Slackistan: The banned and the beautiful

[Dance]

ISLAMABAD:
Finally, the introspective Slackistan – accused of “navel-gazing, Pakistan-style” by The Guardian – made its exclusive, weekend-only debut at Cinepax, Rawalpindi, on Friday.

After a brief incident involving a woman banging on the doors of the movie theatre (she was enraged that ‘so and sos’ family was let in early as a favour), the audience was finally seated. Friends and family of the cast members, along with the sort of bourgeois and anglicised Islamabadi kids the movie portrays, dominated the scene.

“The director Hammad Khan would like to clarify that the quality shown tonight does not reflect on the actual quality of the movie,” announced cast member Ali Rehman. Somewhat mindful of the censor board’s controversial ban over the use of certain words, Cinepax screened a badly censored version of the movie. A great deal of the controversial verbiage in relation to the Taliban, mullahs and homosexuals came through clearly, much to the delight of the audience members.
The Motion Pictures Ordinance 1979 clearly states, “A film shall not be certified for public exhibition; if, in the opinion of the Censor Board, the film or any part thereof, is prejudicial to the glory of Islam […].” So much for that.

In a press release, Khan said, “The censor board’s verdict is oppressive, arbitrary and steeped in denial about life outside their government offices.” Lucky for Slackistan, Cinepax’s “non-oppressive” policy for screening movies unavailable for wide-release, allows Facebook users to take an online poll; if enough people vote, the movie screens. This is exactly what happened.

The movie centres on the disillusioned life and times of Hasan, played by Shahbaz Shigri, his eponymous love interest, the alluring and fresh-faced Aisha (Aisha Linnea Akhtar), and a band of sidekicks forced to negotiate between individual agency and a deadpan city that ‘always sleeps’ and frustrates its youth to the point of madness.

The superficial and high-flying party boy Sherry (Ali Rehman), in particular, was an asset to a movie that otherwise left very little room for adequate character development. Fashionista Xara’s make-up removal scene to demonstrate some sort of new-found feminism and personal growth, albeit moving, fell flat coming from a character that did not get as much air-time as, say, the endlessly brooding Hasan (his video camera toting personal journey advances from him wanting to be a filmmaker to realising that he really does want to be a filmmaker at the movie’s close). The piecemeal of unresolved sub plots made it challenging to appreciate the movie as a well-executed and cohesive whole. For a slacker movie chock-full of lethargic or otherwise jaded characters, to work, it isn’t wise to slack off on production and cogent plot resolution. This is what sets quality apart from poorly researched work.

Still, the audience response was, for the most part, positive and supportive. “There were a lot of amazing parts in the movie,” said Bee Khan, a spectator who was glad that Pakistan’s struggling film industry was making waves.

“Watching it again, in Islamabad, reinforced my belief that the censorship was totally uncalled for,” said Osman Khalid Butt, who played Hasan’s quirky and erudite friend Saad, after the screening. “I mean, it’s the sort of language people use in day-to-day conversation.”
Still, the audience was left wondering who these characters were beyond being jaded Islamabad residents. The attempts to reveal how they evolved were a little too literal (see the abovementioned reference to Xara’s make-up removal).

Perhaps Slackistan would have had more impact had its director and producers chosen Sherry as the protagonist. His character is complex; viewers learn that borrowing vast sums of money afforded Sherry his trademark lifestyle. In this respect, Sherry is a lot more human — his traits and dramas are ultimately more interesting. He grows as a person after getting brutalised, and learns the value of friendship in a city of slackers and rich kids.

Slackistan: The banned and the beautiful – The Express Tribune

 

[W.11]

the media should be state controlled and censored, otherwise every jahil chamaar western influenced from the street corner, useless pakistani living in the west will come to pakistan and make a stupid flick showing drinking, nudity, next what kissing sex etc??

the movies which unite pakistanis and arise their sense of nationhood and morality and to resist the crumbling pakistani society under the grims of american war and to arise their sense of strive is most needed here, but there are so many pakistani kids coming from west just trying to make money out of something, its rightly said, pakistanis are the people who even try to make advantage out of a dead corpse instead of respecting it..

 

[Dance]

the media should be state controlled and censored, otherwise every jahil chamaar western influenced from the street corner, useless pakistani living in the west will come to pakistan and make a stupid flick showing drinking, nudity, next what kissing sex etc??

the movies which unite pakistanis and arise their sense of nationhood and morality and to resist the crumbling pakistani society under the grims of american war and to arise their sense of strive is most needed here, but there are so many pakistani kids coming from west just trying to make money out of something, its rightly said, pakistanis are the people who even try to make advantage out of a dead corpse instead of respecting it..

Yeah why don't we just let the taliban took over the government while we're at it?

 

[sid426]

I wonder why the number of extremists are a lot more than the number of moderates in Pakistan?

 

[BelligerentPacifist]

^ Do you really think people generally like to teach their kids what you might call in a movie 'strong language'? This movie is apparently so full of it they can't edit it out.

 

[twoplustwoisfour]

^ Do you really think people generally like to teach their kids what you might call in a movie 'strong language'? This movie is apparently so full of it they can't edit it out.

That's what an 'Adult' certificate is for. Such language should only be watched by people who can put it in the right context.

Having said so, why should the censor board act as 'moral police'? If someone is allowed to vote, he should also be trusted to view such language.

 

[W.11]

Yeah why don't we just let the taliban took over the government while we're at it?

atleast taliban is better for me then these retards, i mean make movie which makes sense, and not which contain 'spoilers alert',

there were times when there was only channel called ptv, and people used to learn a lot, and not a women is kissing hugging, wearing short western dress, i mean what the purpose of a flick when it only contains rubbish things and not about teaching people and educating them

 

[araz]

the media should be state controlled and censored, otherwise every jahil chamaar western influenced from the street corner, useless pakistani living in the west will come to pakistan and make a stupid flick showing drinking, nudity, next what kissing sex etc??

the movies which unite pakistanis and arise their sense of nationhood and morality and to resist the crumbling pakistani society under the grims of american war and to arise their sense of strive is most needed here, but there are so many pakistani kids coming from west just trying to make money out of something, its rightly said, pakistanis are the people who even try to make advantage out of a dead corpse instead of respecting it..

I think it needs to be a dialogue between the Government and the media regarding what should be presented inpakistan. There is no sense in censoring what will easily become available across the net and so to begin with things need to be sifted out and then people should be allowed to work within that remit. We seem to be oscillating between islam and Secularism, with the masses wanting or paying lip service to one thing but hte elite wanting and imposing another> this disparity is what leads to chaos.
Araz