Gubbaare

Gubbaare is a 2016 surreal fantasy short film directed by Syed Saad and Hammad Ul Hasan, and produced by Creative Studio, Media Art Productions and Syed Saad Films. Based on William Shakespeare's sonnet Seven Ages of Man from As You Like It, the film compares the world to a stage and life to a play, and catalogues the seven stages of a man's life - infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, Pantalone and the old age that culminates into an imminent death.
Made in 2015 on a shoe-string budget of mere $190, the film was dispatched to independent film festivals on June 1, 2015 followed by an online release that happened a year later on August 27, 2016 across social networking hub, Facebook. The film has received rave reviews all over, notably highlighting a gripping screenplay, effective storytelling and a wise mix of surrealism and reality.
Plot
Based on the sonnet Seven Ages of Man, the film draws parallels between William Shakespeare’s astounding poetry and everyday, ordinary events; showcasing how every human being goes through the motion of an entire lifetime in a single day through moments that seemingly look tedious, monotonous and mundan<nowiki/>e.
Synopsis
A young boy (Syed Saad) is patiently waiting for the arrival of his train. He is content in his isolation and buried in the book; William Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man until he's joined by a young girl (Aghmaza).
The two cannot be more alike. She is boisterous, emotional and all over the place while he's aloof and distant. An unexpected delay in the train sparks an unlikely relationship between the two, serving as a coming of age moment for the boy who experiences every stage of life in this turn of events while he continues reading the poem from his book at every juncture. The girl is a mere springboard for the boy's self-journey. Nothing about these two characters (their names, occupations, qualifications or past) is ever revealed or explained, just lightly hinted through interactions, becoming the driving force throughout their journey.
The two tell little of themselves to one another and bond through basic human traits of hunger, panic, depression and most importantly joy. The characters travel to a roadside eatery, sea and amusement park; forming and cementing their friendship as they flit around till they come back to the railway station.
The boy undergoes an emotional maturity through the journey. In an unexpected twist, the film ends with not only the protagonist (the boy) ending his journey but by also introducing a new protagonist (the girl) who will now start hers.
Production
Development
The journey of Gubbaare began when Syed Saad came across Jane Armstrong's book series 'The Arden Shakespeare' through a common friend. As described by Saad himself, this was a turning point in his life as he was consumed in a nexus of depression and the only way out was to get back to doing what he loved the most i.e. filmmaking and acting. Initially planned to be a petite stop-motion music video, the script of a short film came into existence in January 2015 after observing life all around him that Saad describes as <nowiki/>'an emotionally uplifting journey that brought me closer to myself'.
Writing
Having had the experience of making diverse genre student short films through the course of his filmmaking studies, Saad was extremely careful while writing that the film had to have its commercial elements in place as well as a thinking appeal, so that reaches a far and wide audience while still having its roots in place. In less than two months, the entire script of the film was ready and it took him a further two weeks to develop the screenplay. The first screenplay draft spanned over 40 pages, making it a little too inappropriate and impractical to produce in a compact budget. After a series of revisions, the fifth screenplay draft was locked which was based on 25 pages only.
The writing was kept simple and subtle. Saad's major writing influences came from writers like David Shields, Aleksandar Hemon, Bill Clegg and Ashfaq Ahmed who rely lesser on stagecraft and rather flirt with the very edge of fiction, making it almost classify as memoir-fiction. The basic intent to narrate the story was fiction which might operate in its essence like a fable; an obviously imaginary story which might tell some truth about the real world through the artifice of plot and characters.
Setbacks
As soon as the screenplay was finalized, the film was scheduled to be rolled in a week with Hammad Ul Hasan and his crew but his last-moment back out for personal reasons made Saad opt for another producer. The phase was short-lived as very soon a team came on board and the film began shooting with a two-member crew in February 2016. However, the plug had to be pulled yet again. The production crew bailed out for unknown reasons after the very first day and the film never took off, resulting in an entire scrapping of the already shot footage. Glimpses of it can be seen in The Making of Gubbaare - a 17 minutes behind-the-scenes look at the film which was released online on Facebook on July 26. Saad took the project proposal to as many as eighteen teams but to much of his surprise, nobody was willing to collaborate on a experimental storyline like this. Described as <nowiki/>'a phase of absolute dejection, discouragement and desolation by Saad himself, the film found its bearings when Hammad returned to the project and took over the production. Initially an entirely new cast was planned to be a part of the film since the earlier female protagonist was no longer available to work with and Saad too decided to be behind the lens. However, the thought was soon over-ruled and Saad retained his role as the male protagonist in the film alongside the now-replaced Aghmaza. Recce and permissions for shooting locations took the makers an additional one month until it all came on board in April 2016. The filming successfully commenced within a week.

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