Ahsan Rahim talks about Teefa and whether he’s in trouble

The year 2018 continues to be very strong for Pakistani cinema. Desi movies have been rolling in steadily, with four releases this Eid and another few scheduled for Eid ul Azha. Between the two Eids is Teefa in Trouble, release date July 20. And Teefa is a highly anticipated film not just because it’s Ali Zafar’s debut Pakistani film, or because it’s Maya Ali’s debut film but because it’s Ahsan Rahim’s debut venture as director of a feature film. People familiar with Ahsan’s work know what a big deal that is.

We know Ahsan because of some iconic ads for Ufone, Mobilink, Telenor, Toyota, Pepsi, Servis, Omore and Samsung amongst others. One of our favourite would have to be the campaign for Oye Hoye Chips, for which Fawad Khan went comic as Oochi. One also remembers, to this day, Ahsan’s memorable music videos like ‘Channo’, ‘Sajania’ and ‘Preeto’ to name a few.

(L-R) Mahmood Aslam, Ahsan Rahim, Ayesha Fazli, Ali Zafar, Maya Ali, Jawed Sheikh and Nadim Mandviwalla at the trailer launch of TnT in Karachi.

Meeting the man known as the ‘genius’ at the trailer launch of Teefa in Trouble in Karachi, Something Haute caught up with Ahsan Rahim and got him to share his thoughts on his gigantic step towards films and his overall experience of creating Teefa.

“Films are the ultimate (medium) and everyone working in TV or ads aspires to make films,” Ahsan said with a wide grin. “The format is hugely different compared to ads or music videos but at the end, it all boils down to story telling. It was time to shift gears.”

How difficult was it to shift from TV to film?

“We had an excellent team of individuals who brought in their own creativity and passion to this project so it became easy for me. It was truly one job I looked forward going to every morning.”

The cast and crew of Teefa in Poland

Coming back to the trailer and the effortless chemistry between the lead pair, we already knew about the equation the director and Ali Zafar shared from the ‘Channo’ days, but how did a film come about was what we were interested in knowing.

“I have known Ali for a long time and he always pushed me into making films,” said Ahsan. “I have seen this guy become the Ali Zafar you know today. Interestingly, every time we’d meet, he would insist on doing a movie. And then one day, I packed my bags, rushed to his office and took off from there,” he claimed.

Speaking of the female lead in the film, Ahsan said, “We auditioned several actors. Maya was kind enough to audition for the role of Anya, which was very close to what we had in mind. She just dived in with no fuss no tantrums, which is rare.”

Ahsan with Maya Ali

One important question remained of how the film fares in cinemas, considering the rush of local releases; Ahsan seemed confident in his stance.

“How the film fares at the box office is a separate story. All we can do is try to put the best version of our vision. I hope it does well as it will help other scripts to get finances and the industry will move forward and I may get a chance to experiment more.”

Concluding the session on what to expect from the release, the director stated, “Teefa is made for cinema. The sound, the visuals are all created for a cinema watch to enhance the experience.”

Lastly, the mastermind urged everyone to watch the film in cinema, not only to support Pakistani cinema but to enjoy Pakistani cinema!