Interview with Mehreen Jabbar

by Laila Kazmi
September, 2003

Mehreen Jabbar is a filmmaker who has an extensive portfolio at a young age consisting of work ranging from short independent art films to commercial serials and series for television. Her success as a director can be assessed by the fact that her work has appeared in many film festivals around the world including The Hong Kong International Film Festival, The San Francisco Asian-American Film Festival, and The Leeds Film Festival in U. K. to name a few. At home, in Pakistan, her unconventional style of story telling has earned her much acclaim and several awards. Much of Mehreen's work focuses on the everyday lives of Pakistani women and the conflicts they face from day to day... more on Mehreen Jabbar

(Interviewer's note: The following is an excerpt of an interview which was conducted mostly through telephone conversations, as well as, some e-mail exchanges. In the text below, unless otherwise noted, all references to film and television industries mean specifically the Pakistani film and television industries, all the cities and venues mentioned are those located in Pakistan, and words which appear in italics are expressions or titles in Urdu.)

Jazbah: What was the first play that you made?
Mehreen: I did my first play in '94. It was called 'Nivala' which was based on a short story by Ismat Chugtai (It was meant to be part of a series on works of South Asian Women writers). That didn't go on air because of the policy [of Pakistan public television], I think, they weren’t ready to run an Indian writer on TV back then. So, that play actually ran a year ago on a private channel.

Jazbah: What type of issues do you try to deal with in your plays?
Mehreen: I don’t really look at plays as issues, I look at stories. The stories that appeal to me are small stories, like conflicts within a household and conflicts between two individuals. More than social issues, that obviously plays a part, but I don’t direct to make a point.

Jazbah: Did you ever have an interest in acting? If not, why do you find directing more interesting than acting?
Mehreen: No, I've never had an interest in acting. I think it's an extremely difficult job and it's not for me! I find directing is my forte because this is how I love telling stories. Directing is like giving birth, creating, moulding. the high is incredible as are the rewards. To see all the elements come together from the script to the actors, to the camera work, to the crew and to see that produce something that was the original vision is irreplaceable.

Jazbah: Do you write some of your own plays?
Mehreen: No, I have not written my own plays but I work with the writers. We come up with a story, sometimes the writer will come up with something, sometime I will and then I sit with them and they write and we just take the whole script from start to finish, and then it is devleped from there on. So it’s a very collaborative process. I work with only a couple of writers.

Jazbah: And have you also made films? I know you have made short films.
Mehreen: I’ve made short films. I have not made a feature film. I plan to [do so].

Jazbah: Have you had any experience with the Pakistan film industry?
Mehreen: No, I’ve never worked in the film industry. That is in Lahore, mostly. But a group of us (independent filmmakers) have started the KaraFilm Festival which is Pakistan’s only international film festival. We started that two years ago and it was developed with the aim to encourage producers and directors to produce and
show their works at the festival and to enable people to view films from around the world and meet with other filmmakers.

Jazbah: People submitted their films and then you guys decided which ones to screen?
Mehreen: Yes. Last year we showed nearly 80 films, including documentaries and short films, from countries such as Germany, Russia, New Zealand, India, American, Great Britain, etc. Pakistanis right now are not really used to the idea of film festivals because it's never been done at this level. Therefore, it's quite a task to get sponsorship, to get people to understand what the whole thing is about. However the last year's festival response has been very encouraging and i think slowly the festival will be an important event in Pakistan.

Jazbah: So who are the audiences at the film festival? Does the general public show up?
Mehreen: Audience are very mixed. Two years ago, we started at the Alliance Francaise, which was obviously a restricted venue because it was the French cultural center. We had to do it there because Karachi really doesn’t have too many auditoriums. You get into a huge bureaucratic hassle if you put it in any neutral venue. Last year the festival was held at the Pakistan Institute of International Affaris which is very near Saddar and here we had all kinds of people walking in which was great because they were genuinely interested in what was going on. The festival itself has an almost negligable fee to enter it. [However,] we can't really open it to mass because we don't have the resources and most of the non Urdu films are subtitled in English, that automatically restricts the audience. They'd [the non-English speaking audience will] only come and see Indian or Pakistani films.

Jazbah: Were there works by several new Pakistani directors [in the festival]? Those who had not been shown before? Mehreen: Yes, yes. There were students’ making films. [Normally] students make films and they can only show them at their own universities. Here there was a venue they could actually approach. Also we've had a lot of premieres of new films by directors and have shown Lollywood films like "Inteha", "Mehndi Waley Haath" and "Yeh Dil Aap ka Hua" as well. Two years ago, we had the actress Nandita Das and the director come over with their film. Last year we had Russian and New Zealand filmmakers come over. This year we are trying to get Michael Moore. Jazbah: What do you think, well if you’ve only had limited experience with the film industry, maybe you can’t answer this, but I’ll ask you anyway, what do you think is the problem? Why is the Pakistani film industry so behind? Mehreen: Many reasons, I guess.

KaraFilm Festival 2001 (Courtesy of www.karafilmfest.com)

Jazbah: Is it lack of money? Is it something else?
Mehreen: Well, it's that the people who've entered the industry have gotten into it for the wrong reasons. Cinema's real decline started in the late 70's. Since then apart from a few good films, the majority of what is being produced is mediocre and unimaginative. I think the industry has been hijacked by groups who conduct business in almost gangster like fashion and it is sometimes difficult to penetrate the web of the producers/distributors network, not that it cant be done, but it takes a lot of effort and determination. A recent example is Javed Sheikh's "Yeh Dil Aap ka Hua" which could be called a semi independent film.

Jazbah: Was that film made in Pakistan?
Mehreen: It was [made] in Spain and he had a producer who was not from the industry. He was able to, sort of, pull some things that he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to if he had worked with a producers who came from the established industry. So, you can work around it and people are [doing so]. I think this year, definitely, there are going to be filmmakers, young filmmakers from Lahore and Karachi getting into the film industry by not working within the system but having their own setup. I think change is going to come very soon.

Jazbah: What can be done to improve the Pakistani film industry? Should the government create programs to support the film industry?
Mehreen: The Pakistani government has cut entertainment tax which has helped the industry. But there are no institutions, for example, there is nowhere you can go to study film. Unless you make something like film into an institution, make it into an industry, it will always be considered as something that is not serious. The government should really just set up a school and colleges should introduce film and media studies as a subject. Currently everyone learns on the job.

Jazbah: So even for acting, there are really no schools where people can go to learn it?
Mehreen: There are no schools in anything film related. There are some small programs happening at the Karachi University, at the Indus Valley School of Architecture, the National College of Arts but these [programs] are so small and not everyone can afford to get into these schools. There is no comprehensive film training anywhere, not in acting, writing, directing, producing, anything.

Jazbah: Do you feel that if a school were to open, there will be a lot of interest in it?
Mehreen: Of course. There are people who are interested but dont know where to go from there. Not everyone has contacts in production companies and channels where they could get internships, etc., and so mostly this talent of theirs is stifled. This leads to losing a lot of people from all sections of society who just dont know how to develop their interests further.

Jazbah: Pakistanis love to watch Indian movies and Indians are fans of Pakistani dramas. So have you thought about any type of collaboration with Indian producers and actors?
Mehreen: I wish. I mean that’s something that needs to be done. It’s ridiculous that we are so close and we can’t do it. However with the advent of satellite channels on both sides, I think collaborations are a very real possbility.

Jazbah: Tell me a little bit about your film 'Beauty Parlor' which was recently screened in New York and which has also appeared in several film festivals around the world.
Mehreen: Well, it’s a 20 minute short about four characters who are in one salon and you get into glimpses of five minutes of their lives. So there are two friends, there is a bride who is getting made up for her marriage. There is a prostitute who is getting her waxing done, there’s a hijra who works there, etc. It basically deals with issues of identity and desire.

Jazbah: How long did it take you to complete that film?
Mehreen: It was done five years ago. It was an early thing that was done with my savings because I wanted to do something that was not for Pakistan television. I wanted to explore themes that I could not explore and I wanted to see if it could play at festivals and have an international audience. That was the reason it was done. After that I haven’t really done something like that because I just got busy with televsion films and serials. [However] I plan to do more independent short films in the future.

Jazbah: I see, going back to you starting out your career, how was your career choice accepted by your family? Did you have the support of your family and friends?
Mehreen:I had incredible support from my family. No issues whatsoever and a lot of help throughout.

Jazbah: I heard recently that the leaders of Pakistan's political group, MMA, have banned or tried to ban music in [the city of] Peshawar. What would you say to those leaders and young Muslims who really believe that music and films are against Islam?
Mehreen: I would tell them to really read the Quran properly and read it intelligently because there is nothing in it which says that. [Their's] is a very closed, one track interpretation. There is really no effort to really read [the Quran] with a twentieth century perspective. [Islam] is a very progressive religion which has been allowed to be hijacked by people who think their interpretation is the [only] right and true one.

Jazbah: Mehreen, thank you so much for giving me this chance to talk to you. I've really enjoyed it.
Mehreen: No problem.