‘Slackistan’ is an independent feature film by Hammad Khan about a group of twenty-something friends desperately stuck in angst and confusion in their hometown of Islamabad.
The sensation of Islamabad, Uzair Jaswal and the only internationally recognized Pakistani rapper Adil Omar are teaming up for the soundtrack of the film.
The film is being directed by the award-winning filmmaker Hammad Khan, whose short films have been screened, nominated and awarded at film festivals around the world.
Slackistan stars some of the freshest, most talented and downright cool personalities you could expect to be introduced to namely:
Shahbaz Hamid Shigri
Ali Rehman Khan
Shahana Khan Khalil
Osman Khalid Butt
Aisha Linnea Akhtar
“Think you know Pakistan. Think again” - the tagline to the trailer of Slackistan may remind one of a thousand clichéd articles about Pakistan. (As Mohammed Hanif wrote for the BBC last week, “Searching for bright spots in Pakistan, many foreign newspapers have recently done soft stories on the country. They have covered Pakistani painters, philanthropists, rock stars and, in one desperate piece, Facebook protesters.”)
That said, the trailer - currently doing the rounds on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook - is definitely worth watching for the promise it holds of a homegrown film set in Islamabad that focuses on directionless young adults trying to live out their lives amidst the doom and gloom. The trailer has elements everyone will associate with - particularly the scene where two male actors try to figure out if a girl’s looking at them - or the way Islamabad’s has been depicted.
Director Hammad Khan told the Guardian that the indie production is a “countercultural film, one that rejects the stereotypical western view of Pakistan, as well as one that rejects the prevailing establishment of older cultures and traditions." The soundtrack features indie artists as well, including The Kominas, Mole and Adil Omar. Slackistan is scheduled for a 2010 release.
Described by the female lead, Aisha Akhtar as the “anti-Slumdog”, one can’t wait to see how this indie venture turns out to be. Let’s just hope it doesn’t fall into the trap of clichés about Pakistan.
– Saba Imtiaz
