Episode 144: Zarrar Khan Is Shining A Fresh Light On Pakistan
Zarrar Khan is an award-winning Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker. Born in Karachi and currently based out of Toronto, Zahra’s works have been screened and awarded in over 100 festivals, including TIFF, Bocarno, and BFI London.
In Flames, his genre-bending feature directorial debut, premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival as part of the Director's Fortnight. A story about Pakistani women, about resilience, it’s a perfect mixture of education, entertainment and thriller, and has garnered critical acclaim and prizes worldwide.
In this episode, Zarrar delves deep into the process of creating In Flames and its subsequent controversy, and the importance of portraying Pakistan in all its complexity. He passionately expresses the importance of telling stories of Pakistani women at a time of worldwide crisis for women’s rights. He shares his thoughts on the state of Pakistani cinema. Finally, he shares his insights into living as both a Canadian and a Pakistani and learning to fall in love with all of Pakistani culture.
Zarrar is truly committed to telling stories that amplify historically marginalized communities, about voices that need to be heard.
In Flames comes out April 12th across North America
What We Talked About:
The Birth of In Flames: Zarrar describes how he developed the idea for In Flames through his early short films + the strong relationships he forged with his female cast + the urgency to show this film to the world at this time of crisis in women’s rights from Iran to Roe vs Wade (3:28}
Pakistani Culture and the Making of In Flames: Zarrar explains how he combined the genres of thriller, family drama and supernatural to capture the fear-filled lives of women in the religious society of Pakistan + why the Pakistani Oscars called the film a “lasagna” (5:56)
Stirring the Pot: Zarrar describes how the film generated controversy across Pakistan + navigating the censors through the controversial parts + how the film has resonated with young people and how the old guard's objections are “a badge of honor.” (9:23)
Seeing Pakistan in A New Light: Zarrar discusses the value of an outsider’s perspective in exploring traumatic issues + how being a male director helped him tell the stories of Pakistani women + how female directors can bring the same outsider’s perspective to shining a light on toxic masculinity (11:48)
Shooting Karachi: Zarrar describes the challenge of capturing the unique beauty of his birthplace on a microbudget + his pride in debuting his Karachi-born female lead + fleming the racier scenes in closed sets and the importance of having females in the crew (13:53)
“They’re Actors - They Can Act:” Zarrar opens up about filming the racier scenes in closed sets + how his process of making cast feel safe and relaxed contrasts with the legacy of “traumatizing” actors (17:53)
Shining a Light On Pakistan: The challenge of representing Pakistan in film without stereotypes + pride in showing the lives of Pakistani women in their complexity and diversity (21:14)
A Karmic Moment: Zarrar shares the joy of shooting their take in a pregnancy ward at the same time a man’s wife had a baby (22:55)
A Renaissance in Pakistani Cinema: Zarrar reflects on Pakistan’s first attendance at the Cannes Directors Fortnight for 40 years + how Pakistani cinema emerged from the “dark ages with the help of the internet and social media” (24:21)
Between Two Worlds: How Zarrar divides his time between Canada and Pakistani + how his children have lived in four different cities + he describes his idyllic childhood and his gratitude to for his family’s support for his career in the arts + the joy of reuniting with Pakistani culture as a member of the diaspora (27:05)
Pakistan And Me: Celebrating the diversity of Pakistan’s subcultures + Zarrrar’s relationship with religion and his take on Islamophobia (33:29)
Rapid Fire Round: (36:08)
Zarrar’s Bucket List: (41:32)
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This podcast is produced by Ginni Media.