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Jihad with cameras and hardnosed optimism

By Miranda Husain

LAHORE: Sikandar Mufti spent three years working on several West End productions including the Tony-award winning show Rent. In 2001, he decided to leave behind a promising career in London and return home to Lahore.

Mr Mufti, 27, is now a fulltime filmmaker and a part time drummer. Film gigs, for corporations and non-governmental organisations, are few and far between, he says. But this has not disheartened him or made him think twice about returning.

And he is not alone. A number of young Pakistanis schooled at the best American and British universities have decided to come and make their name here.

“In Pakistan, it is easier to make a name for oneself, to gain recognition,” said Mr Mufti, the son of a prominent lawyer. “This is because the industry is still developing. It hasn’t as yet reached the saturation point of foreign countries.”

With Matteela, a collection of young filmmakers, Mr Mufti has worked on documentaries for Action Aid, Save the Children UK and the Asia Foundation. Most recently, the group showed their works at the South Asian Film Festival in Kathmandu.

Laaleen Sukhera, 27, was a communications major at Clarke University in Massachusetts and worked as an advertising executive on Madison Avenue in New York.

“People take you more seriously when they discover that you have gained a degree in this field,” she said, adding that a degree from a western university sometimes also means that one isn’t adequately aware of the local market.

Ms Sukhera interned at the Oscar-winning Merchant Ivory Productions and has just finished post-production on After the Bradford Boil, a documentary on race relations. She also runs an events planning company with her sister.

Munizae Jahangir, also 27, graduated from McGill University with a degree in political science. While summering in Lahore, she got the opportunity to work on a number of small documentaries for human right organisations. Soon after graduating, Ms Jahangir signed up for a film degree at New School University in New York.

Search for Freedom, her first independent documentary, tells the story of four Afghan women and how they have coped with the ravages of war. Amnesty International saw the film and has been promoting it in New York and Washington.

Ms Jahangir is working at Geo Television and has no regrets about moving back. “There is change in the air and I want to be part of it,” she said. “This is our Jihad and we’re armed with cameras and hardnosed optimism.”

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