Bridging the Gap

by ALI AHAD ULLAH

It’s a common notion in Pakistan that Lahore and Karachi artists have some kind of a rift in between them. That the people of these two mighty cities are as similar to each other as chalk and cheese. But I witness a “social change”.

Eckova Productions and British High Comission provided a platform to 30 aspiring Media students, from these two cities, 8 from lahore and 22 from karachi, to show their talent and showcase there work in London International Documentary Festival. The platform is named as FILMMAKING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE. I can’t predict how much social change a film made at this platform can cause. But the platform itself has Bridged the gap between young filmmakers of these two cities and rejected the common notion.

I, myself, have felt a lot of change. Before I was invited to this platform, as one of the 30 young participants though i don’t look young but i am younger than few others, I used to consider Lahories as my competitors in Media, ofcourse, I belong to Karachi. But after the orientation and week long workshop, I realised that Lahories are actually my partners in revival of Pakistani Media.

The Lahories have left today, and I pray to Almighty Allah for their safe return to their homes, and before these words will be published they will be at home. Although every student was brilliant in his own way and time spent with them is memorable, some are worth mentioning.

Umar (lhr), is the young heart throb of the lot with his funny laugh which has become ringtones of many mobiles. Well his laugh made me nick named him Ignition. He along with Alizeb were a laughter riot. Their jokes in Punjabe, which mostly I don’t understand) were rib tickling funny. The most Innocent face belongs to Kamran (lhr) and Mohib (khi). They were always smilling at the jokes cracked at them, a rare talent among Pakistanis. Sehar palijo was the craziest and caring (with unstopable laugh ) made group with the guy with the best hairstyle, Bilal. Bilal a.k.a. Ghajini (because he is actually bald) was the targets of many of mine and Ali Changezi’s(khi) jokes. Changezi on the other hand lost half of his tooth in an incident which will be remember for his hidden smile and non stop caring laugh from Sehar. Sara ( KU/Khi ) was another innocent face that reminds me off Harry potter. She’s the cutest along with another Sarah( IVS/Khi ). Sara (IVS) along with Huma(lhr) were the most photogenic faces among girls and my camera always tried to capture their pic, in which i succeed a lots of time. Keyzad is my first ever parsi friend and I am very pleased to have him as a friend. Paiman, Keyzad (both from IVS/Khi ) and I made a lot of fun of others while playing DUMBSHRAD, a game in which you have to act the name of a movie while other guess it). Ali Hameed (lhr) and Awais (lhr) were my hard targets in Dumbshrad, they have to act as a lady bacause I keep on giving them the hardest feminine titles. Ali Hameed was finally titled MADHURI. Prem Lata (khi), though inteligent, seems to be a chatterbox and has a very jolly nature. Mohammad Ali Sheikh (khi), with his sober looks and glasses, seems nerdy which he is not. Nabiha (khi) was definetly a nerd in some part of his life, proven by her facebook profile pic.

The Volunteers worth mentioning too. Moiz is a kind of F1 (help button), you need him you call him. Sehreen, Namrah and Nayab are the GIRLS WITH THE STILL CAMERA. Sehreen a quite girl busy in photographing, Nayab Speaks but smiles more and Namrah is full of energy, I bet if the chandeliers were a little lower, she would have jumped and hanging from it.

Last but not the least, The bigger pictures: Sarwar Mushtaq, Denise, Patrick and Grace. Grace, as according to the girls, is graceful. Patrick is a lot different from what I had expected. At the end of the workshop he was laughing at Umer and Alizeb’s jokes too, obviously without understanding a single word like me. Denise is a wonderful women, in my opinion she has seen and know Pakistan better than many of us. Also she knows how to ask my name in Urdu. Sarwar Mushtaq is a powerful figure. Seems friendly at one instance and strict at another, but knows very well how to befriend with youngsters.

In the end, I would like to thanks every one who contributed in this event, extremely sorry to those student I forgot to mention in above paragraph but naming them here: Atif, Sidra, Kiran from lahore and IVS girls, Alifia, Ali Brohi, Talha, Zohaib, Ghayas from karachi and Masood Alam from Eckova. Its just an overview of what have happened yet. A detailed blog on funnienst moment is in planning. Until then, Allah Hafiz, Chao…good luck for your films .

Workshop 1 – Day 5 Outing

As the fifth day of the workshop came to an end, everybody decided to be the perfect hosts and take our Lahori guests for an outing together. Since the plan was made on urgent basis hence not many could join us but a few of the Karachiites including me and Moiz got into the plan.

So all of us charged up with excitement (especially our Lahori friends whose faces were actually illustrating what this word truly means) headed towards our first destination-Playland! Like always ‘The Lahoris’ kept cracking jokes in Punjabi and had us all entertained by their truly amazing sense of humor. Hats off to you guys! If not the jokes then Umer’s famous laugh filled the humor in air. Umer keep it up, we always want to see you laughing and smiling, spreading more laughs all over. On our way, we stopped by Mohatta Palace, though it wasn’t lit up that day but still our very own ‘Man with the digital camera’- Awais captured the essence through his camera. We also showed them Kothari Parade, Park Towers and Park Bin Qasim. On reaching Playland few of our Karachi friends joined us and the entire gang entered Playland.

We first made our way to dodging cars. There was a long queue there so we stood side by side forming a wall and managed to keep the others away. Once the bell rang and there we were running crazily over the dodging cars not letting anybody but our gang to get in. the bell rang again and there we were bumping and dodging and like always our man with camera kept clicking while sitting on the rides too. Getting finished from here we went to another ride, but hey guess what? I just couldn’t find my wallet and here the fun begins. My wallet was officially stolen. I was mugged. Bu this was just the beginning. I looked for my wallet all around but I knew it was a wild goose’s chase so I ran and seated myself in the next ride. Whooosh! That was one ride, it was crazy but fun. When it was over, one of our friend felt sick of the ride and the obvious happened ; )

Moving on, we went to another ride- the pirate. Seeing the after effects of the previous ride a lot of our friends backed off. Nevertheless the few crazy and courageous ones moved on. We screamed and laughed (the pictures taken here are worth watching!) and at the end of this ride too something happened and Sadly Ali Changezi lost half of his tooth. Yes, his tooth. We have all our sympathies with you Ali. With all this we headed towards our van and splash! Kiran got her foot into drain water. What an evening! Huh!

But with our formal training of showmakers, we didn’t let anything come in our way and we moved on towards our second destination