British director Steven Moore’s Pakistani film “Tamanna” (An Overlook)

Tamanna new posterThis would be one of the most interesting projects in the history of Pakistan film industry. The upcoming Pakistani film Tamanna is directed by British director Steven Moore and produced by Sarah Tareen, who by the way also has the experience of working with Shoaib Mansoor for his blockbuster hit “Khuda Kay Liye (KKL)”.

The movie is Pakistan’s first feature film to be directed by any British director, as all the past efforts and tries on the same lines have been on lower level. Tamanna has got a very experienced and a heavy cast which includes internationally acclaimed Pakistani actors like Salman Shahid, Faryal Goher and Omair Rana.

Omair Rana was not part of the film initially and the role which he will feature in was given to Hameed Sheikh–famous for the roles like, ‘Sher Shah’ in Shoaib Mansoor’s KKL and ‘Omar Boloch’ in Kandahar Break. But according to the  producer Sarah Tareen, he has now been replaced by Omair Rana.

“The story is essentially about class snobbery, adultery and ego. We have purposefully chosen realism and artistic integrity over sensationalism, because we want this film to be taken seriously internationally and have a long shelf life. Our general philosophy is to stay away from politics and religion and to concentrate on class and social issues. This film is not ‘masala’ but neither is it parallel cinema – it is midway, and is aimed at intelligent viewers from any background. The story is relevant to present Pakistani culture with its emerging middle class challenging the gentry”, told Sarah in an interview to Daily Times.

Making an international standard film is of-course not an easy job at all, every aspect either big or small, requires an extra ordinary care. Keeping the same fact in mind, the legend Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is chosen to give the music of the film.

Explaining his experience in Pakistan, director Steven Moore in an interview with Daily Times said, he believed culture is narrative while the film is the most powerful cultural narrative and Pakistan needs a boost in its recognition of its cultural heritage and stories. He said, “After spending five years in Pakistan, living like an ordinary citizen, not in some foreign enclave or working with a single organisation with an agenda, I feel very connected with what’s happening here. I needed time to both mature as an artist and understand the country and the people of Pakistan. The important thing is that the current slide in the film industry is reversed, and the stories of a generation are not lost forever.”

Sarah Tareen, via email told Galaxy Lollywood that “the film is actually a drama in genre and the work on the film is almost complete, however it will come out somewhere in the month of April this year, whereas the music of the film will be released before”. She further said, “It’s a Pakistani-British Co-Production and the veteran playwright, poet, writer and columnist Munnu Bhai,  is Tamanna’s script supervisor”.

Tamanna, after 2007’s KKL will surely touch a rather un-touched and an avoided genre of films. This film is not only important for the revival of Pakistan film industry, but will also hopefully, prove to be a gateway for Pakistani films to the long desired international arena, and this too with a very positive image showing filmmakers touching variety of topics and proving their artistic skills despite the resources being limited. This film will hopefully help Pakistan film industry in providing it an international recognition which we lost somewhere in late 80s and 90s.

 

Just your average writer/editor based in Karachi, who has the OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) to use commas (Oxford Commas, especially), and edit the heck out of editable pieces.Also, love movies, TV shows more than the movies, and books over everything else.If you find editorial mistakes or have any other feedback over the content of the website, I would appreciate if you email me at: [email protected]

15 COMMENTS

  1. if the film is made in all modern technology and the actors gives their best effort(not like tipical pakistani hero and heroin)and the film is not very lengthy and the team worked only on subject then u can bring the people in cinema,neither i have concerns and doughts

  2. What are mr. Moore’s credentials? Having a caucasian name attached to a project doesn’t automatically make it good. For all we know he might be a first year film student. He has no record of being involved in any film on IMDB. Any help would be appreciated.

    As a side note, I feel this project is ill advised. I read the synopsis and stopped after the words “love triangle.” I mean it’s only the same plot ever used in every southasian movie to date.

    Dissappointed.

    • @cinemapakistan Well, yes you are absolutely right, having a Caucasian name attached to a project doesn’t make it a good film automatically and you will see no such thing in the article as well, all we said in the article is that “This would be one of the most interesting projects in the history of Pakistan film industry,” and we said this because of a great team they have, the combination of actors, director, producer, singer, cameraman and everything else is just awesome. And I guess the reason why people think that a foreign director means a good film is basically because of the fact that these foreign directors most of the time bring that Hollywood style of work and vision into their films which lacks in many of our local directors, and we hope Mr. Moore will not disappoint the film audience here.

      On the other hand, we believe that such a quality effort by anyone in our film industry should be appreciated at all levels, stories and other things will improve with time but these kind of efforts should not be stopped by the industry people.

      • @cinemapakistan: Firstly , let’s get a few things straight. 1)The cast is excellent. Salman Shahid was nominated for the filmfare award in India this year for Ishqiya (Best villain) and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan the singer won the award for best play back singer. Both are involved in this project.2) Pakistan’s veteran poet and playwright Munnu Bhai is the script supervisor. 3)The producer has worked/assisted Shoaib Mansoor in Khuda kaye liyae , has been a producer for Channel 4 in UK and has worked in one of London’s most well known studios (Ealing) and assisted in scripts of some major films such as St. Trinnians (British film). 4) Mr. Moore is a senior filmmaker, and graduated from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth., one of the finest film colleges in UK (Simon Beaufoy’s college, writer of Slum Dog also graduated from) and has worked with Hollywood actors inc Olegar Fedoro from ‘LR Tomb Raider and Joerg Stadler from ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and he was also the second unit director of the film “Taqwacore” screened at all major festivals of the world. He is also a seasoned photojournalist and is particularly familiar with this region.

        http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3728753/bio
        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1519402/combined

    • This week the first track ‘Koi Dil Mein’ from Tamanna sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is on the UK’s BBC Asian Network’s A-list (the only Pakistani song) and No1 on ARY music. How’s that for credentials cinemapakistan? BTW I just looked on your blog and you have at least 2 rather weak completely foreign projects on your front page as of today, which given your desperate sounding criticism of a local project that deserves better treatment from someone who says they are interested in the Pakistani film industry, seems rather hypocritical, definitely childish and probably personal. Everyone else who is interested can find the Koi Dil Mein video here:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvxy5iXWNNQ&feature=channel_video_title

      About the subject of the film. The film is a murder mystery, a kind of old fashioned ‘whodunnit’ and as such we decided from the start to keep the details of the plot to a minimum as it isn’t possible to tell the story without spoilers. The subtext and themes of the story are extremely complex, involving intense psychological drama. The term ‘Love triangle’ whilst being true to the story isn’t what the film is ‘about’. It certainly will be nothing like ‘every’ other South Asian movie to date.

      Thanks to Galaxy folks for your support and unbiased analysis.

  3. I don’t know about you but i am convinced that this team has the best people (talent and technical) so far in films being made in Pakistan .And if you ask me, i’m personally excited about this one to break the low standard that filmmakers such as Syed Noor have set with no story, cast or technical vision in place. This film is a combination of classic talent, foreign technical expertise and young talent. Both the producer and director have taken the best talent in Pakistan and brought in foreign technical expertise. All the best to the team!

    • Yeah, some other people also had the same question. We put the query in front of the producer (Sarah Tareen), and she said its not the remake of that 1972 film, or even its sequel that was made in 2007. It is actually the adaptation of the theatre play by the same name, by Sir Anthony Shaffer. The plot has been adopted many times. This, probably would be its first Pakistani adaptation. So as we said, adaptation of the famous play, not the remake of any movie.

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