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| Naseeruddin Shah in Maximum |
Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Naseeruddin Shah ad Ali Usman e pubblicata dal quotidiano pachistano The Express Tribune il 15 aprile 2012. Naseeruddin era in Pakistan, precisamente a Lahore, sul set del film Zinda Bhaag, di produzione locale, diretto da Meenu Gaur e Farjad Nabi. La pellicola tratta il tema dell'immigrazione clandestina.
'But given that an actor of his stature has literally hundreds of offers on his table, why choose this movie and this topic? And given that Bollywood constantly beckons him, why opt for a project by a pair of relatively unknown Pakistani filmmakers?
“Illegal immigration is a very big problem both in India and Pakistan. We have young, desperate and unemployed people using different and sometimes very dangerous illegal ways just to go abroad. One Pakistani boy even tried to go abroad while hiding in a plane’s landing gear. While some of them do manage to reach their destination, the majority end up in a terrible position and even lose their lives. (...) The notion that their lives will be somehow better if they manage to get to another country is just a mirage that many educated and unemployed young people are chasing. (...) All these aspects are discussed in the movie. But more than the topic of the film, it was the fact that the script is very interesting that convinced me to work in it.”
But surely there are good scripts in Bollywood as well? Certainly, the lure of Mumbai’s booming film industry inevitably draws Pakistani talent to it like moths to a flame. Why then would Naseeruddin Shah want to work in a Pakistani production?
“I have become quite disillusioned with Indian films. (...) Filmmakers in India have become so complacent that there aren’t any chances of making good films there. Over there, filmmaking is a business and so long as a film makes money it’s a success. If it happens to be a good film as well, then that’s a bonus! I believe that films made today will be watched even a hundred years from now. People will watch them to get a sense of history and see what the art of filmmaking was like. The films being made in India today aren’t what one would want to watch a century later. Of course, there are some young filmmakers trying to opt for quality rather than just profits and I do support them as well.”
How different then is the picture west of the Wagah border?
“I feel there’s more creativity in Pakistan in terms of writing and ideas than there is in India. (...) The poetic and literary gatherings I have attended here are truly amazing! I also find that there’s much more awareness in the youth as well, and that’s why Zinda Bhaag is so relevant to Pakistani society and will resonate with a Pakistani audience. If all these creative people go abroad, who will live here and serve this country?” (...)
“While writing the character of the human trafficking ‘agent’, we really started enjoying getting into the depths and motivations of the character, and very soon, Naseeruddin Shah’s name popped into our minds,” says Meenu [Gaur] who is herself of Indian origin and is a trained filmmaker. “We approached him and thankfully he really liked the character and agreed to work in this film. (...)
Farjad [Nabi] has made a name for himself working largely on documentaries and music videos, all of which have a distinctly ‘artsy’ flavour. Does Zinda Bhaag then fall into the ‘art movie’ category?
“It’s difficult to categories this film as an art or commercial film. All we can say is, this is a film. We don’t even have any ‘heroes’ in it. There are four friends whose stories are integrated and who have equal weightage in it. Even Shah Sahab’s role isn’t the central role,” explain the directorial duo. “We were surrounded by many stories and we just set out to make a film, and by default, we made a film on this subject. It is inspired by the stories of real boys and real girls”.'
