Gubbaare (2016) watch online HD

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, while they bond through basic human traits of hunger, panic, depression and most importantly joy. Based on William Shakespeare's sonnet 'Seven Ages of Man' from 'As You Like It', 'Balloons' ...

Since the editing took a long time, the film lost out on its submission to Karawood Film Festival which had already published and promoted the film's posters as its to-be-submission.

The first cut made out of linear editing pattern spanned over 30 minutes and 20 seconds. This included an extended introduction of the railway station, a longer interaction with ticket collector when the boy enters the railway station, a widespread version of the roadside eatery scene with an additional verse from the poem, an inter-cut apology scene after the boy hurts the girl and a 3-minute version of the 'Mausam Mastana' song montage that appears at the amusement park. After repeated viewings, revisions and discussions, these five scenes were chopped off from the final cut for the sole reason that 'they weren't taking the story forward and instead felt like speed breakers on an otherwise smooth tarmac' according to Saad. The film eventually concluded to a terminal length of 25 minutes and 26 seconds. The chopped scenes can be seen in a 15-minute 'Deleted Scenes' featurette which was attached with the copy of film's submission to film festivals.

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 stop-motion music video, the script of a short film came into existence in January 2015 that Saad terms as an uplifting journey that brought him closer to his own self.

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 so that it reaches a far and wide audience with its roots in place. In less than two months, the entire script of the film was ready and it took him a further one week 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 flirt more with fiction, making it almost a memoir-fiction. The basic intent to narrate the story was to do it through fiction; a tale that tells some truth about the real world with the artifice of imaginary plot and characters.

During the scripting stage, the film went through a lot of changes in its title. The film was scripted with a working title of 'Payaam' which was soon changed to 'Zara Si Dair Mein'. At one point of time, it was even called 'Lifecliff' and 'One Peg Life' however none of these titles were finalized as they didn't genuinely gel with the story line. The turbulence finally ended when 'Gubbaare' came along. The title declaimed pubescence as well as adolescence and therefore was locked. For English versions, the film has been titled 'Balloons'.

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 2015. 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, 2016.

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 story line like this. Described as '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 along the now-replaced Aghmaza. Recce and permissions for locations took the makers an additional one month until it all came on board in April 2016. The filming successfully commenced within a week.

After 4 months of the film staying in its pre-production phase, filming began on April 18, 2015 at Karachi Cantonment Railway Station. Initially planned to be covered in one single day, the location took the makers an additional one day to complete, resulting in a minor escalation of production cost. The location could have been wrapped in a single day but since the railway station accumulated a huge part i.e. 60% of the story, the makers didn't want to compromise. The location had little scope of controlling the natural light and using the technical equipment midst a huge crowd of people all around, the shooting hours therefore were extremely stern and stringent. The crew would start rolling at the crack of dawn and cloak by the afternoon. The first day had the makers shooting comparatively easier scenes whereas the meatier portions including a single-take climax were shot on the second day i.e. April 19, 2015.

The film was shot in sync sound by Mufeez, the sound recordist of Pakistani TV soap 'Humsafar', along with a crew of ten people in total.

The third and last day of shooting was scheduled after a two-day gap on April 22, 2015. Two locations had to be covered in the entire day, focusing longer and emotional scenes which would cover the remaining 40% of the film. The filming began on Clifton Sea View but was abruptly put on hold after authorities denied makers the permission despite committing to it. The matter was resolved after a few hours on a condition that the location wouldn't be utilized at all. Karachi Fisheries Harbour was used as a replacement and the shooting commenced thereon. The rough weather proved to be a huge deterrent, costing the makers an additional one hour. By the afternoon, the crew wrapped up the location and were headed to Sindbad Amusement Park for one scene and a song montage. The scenes were shot in less than an hour, bringing an end to the entire shooting schedule at once.

It took one month to get through the post-production phase. Saad being the editor of the film, explained the process that could have 'either amplified or completely destroyed the film depending on the amount of attention it was given'.

The first cut of the film was edited in a non-linear editing pattern where the current and future moments were constantly inter-cut with one another in a recurring black and white color scheme, bringing about a strong sense of symbolism. However, it was scrapped since Saad thought it'd make an already experimental story even more difficult to understand and the film would come across more intense than what it really was. A linear editing pattern was therefore followed where the film progressed in real-time.

A huge emphasis was paid upon selecting just the right kind of background score that not only gelled with the film and elevated the entire visual spectacle but also remained true to its subtle story line and didn't come across as a jarring impediment to the on-goings. The royalty free O.S.T.'s of music composers like Mycheal Danna, Michael Giacchino, Nitin Sawhney, Denis Jasarevic, Anu Malik, Alan Irwin Menken, R.D. Burman, Viju Shah, Anand Bakshi, Amit Trivedi, Shamir Tandon, Phil Collins, Elton John, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Howard Ashman, Peggy Lee and Mark Mancina were incorporated which according to Saad are 'so beautiful that even the dead souls might come sniffing home'.

The three Hindi songs placed at different intervals of the film i.e. 'Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast', 'Vaada Karo Nahin Chhodoge Tum Mera Saath' and 'Mausam Mastana' were used to give the film an old-world charm that Saad personally likes.

The film's theatrical trailer and dialogue promos only gave fleeting glimpses of a few moments from the story without ever divulging the setting, conflict and story line. The promotional campaign of the film including the posters, stills and special features (including 'The Making of Gubbaare' and 'Out-takes') too followed suit. The film was promoted with the tagline, 'Shakespeare comes to life'. This was the crux on which the film was based and though the fact that it was an adaptation could have been heavily marketed, the makers kept a low profile on that so that the film was judged for what it was and not just because it was based on an extraordinary work of literature.

Balloons have been used throughout the film in order to fleck the ever-shifting phases of life that the characters keep going through. If looked closely, every time a protagonist chants the poem, a balloon or a set of balloons can be seen in the background or foreground. Their colors continue changing as the poem moves forth. Though background artists could have been easily used to depict the changing phases, balloons were particularly chosen to be the face of the film since their presence and antiquity bears a resemblance to the notion of life. Before they come into their form, they are flimsy and frail akin to the early stages of a man's life. Once they dazzle in all their glory, they remind of a phase in life when a man's at his healthier and happier best. Gradually as the balloons start losing their sheen, they see a decline in their phantom much like every other human being till they reach their ultimate pinnacle of existence.

The railway station depicts a man's lifetime whereas the about-to-arrive train symbolizes the invincible death that everyone's destined to go through. As the characters enter the railway station, they basically enter the sphere of life where they go through the seven phases until the train arrives and they tread onto one another journey, leaving behind memories and concluding their time in the world. During the phase of production, it seemed nearly impossible to acquire the location of a railway station for one entire day. Saad and Hammad dug their heels in and had it extremely clear in their minds that if not a railway station, the film then rather won't be made since no other locale will be able to symbolize life and death as effectively as railway station and its recurring trains.

The boy catching the train while the girl staying behind in the climax, depicts the fragile nature of human lives and the unforeseen slate of death. The boy couldn't continue any longer on the railway station i.e. his lifetime on this earth and it was his furthest time to cease. As everyone leaves behind a memory, the boy too hands over his book to the girl i.e. a sum of all his wisdom and experiences, enlightening the girl to live a better life than the one she did since she still had some time left.