Kaptaan, a Pakistani
production on the life of cricketer-politician Imran Khan, created a stir
amongst Khan’s fans when the first trailer hit the small screen almost over a
year ago. Anxiety grew about whether this film would ever make it to the big
screen. As the wait was about to cross its threshold, an announcement regarding
the film’s release dates was made on its Facebook page. A second trailer of the
much-awaited film was released simultaneously to support the statement.
“Dear friends, we would
like to begin with a long overdue apology we owe to our fans for not having the
movie released or giving prompt updates regarding the film over time either,”
read the post. The team explained there are numerous challenges independent
film-makers face, not just in Pakistan but across the globe, and Kaptaan was no
exception — indie film-makers are on a restricted budget and pool of resources.
“In the end, no matter
what happens and no matter how hard people try to oppose us for their personal
vested reasons — political or non political — we will never give up or stop,”
the post continued. “Thank you all [for the support], whether you wished us
well or you didn’t. May Allah have mercy on all of us.” The note ended with
what the readers were hoping to hear, “The movie will be released this fall
Inshallah — the exact dates will be announced later this month.”
Two trailers
The second trailer of
Kaptaan differs from the first one and leaves the audience a little confused.
The first trailer
revealed an interesting aspect to ex-cricketer Khan’s life — his struggle to
fame and how he became the legend he is today. The vibes it gave off suggested
the story would be about how a champion was created. This sparked immense
interest from the audience as Khan is a shining star as far as cricket is
concerned. It was shared by people on social media and received attention from
media locally and globally. Khan’s name was involved and Pakistan was about to
take a major political turn as elections drew close.
The latest trailer is
altogether distinct from the image painted earlier. It leaves the viewer
perplexed as it now seems to be more of a boring narrative-documentary. If this
was what the director intended then it worked out well. But the fact that it
leaves the viewer confused and clueless as to what to expect from the
production cannot be ignored. The music provided by Farhan Zameer however, is
one interesting thing to have come out.
Unfortunately, the
performances seem a little amateur and the documentary-style shots that have
been incorporated in the trailer also seem to have been forced just for its
release. If what is shown in the trailer is not depicted in the actual movie,
viewers will be disappointed.
Let’s hope Kaptaan’s
boat sails smoothly and the film releases in fall as the producers claim. It’s
still doubtful as many of its contemporaries have failed to keep their promises
of releasing films in the past.
For instance, a project
called Kolachi, a post-apocalyptic take on Karachi, left the audience waiting —
only released a trailer and no final movie. In fact, the producers decided to
move on to their next project Seedlings (Lamha) and release that. While the
movie won several international awards, for the Pakistani audience, it’s still
just a trailer as distribution in Pakistan is now an issue.
Bilal Lashari’s Waar is
another project which was left incomplete. They released a promising trailer
almost two years ago but the movie is still in its production stages. Nasir
Tehrany and Omer Ikram’s Naach is another case — Shaan is shown dancing in the
trailer. While it wasn’t that impressive and didn’t receive a positive
response, this doesn’t justify the fact that the film was never released. For
the survival of the film industry in Pakistan and for it to maintain its
credibility in the audiences’ eye, it’s pertinent that all these films are
released regardless of how good they are.
Published in The
Express Tribune, January 21st, 2013.
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