A review on Pakistani Short Film, ‘Taqseem’ (2016) aka [Divide]. The Assistant Director is Hijab Abbasi while it is Executive Produced by Abis Zaidi.
+ Crew
I. Screenplay, Directed & Produced by Seraj Us Salikin.
II. Cinematography by Jamil Alvi.
III. Editing by Qazi Abdul Moiz.
IV. Production Design by Taha Zaidi.
V. Co-Produced by Zohaib Hassan, Khazina Asad and Hassan Zafar.
+ Note
Taqseem is a short story written by Saadat Hasan Manto. This film has been selected in Tuzla Film Festival, Bucharest Cine-shortcut while it won in the category of Best Short Film in Pakistan Calling. The man cut in half is NOT Visual Effects. It is actually the combined efforts of Production Designer and Special Effects Make-Up by Danial Shahzad Khan which did the trick.
+ Full Cast
1. Haris Khan as Thug #1
2. Danish Ahmed as Thug #2
3. Tariq Guddu as (uncredited)
+ Plot
At the time of partition of Pakistan & India, in the year of 1947 at Lahore’s [unknown area] abandoned apartment; two Muslim thugs steal an enormous trunk after a train massacre. Once they have the trunk to themselves, the question now is who gets the most of its share?
+ High Points
i – Haris Khan’s performance as one of the thug is really a praise worthy one. No wonder he won the best actor award at Pakistan Calling for this film.
ii – The production design and its location according to its content is very convincing for the viewers.
iii – The cinematography by Jamil Alvi is propounding, well established with the story further helps in as it intensifies with the performances.
iv – The projects of the director Seraj Us Salikin are always a delight to watch and be entertained by. This one is another addition to his great works.
v – The special effects make-up is very realistic.
vi – A simple story which says about greed than brotherhood.
+ Low Points
i – It would be hard to follow the film if there were no English subtitles attached to it. The spoken language which is used is the mixture of Punjabi – Urdu languages.
+ Overall
Taqseem is like a tragic thought-provoking melody.
Rate: 4.50 out of 5 stars
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