FHM: This is the first ever found footage movie, where did the idea come from?
Ayaz: The basic idea was of Emran Hussain – the director of Aksbandh. The moment he called and shared his idea, I knew that this is going to set a new trend to our film industry because the found footage genre has never been filmed in Pakistan before. After 3 months of brainstorming and writing sessions we ended up with what Aksbandh is today.
FHM: Is there any technology used to shoot the film?
Ayaz: To create that look of the movie we have used some rigs that were never used in Pakistan before and we made those rigs ourselves because we couldn’t use cranes and other equipments in that dense jungle.
Bilal: The film has been shot on a normal film camera but the main work has been done in post-production. The colour grading was done here while the sound mixing was done in India.
Daniyal: Yes rigging has not been used in Pakistan before, and our team did it without any foreign assistance. Other than this plenty of other things were also involved, however, too technical for me to explain in a few lines.
FHM: Any incident that still gives you goose bumps?
Bilal: The night scenes that we shot 10 to 15 km away from the place where we were staying were very scary. It still gives me goose bumps while remembering those sequences because shooting in the middle of the jungle at around 2 AM in 12 degrees was very frightening.
Daniyal: The repeated feeling of someone passing by behind, was way too much to deal with, but I think it was just psychological as nothing serious happened. A few little things happened with the girls however, if there were any such things they had spared me.
Saud: The location was scary at night and I think we all couldn’t forget those days of shooting.
FHM: What expectations do you have from Aksbandh?
Ayaz: We have worked really hard for the movie and have good expectations from it.
Bilal: I would like to mention two things – First, the Pakistani audience is unpredictable, you can never tell what sort of movies they will like or not. In recent past, since the revival of our cinema, there have been a lot of hits and misses. Secondly, it is an experimental project from day one. No one has taken the risk of making a found footage horror film but let’s see how they respond. I believe our efforts will be seen in the movie and people will love it.
Daniyal: Hopefully it will do well, I along with my team and friends am really hopeful, that it’s going to do well, as it has all the elements for the Pakistani viewership. Genre didn’t allow us to put item numbers else we wouldn’t have missed that too.
FHM: Do you think Aksbandh will set a trend of making films in the horror genre?
Ayaz: Every movie sets a trend in its own genre and so Aksbandh will too definitely set a trend in the horror genre. It is a feasible genre if compared to any other subjective genre, and I hoping that if our audience accepts this genre then you will see 4 to 5 found footages movies in 2017.
Bilal: Off course it will! Today film-makers think that in order to make a film you need a budget of 2 to 3 billion and a star studded cast, but we haven’t used any of these tactics. You can make a film with lesser budget and no star studded cast and hopefully Aksbandh will change the perception.
Daniyal: That’s one thing that it will definitely do. The look and feel will be surely appealing to new filmmakers and the way it’s shot and treated is in itself a treat to work on. So yes, this trend is coming no doubt.
Shehzeen: Our youth needs something new and different and I am sure after watching Aksbandh, people will get that confidence to experiment new things.
Ayaz: It was a different experience as we were shooting in a jungle in Larkana and the ambiance was serene. Apart from the location and ambiance the shooting style was different as the executions of the shots were unconventional.
Bilal: Shooting is always fun but shooting while travelling, itself is an experience. It gives you an opportunity to learn, plus the execution of a found footage movie is not that easy, so you get to learn a lot while shooting.
Daniyal: It was absolutely amazing experience, one of the most beautiful, fun filled, adventurous, memorable, most exhausting and tiring experience ever but all in all a great fun.
Saud: It was my debut movie as an actor. It feels different because I have always worked behind the camera and it was a great experience.
Shehzeen: It was fun! An adventurous trip on its own and I am sure we can never experience such a shoot ever again.
