Lamha (Seedlings)
was screened in London after its first Pakistani screening in Lahore. Just like
it did at the New York International Film Festival, Seedlings left the audience
enthralled with beautiful performances. It is unfortunate that the film has not
had a nationwide be release in Pakistan, due to a lack of sponsors.
London-based
blogger Somaya Khan, who watched Seedlings in London, writes about it:
I am generally
sceptical of creative output from Pakistan. I have no doubt about the talent in
the country, but due to lack of finances and facilities there (and hence,
international-level experience), I find myself dumbing down my expectations,
which makes it difficult to assess the quality of work, impartially. So, just
imagine my surprise when my worst fears were laid to rest and I realised I had
no need to dumb down my appraisal.
Seedlings (Lamha)
revolves around three main characters: a married couple — Raza (Mohib Mirza)
and Maliha (Aamina Sheikh) — and a rickshaw driver Anil (Gohar Rasheed). All
three seem to be in a state of melancholy, grieving over some deep sorrow. As
the film progresses, it is clear that Raza and Maliha have been driven apart by
an unbearable personal tragedy and that Anil played a very important role in
that. Will any one of them be able to forgive one another, or more importantly,
themselves? Is there any redemption for a mistake, a ‘moment’ that destroys
lives? Is there any way to move forward when your core being has been ripped to
shreds? How can you hope, when there is no hope to speak of?
The best thing
about Seedlings is that it does not preach, for even a moment. There is no
lengthy dialogue to explain the situation to the audience. It is not an overly
complex film, but the emotions it deals with can be difficult to understand.
Also, the film does not spend extra energy on making it simple for anyone. It
is a journey of self-discovery for the characters and the deepest insights come
from short conversations with the secondary characters.
Customary and
redundant words have been replaced with lengthy silences in the movie, aided by
a very appropriate background score by musician Usman Riaz. There are long
scenes, where nothing happens, but you can feel an over-arching loneliness.
This is something which is not seen in Pakistani dramas, wherein shouting is
considered a must to express emotions — even that is used very sparingly in the
film. Less is definitely more for Seedlings.
The acting is very
mature. While Sheikh has already won accolades for her portrayal of a woman in
constant emotional pain, Mirza and Rasheed are excellent, too. They did not
overact or cross the lines of believability, throughout the film.
Unfortunately, what
the film confidently achieves in scripting (film-maker Summer Nicks), direction
(Mansoor Mujahid) and acting, it loses in production values. The budget is
quite apparently limited and that is obvious in some technical aspects like
cinematography and sound recording and, at some points, in the editing, too.
There is a slight amateurish quality to it all, which makes it less palatable
to an audience used to slicker products. I am also curious about why Seedlings
was filmed on a 4:3 aspect ratio, a frame which more suitable to an older
television format, than cinema today — but honestly, these are all minor
issues.
The lack of
sophistication is made up for, by a strong script, a detail-oriented direction
and very involved performances. If a case can be made for independent cinema in
Pakistan, then Seedlings is definitely a role model.
Unfortunately, as
film-maker Meher Jaffri informed the audience after the screening, finding a
distributor to release the film in Pakistan is proving difficult. So yet again,
an excellent effort may never see the light of day in its country of birth.
The writer has an
MA degree in Media & Communications from Goldsmiths College and blogs about
films as it’s her passion.
Published in The
Express Tribune, March 17th, 2013.
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