Ghost Of Faith: The silent Village Of Islamabad [Documentary making process]

Saidpur Village

The heritage not preserved in Pakistan, this was the idea that we worked with.

Our main focus is Saidpur village, Islamabad where there are two Hindu temples that have been closed down and not maintained. The temples are just for public show and a tourist point. The village on the back also would play a huge role in our documentary as people living there for ages can tell us the history of the temple and reasons it they were closed down. We can also get the crux of the situation as to what the temples mean and symbolize in the modern city of Islamabad.

Script writing experience:

 In the heart of Islamabad lies Saidpur village, a place where history whispers through each corner. My quest was simple yet very complex: to capture and preserve the stories of Saidpur, a cultural gem overshadowed by modern changes and the harshness the placed has faced over the years as I believe the state of an object can tell the State of its owner and in our case the residents of the village and the authorities present there.

 I started my journey by looking through a bunch of stuff online, like old records and digital places where history is kept. Instead of going to Saidpur, I used my laptop to explore information and learn about where Saidpur came from and why it's important. It was a bit tricky because there was not much online info but in the end I had to find the important parts that would make a good story.

Rest was my own imagination because I have good grip on fictional genre of writing as i have been writing such stories over 5 years now.

Journey as Director:

 We reached Saidpur around 11am and from 7^th avenue metro station we booked in-drive to the village.

We got off the cab at the starting of village and both the camera persons i.e. Nafeesa Jabeen and Laiba Qureshi got to work with my assistance. They had hand held camera and we took footage of everything we deemed of importance to our documentary, from old buildings to local residents, from children running to the bad condition of temples. The temples were highlight for us but there was not much to see as they were abandoned or locked.  We also had to do a lot of convincing for the people to talk about the temples and their lives’ at Saidpur and were successful in the end, though people there seemed scared to share their opinions. We went till the very last point of the village where there is a plain ground with backdrop of hills. And that is where we ended our shooting. But a member of our team thought it would be a good idea if we get another interview and low and behold we were on the run from a mentally disturbed old man not letting us go as he would keep talking to us about all the nonsense in this world but wouldn’t let us shoot or answer the questions we were asking. So in the end we lied that cab was waiting and escaped the crazy man carrying a hammer, nails and rocks in his pockets.

At about 3pm we left Saidpur and considering our agenda of the day fulfilled we decided to treat our selves so we went to a restaurant in F7; 2 broke engineers might I say never going there again because after such a hectic day a person would expect good food but we were deprived of that. The food was awful but we made ourselves happy by leaving a sarcastic but humorous review.

With that my job as the director came to an end.

Note: BTS videos shared here were after the shooting was completed as during shoot we spent most of our time convincing people to get an interview, so we thoroughly apologize for the bad acting and the voices.

thank you