the present.
Not far behind them are the ambiance-fitting manufacturing design and artwork route, in addition to the cinematography by Rana Kamran in his most visually efficient filmwork until date.
Put up intermission, the temper swings from somber comedy to fluffy-romance in Pasoori.
Salman (Sheheryar Munawar) is the best life-partner for Romaisa (Ramsha Khan), who slips into her home in a burqa hours earlier than their marriage ceremony.
The explanation for his pressing secret go to is just not out of unbridled love — moderately, his summoning is to resolve a dilemma: Romaisa has simply gotten a last-minute invite to a expertise competitors and she or he desires to go, as a result of, nicely, she must.
She pulls out all of the emotional ammo in her arsenal — the “I am a girl, that’s why I am repressed and can’t go!” argument, the “I have ambitions too” line of reasoning, the “having just one dream of being a singer, since I was six years of age” plea, and the über-emotional ending transfer: tears. Left speechless, and since he loves her so, Salman tells her to be again in a jiffy, whereas he stalls for time.
Pasoori is a enjoyable romp that’s ably-handled as a space-filler between the opposite two entries by Marina Khan, who debuts as a movie director.
Regardless of Vasay’s partaking script, the fast-pace, and the foot-tapping songs from Shuja Haider and Jawad Hyder (with vocals by Nirmal Roy and Ayat Sheikh), the quick belongs to the solid, Sheheryar, Ramsha, Saleem Sheikh, Laila Wasti, Ayesha Gul, Raza Talish, Adi Khan and Musadiq Malik, with standout bits by Hurriya Mansoor and Babar Ali.
Babar Ali’s filmy, pitch-perfect efficiency is a testomony to the distinction between tv appearing and appearing for movie — the very perfection that’s taken to the Nth diploma by Mehwish Hayat in Aik Sau Taeeswaan.
Mehwish, who performs Sadaf, the younger lady within the prepare, in Khalilur Rehman and Nadeem Baig’s quick, commandeers the display, if not Teri Meri Kahaniyaan itself. The Sadaf written within the screenplay may be a creation of the author and the director, nonetheless the individual — not the persona — we see on the display is all Mehwish.
The girl on the display is perceptive of the world round her and shrewd in her actions. She is sensuous and flirty, however doesn’t overstep her self-set boundaries, even when a handsome younger man — a banker named Asad (Wahaj Ali) who solely likes to attract ladies — sits on the other berth and flirts together with her.
Sadaf, we realise, is on the prime of her recreation — even, if it’s a recreation she’s dropping.
Her husband, Afaq (Zahid Ahmed), is having a sexual-fling at that very second with a sensual younger lady (Amna Illyas) who’s the precise reverse of his spouse.
Rehman’s screenplay, fine-tuned to 35 crisp minutes by editor Rizwan AQ, begins considerably gradual because it step by step unveils the conflicts consuming away his characters. Most of what we see and listen to are expositions which can be deftly dealt with by Nadeem and his solid.
Talking of whom, Khalid Anam, Arjumand Rahim, Adnan Samad Khan and even a late shock entry by Mashal Khan pull off their elements with utter in-character meticulousness.
Whereas Amna Illyas delivers an attractive character in her meagre display time and Wahaj performs Asad with a mix of artless dolefulness (he’s recoiling from a foul marriage and seeks companionship), it’s Zahid’s dynamic, determined portrayal of a foul husband whose ego is scrunched by far stronger ladies that stands a notch above the remainder.
Aik Sau Taeeswaan, one realises, is just not involved with meting out lectures about high-brow themes of subjugation, nor does it take jubilation within the meagre victories of its characters. Teri Meri Kahaniyaan, in distinction, is actually a narrative of triumph. A cinematic triumph, that’s.
Though I’d have most well-liked a extra seamless integration of the tales à la Love Truly and really feel that the titles and credit that do pop-up firstly of every phase barely disconnect the sensation of a function movie, producers Seemeen Naveed and Naveed Arshad — two longtime ad-film producers who additionally run SeePrime, a preeminent short-film channel on YouTube — have made a brilliant, polished, movement image with the proper stability of intelligence, emotion and industrial viability. It’s uncommon seeing these traits in a single movie, not to mention three.
Launched by Distribution Membership in Pakistan and Hum Movies Internationally, Teri Meri Kahaniyaan is rated U and is taking part in in cinemas proper now.
