Movies that made us proud in 2012

There were times when the arrival of a new Pakistani movie was celebrated by our movie buffs. It used to be the talk of the town and cinemas were flooded with enthusiastic cinemagoers waiting in lines to buy the tickets.  It would not be wrong to confess that now Pakistani film industry has been thriving amid the financial crisis and not many people are present to take us out of this catastrophic state.  But as they say that all is not lost when there is even a small degree of hope left.  Luckily, 2012 has proved as the most auspicious year especially for our film industry in terms of the achievements that revived a major part of our Pakistani film industry. Lets have a quick review of all those masterpieces.

Either Speak or Suffer

BOL: It created waves in 2011 with its gripping and hard-hitting story of a naive woman's struggle against gender bias. Not just the Pakistani population, it convincingly awed a good amount of international audiences with its bravura performances. Because of this, it’s been raining awards for BOL since its release. 2012 proved quite fruitful as it got the awards in categories for Best Film Actress, Best Film, and Best New Talent at London Asian Film Festival. Manzar Sehbai got awarded at the 2012 SAARC Film Awards and Lux Style Awards for Best Film Actor and Humaima Malik attained Best Actress at South Asian Rising Star Film Awards.

Giving hope to many faces

Saving faces: Oscar knocked on our doors with Emmy award winning Pakistani director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy's documentary short film "Saving Faces". It highlighted the humanitarian efforts of a London-based plastic surgeon, Mohmmed Jawad who decided to travel back to his homeland for curing women who are being victimized by brutal acid attacks. It narrates the tragic life incidents of two physically and emotionally scarred acid attack survivors, Zakia and Rukhsana and their arduous attempts to bring their culprits to justice. Oscar and Emmy nominated filmmaker; Daniel
Junge depicted the true intensity of this issue on the silver screen and even brought the viewers to tears. Apart from the prestigious Oscar, the film bagged a whole lot of other awards like the award for the Best Documentary Film at 84th Academy Award, SAARC Film Awards and12th Annual New York Indian Film Festival. Along with that, it was successful enough to get a nomination at Gucci Award for Women.

An incident that changed their lives

Seedlings (Lamha): The prestigious awards received by this movie were another feather in the hat of victories. The movie was chosen to be screened at the New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF). Directed by Mansoor Mujahid and starring Aamina Sheikh, Mohib Mirza and Gohar Rasheed, the film revolves around three individuals bound together by a devastating accident. It was nominated in seven categories, including Mansoor Mujahid for Best Director, Aamina Sheikh for Best Actress, Mohib Mirza for Best Actor in a Lead Role, Gohar Rasheed for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Summer Nicks for Best Original Screenplay and the talented Usman Riaz for Best Original Score and also Best Film. The film was massively applauded by worldwide audiences and won the People’s Choice Award for Best Film and versatile Aamina Sheikh got hold of the award for Best Actress in a Lead Role.

The unending road of turmoil

The Other Side: This 20-minute film made on drone attacks by the students of Iqra University was awarded with Best Audience Award at National Film Festival For Talented Youth, Washington. Written and directed by the ingenious student Danish Qasim along with five other team members, the movie focuses on turmoil’s of living between terrorists and on the scares left by drone attacks in the lives of tribal residents. The film was appraised by a wide spectrum of the audience because of its highly unlikely topic that has never been filmed before hence compelling festival administrators to give Audience Award to the film.

Movies like these have actually encouraged the young lot of film makers to experiment more with their product and come up with newer and better ideas. As the New Year arrived, a lot more is expected from the proficient young filmmakers who can take the sinking boat of our industry towards the shore.

Courtesy: Unique Pakistan