Rendezvous with seedlings’ cast; Mohib and Aamina

As expected; the film scene in Pakistan has really been ascended after the release and success of Shoaib Mansoor’s Bol and other big releases of the year. With every few months passing, we now hear a new addition to our lists of upcoming silver screen visual treats.

The very new one to this list is recently announced and already completed with its production work upcoming flick of Bodhicitta works named Seedlings.

Seedlings; as explained by its producer Meher Jaffri in an interview to Galaxy Lollywood, “is a film about three individuals who are united by a horrific tragedy and follows their lives a year after the event. It is a story of loss and ultimately, forgiveness. It’s about how we find the strength to carry on with our lives, even when there doesn’t seem to be a point to them anymore.”

Produced by Meher Jaffri, Summer Nicks and Craig Peter Jones under the banner of ‘Bodhicitta works’ – the same production house behind another highly anticipated forthcoming film Kolachi  — Seedlings stares very versatile Mohib Mirza and his very ravishing actor wife Aamina Sheikh in lead roles along with Gohar Rasheed, Hira Tareen, Mehreen Rafi and Tara Mahmood in other important roles.

Directorial debut of Mansoor Mujahid, Seedlings will also have Uth Records famed 20 year old Pakistani music sensation Usman Riaz’s (famous for his orthodox guitar playing) written score and EMI records produced sound track.

Interviewed by Momin Ali of Galaxy Lollywood, Mohib and Aamina talked about their roles in the project and that how they felt of moving to big screen besides having an ongoing successful career on the small one.

Let’s checkout what they had to say:

Momin:Tell us first something about your roles in the film.

Mohib:I play Raza, an ardent photographer who loses himself and direction in life after tragic circumstances tore apart his family life. Hiding under a shell and illuminating his life with work and in particular, a colleague, he struggles with temptation and his plight to normalize his life once more.

Aamina:Well, I am playing the character of Maliha. With a vibrant, youthful, loving past, is now stuck in limbo. Struck by loss, grief, tragedy, and countless questions….she is now frozen in a time warp. Maliha struggles internally to pass time and push through her days. She wants to deal, but doesn’t know how to do so without damaging those around her and her fading spirit.

Momin to Aamina: We know Mohib has done two short films in the past but this is your first feature film, how different is it working for a film in comparison to doing television serials?

Aamina:This is my first, yes. I have just completed my second feature, which will take longer to release.

Although the technical execution of each performance varies depending on the different technicalities of each medium, the emotional process of dramatic interaction between actors is not affected by the medium. For example, for theatre the process is more physical, exaggerated, more pronounced, sustainable performances which have the stamina to live through one long uninterrupted graph created by the action reactions of characters. For TV, it is more interrupted. It is broken down into sub-parts, which is further broken down depending on the stance of the camera. In which case, actors depend on each other to repeatedly pick up the emotion from any given point of the scene. In film, in my opinion, it is a kind of a mix of the two. Film is about the scale, the larger than life shots, emotions…yet at the same time when it gets intimate with the characters, it has the potential to go much further in, than TV. Therefore, the actor again needs to work according to the stance of the camera. When it is huge, larger than life, then the theatrical processes of an actor can come into play, when it is close and intimate, then the underplay TV training plays in. It’s a juggling act which varies with the role, the character requirement, the director’s requirement and cinematic requirements; sometimes the location dictates the performance of the actors.

(Whoa! That was a pretty cool answer. Way to go Aamina.) 🙂

Interview continues…

Momin to Mohib: In one of your recent interviews you gave to the magazine “Women’s Own”, in which both of you looked stunning let me add, Mohib you were asked about a Pakistani film you wished you were a part of and you answered, its yet to come and I will be a part of it. Was that film Seedlings?

Mohib: I will respond with the same answer: “It’s yet to come and I will be a part of it”

Momin:Now the same question you both have probably been asked a zillion times. But for our record how was it working together and especially for a feature film?

Aamina:I feel tremendous. When I act across him, I feel like I am in a playground of endless possibilities. The parameters of my performance expand because he’s so insightful, sensitive and very giving as a co-actor.

Momin to both:When do we get to see you both in a typical masala entertainer, singing and dancing? I am sure people loved your little cameo in the song “Love Main Ghum”?

Reply:We did two dance performances together at the 10th Lux Style Awards after Love Main Ghum which was appreciated across industry & fans. Stay tuned and as Pakistani cinema revives, you will soon see us in a blockbuster commercial entertainer on the big screen too, Insha Allah.

Besides the little chit chat with the actors, when we asked the producer Meher Jaffri about the release date of the movie, she said:

“As we enter the final stages of post-production, we have begun looking for distribution both locally and internationally. Inshallah if all goes as planned and viable distribution is secured, we will be set to release it in the first half of 2012.”