Pakistani stars in Dubai promoting new movie, Baaji

PAKISTANI ACTRESS MEERA IS excited about making her comeback in Pakistani films with Baaji which releases in the UAE this weekend.
She was accompanied by her co-stars Amna Ilyas, Osman Khalid Butt and director Saqib Malik at a press conference for the movie in Dubai yesterday. "Baaji is my comeback film. This is my first film after the revival of Pakistani cinema. Saqib is a perfectionist like Aamir Khan. I always wanted to work in Aamir's production to understand his level of genius because I am a student of cinema. I'm glad that I got to work with the perfectionist of Pakistani cinema. My quest for learning never ends," said Meera.
"I recently went to Los Angeles, and met Julia Roberts. She told me that she takes 140 takes for each shot. People call me a one-take artist. I was shocked when Julia and Sylvester Stallone told me secrets of their trade," she said.
Post the #METOO movement, the narrative for female characters is changing across the world, and the makers of Baaji said that this change is getting reflected in Pakistani cinema. "There was a time when our cinema was reflecting only sex and violence. It became male-centric, and we started objectifying women, but now there is a passion for reviving cinema. In the past five to seven years, despite having a lack of infrastructure, there is an effort for revival. Earlier, we played it safe by making comedy and romance, but in the past two to three years we have diverted from the norm by making movies like Manto, Cake, and Baaji. It is a women-centric film. We are the ageist industry, and we are a sexist industry, and Baaji shows these aspects without glamorizing these issues. It shows hard truth. We fall back to sexist tropes time and again with our films, but this film is different. This is the world of women," said Osman.
"This story is based on the reality that we are facing in Pakistan now because there is a transition happening where the old ones are dying out, and new ones are coming in. There is inspiration from classic Hollywood films, but it is very culturally relevant to Pakistan," said Malik.
arti@khaleejtimes.com