Kala Pul: We Don’t Waste Our Hatred

Adil Najam

In the very early days of ATP we had carried a post by iFaqeer on the Pakistani-American theater scene that mentioned the work of a young Pakistani-American film-maker Saqib Mausoof working on a movie called Kala Pul (Black Bridge). Even as other efforts with Pakistani diaspora inputs have been discussed here – notably the movie Man Push Cart, Zarqa Nawaz’s sitcom Little Mosque on the Pararie, Shirmeen Obaid’s films – work on Kala Pul has continued and should be available for viewing soon.

I was recently sent the following promo:

KALA PUL – THE BLACK BRIDGE, Saqib Mausoof’s debut feature film, is described as a dark journey into the heart of the Karachi underworld and the conflicts inherent in escaping one’s past. It uses the thriller genre as the driving force to provide insight on Karachi set amidst extreme urban deprivation and religious militancy. Preliminary shooting took place in Karachi last December with a Oscar nominated photography team. As an immigrant engineer rather then a trained auteur, Saqib’s film credentials were limited to short documentaries, collaborative software projects and the desire to share experiences of growing up in Karachi during the ‘Kalashnikov culture’ years.

While I will have to reserve judgment on the movie until I see it, I do find it very fascinating that Saqib has maintained a blog chronicling his journey in making the movie. The production notes he posts are interesting in and of themselves and gives us an insight into the movie as well as the making of it.

There is also a ‘teaser trailer’ on YouTube which is interesting, even if it seems to be working a little too hard to hook in viewers. It suggests a certain resonance between the theme of the movie and many of our current discussions here. I am intrigued both by the tag-line “We don’t waste our hatred on anyone” and also by the call to “Pick Your side.” Looking at the trailer, I am eager to find out which side the director “picked”.