By the time film “Saawan” was ready to screen, Director Farhan Alam knew that the production had the makings of a good successful movie – a powerful script based on a real life story, absorbing performances by the cast, meticulously chosen music and finely done editing.
He also knew that the international viewers would receive the film favorably as it is anchored in realism – an off-beat production in the silver screen world of glamour and glitz.
What Alam did not know was the extent to which the Western art critics would appreciate Saawan for its art work as well as the irresistible appeal of the story of a polio-stricken child.
“It’s been really a great feeling and a matter of pride,” he told Views and News after the 11th Alexandria Film Festival picked Saawan – the first film Alam has directed – as the Best Foreign Film.
It was a moment of great accomplishment for Saawarn, considering the fact that films from Australia, Austria, Britain, Cyprus, Finland, France Norway were in the competition for the coveted award.
One of the biggest moments for Alam, however, came this year at Social World Film Festival in Italy.
“After I won the award for the Best Director, I said to myself, wow, that is something big. But that exhilaration followed with another announcement. Saawan had picked the Best Film award. That was incredibly huge thing for me.”
Alam credits the entire team for the array of awards – from script writer to producer, editor and to the cast. Produced by Mashood Qadri, the film stars actors Saleem Mairaj, Syed Karam Hussain, Arif Bahalim, Najiba Faiz and Imran Aslam.
Saawan Poster/Official website
Saawan has been screened at several festivals in the United States. The film has premiered in Pakistan and will be screened in India and the United States as well.
“I have no doubt that this recognition of Pakistani talent and hard work will inspire more creative activity on the film scene and help revive silver screen appeal in the country that not too long ago had more than a thousand cinema houses,” Alam said, recalling the heyday of Pakistani film industry, when the country was one of the largest film producers in the world, behind only Bollywood and Hollywood.
Alam’s optimism on revival of the Pakistani film industry stems from a series of successful productions over the last few years.
The next big stage for Saawan will be on January 23, when Hollywood experts will shortlist film entries to five for the 2018 Oscar. Saawan is Pakistan’s official nomination for the Academy Award.
The Oscar 2018 field will also have two more films by Pakistani origin producers. Pakistani-American filmmaker Noor Naghmi’s film Angels Within – a story of Pakistani-American doctors – has also been accepted into the Oscar competition. Britain has submitted Pakistani-British director Sarmad Masud’s debut film My Pure Land for the Oscars.
