IDRAAK is surely going to be one of the most unique projects of Pakistan film industry, mainly because of its exceptional theme and the thinking behind that.
Directed & Written by 9 times “International Film Festival Award” winner; Sean Ali, and produced by Blue Mount Pictures & Victim Media SA, Idraak is the first psychological thriller film of the country, the story basically revolves around a guy who himself writes his fate.
Is this a kind of disease or a gift of God for the boy? And what will ultimately happen to him? All these questions will be answered in the summer this year as the film is soon going to hit cinemas near you.
Galaxy Lollywood had a chit chat with the lead star of the film “Bazil Siddiqui”, where he not only disclosed some of the untold things of the film, but also talked about his vision for the film industry of Pakistan and how he see his future in it?
GL: Putting the first thing first, tell us how you were approached by the makers of IDRAAK for the lead role?
Bazil: Well, Idraak is one of a kind project and I am glad to be a part of it. I have Ben doing theatres in Pakistan and the Middle East and practice of acting was intense. Selection of Idraak was a miracle for me. Sean Ali the director of the film is also on the board of directors of Win foundation, and me being the youth ambassador for women rights of Pakistan, we worked together for different projects and had a mutual understanding of what we wanted from each other and when he presented the film, I went through the script and I told him, Sean it’s not easy, and he just said ‘I am a director Bazil, I know what I am doing’ and we just started work.
GL: Tell us something more about the film, like its synopsis, Running length and the type of audience which you think it will target?
Bazil: The film is Pakistan’s first ever psychological thriller feature and subjects of this type are rarely or ever picked by the film industry. The film is in English and we aim to revive the cinema of Pakistan and give a platform to youth to portray their talent because the industry needs to be stretched to fit in more talent and new faces. The film is about a psycho guy whose bizarre with his life, his disease, his fate, his life in short. The film will a 2 hour entertainment package for the audience and we target the literate class, people with knowledge to psychological issues and most importantly people who can understand the subject. We target the psychology students and the mass media students as well. I have Ben personally going to psychologists to train myself for the challenging demand of this character.
GL: Apart from you, who are the other cast members of the film? Are they all newcomers?
Bazil: Most important thing to mention is, this film is a youth based film and it revolves mostly around the lead character. We have other characters in the film and yes they all are newcomers who were selected through the medium of auditions held in different institutions of media and art.
GL: Ok! Now let’s talk about the off camera team of IDRAAK such as its director and producers and on which locations the film was shot?
Bazil: Umm, the Off camera team of Idraak is now like a family to me, great people to work with, shazzy bhai, Atif bhai, Harry bhai, Hira, Ehsan Bhai, Aurangzeb, and Sean himself. The producer of the film is Blue mount pictures in collaboration with Sean films ent Canada, S&S films USA and Victim Media south Africa. The director Sean Ali is 9 times international film fare awarded director. He’s also bagged in awards from Canadian government as the best Asian singer in the west. He has ben training with known people like RDB, Jay Sean, and Hadiqa kiani. His documentary named Triumph took him to the nominations of Cannes film festival and he plans to knock the doors of Oscars with this project of Idraak- The perception. The film was shot in different locations, nothing specific, making use of more natural light and abstract locations and ofcourse, we fell in love with saddar, the downtown, amazing sight, the camera just couldn’t get enough of it.
GL: Dance & Music are considered as something necessary in Indo-Pak films, do you think such things are really necessary to make a film commercially successful and is there any such thing in your movie too?
Bazil: HAHAHA, well for sure dance and music are an essential to films in the indo-Pak, but growing number of audiences if we consider, just forwards the song and dances, anything like munni or sheela is exceptional though :). Dance and music is one kind of an art but I think their presence in a film depends highly on the target audience. Our targets are different however you will be hearing the theme music of idraak which is composed by Shri Chinmoy and his orchestral team from India. Because the film is a Blue mount production, which is affiliated with universal studios LA, materials like dances and songs do not fit in to be a part of the film because It is not one typical film, however certain parts of the film would emotionally spell bound you, because you your self would be able to relate yourself with the situation and that’s the art we have worked on.
GL: Recently an independent film called Slackistan was banned by Film Censor Board in Pakistan. Are you afraid of such a thing happening to your film and has it been presented to the Censor Board yet?
Bazil: Well Slackistan in my personal opinion a great project which is based on reality of the society we live in. Censor board must have seen some controversial issues with the film, but I am confident about Idraak, it has nothing controversial and movies of my subject are rare to be seen so I am sure censor board will cooperate, plus it’s a film for psychology students as well and when it has nothing to be banned for, it should not be however we cannot comment on the political policies of our institutions. No matter what, we will be taking the film for screenings at different film festivals around the world because we place fine confidence in ourselves.
GL: IDRAAK will surely give a new face to Pakistan film industry in shape of you. What you think about your future in the industry as an actor?
Bazil: Acting has always Ben my passion and to be a part of the film which aims to bring change for the cinema of my country, I feel extremely delighted and I look forward to be there for Pakistan whenever it needs me. Well I have a plan to do a diploma in acting from New York film academy and as soon as I am done, I will rejoin the industry for more work. We excel in sitcom industry as well so I look forward to be a part of sitcoms, serials and films in future because what I observe is that the market is now more demanding of young and talented people but within that category I also plan to be more professional.
GL: The movie is said to come out in summers 2011, can you please tell something more about its release date or month and which film distribution company will release it in Pakistan?
Bazil: The film will certainly be out in summers of 2011 but to tell the exact date and month at this point is very crucial for us, because we are well prepared that we not only have to go through the problems in the check list but a lot more, I hope you know what I am saying. But we will keep our audiences posted through social networks and different media institutions and details regarding the release in Pakistan will be disclosed very soon.
GL: At the end, tell us something about your experience working in the film and what’s next?
Bazil: Ahh, the experience was one of a kind, the team, the management, the organization; the professionalism in work was a mind blowing work. Soon after the film started, we were a family. I think the only way to work in accordance to what the team behind the camera wants is to know them personally. Late nights, jamming of different bands to keep us awake and keep us working, joking all around the production house and when I was in front of the camera, I saw a different aura, everyone was so professional, so work dedicated. I will be working for Sean in future as well; we do have plans to do a couple of documentaries, short films and hopefully another Film project. I recently did the music video For Sean’s first song JANAY BHI DO for his first album In-Sean-Nity. And media is my career so yes; films, commercials and sitcoms will be a part of my future path. Sean also registered Shock Tv Pakistan in 2007, which is Pakistan’s first ever Online TV channel, but because of his projects he couldn’t keep up with it but now we are re-launching it from 19th march and people can see me doing two shows on it as well so I am making my way, and I love people meeting me and appreciating my work and advising me, because the learning process for me will never end, I aim to do best for not just people around me but also achieve the best within me and be an asset for the industry. A small message which I would want to leave for the viewers is that, nothing is impossible, The youth in our country is an asset, with sheer talent and if you think you possess an art in you, please promote it, it’s my request to parents that let their children do what they like because they will do their best on it. Thank you so much, it was great answering all the questions and keep supporting and loving me. I LOVE YOU ALL!
Hope you would have all enjoyed the interview with the upcoming star of the industry, start gearing up yourself for the film as its soon coming to entertain you.
Below is the trailer of IDRAAK, soon a separate page will be dedicated to the film and you will get all the information just in one place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHCXwXdjhiA
(Article written by Aayan Mirza for Galaxy Lollywood)
