Exclusive Interview of Pakistani Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Times of Youth: For those who do not know about you, how would you tell them about yourself and your work in brief?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: My name is Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and I am a filmmaker. I have been working in documentaries for over 15 years now and I am just venturing into animation with ‘3 Bahadur’ – Pakistan’s first animated feature film!

Times of Youth: Your upcoming ‘3 Bahadur’ movie’s trailer has already gone viral. Tell us who named it ‘3 Bahadur’ and where was this concept derived from?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: We came up with the name ‘3 Bahadur’ after several discussions were held about the name. The concept was derived from the fact that children are ‘Bahadur'(brave) generally and we wanted to empower them to believe that they can do whatever they put their minds to!

Times of Youth: What inspired you to make an animation movie for children?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: I had wanted to do something for children for a long time. Pakistan has a very young population and a booming media industry, but we have stopped producing quality content for children. All of our content is imported, from animation to variety shows, and thus our youth grows up with mentors and heroes that are far removed from what they see around them in real life.

Times of Youth: Despite of the announcement of the movie being last year and there being a span of 6-8 months until its release, the audiences’ eagerness regarding the movie has been enormous and still is. What do you have to say about that?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: When we started the project 2 years ago, we weren’t sure how the material would be received. But we held numerous focus sessions with children between the ages of 6 to 16 years, boys and girls, across socio-economic divisions and we fine-tuned our script according to their feedback.

We recently released a teaser and we were amazed by how many people responded positively and expressed interest in knowing more about the project. This is because ‘3 Bahadur’ is a quintessentially Pakistani story, which resonates with the local audience. For the first time, audiences will see streets and characters that look more Pakistani – from the familiar calligraphy that is painted all over the streets, to the criss-crossing wires that we have gotten accustomed to seeing around local neighborhoods.

Times of Youth: What is the plot of the movie?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Armed with courage and superpowers, three fearless friends set off on an epic journey to save their town from the criminal overlord Mangu and his band of thugs.

Times of Youth: This being the first Pakistani feature-length animation film, what difficulties were faced while creating it in an industry which is still so raw?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: The hardest parts were definitely in the beginning, especially since none of us had worked in animation before. It was an uphill climb – putting together a team, learning how animation works from the initial sketch to the final shot, and diving into a medium that is both expensive and time consuming. But we found our pace a few months into the project and what surprised me was the ease with which we found exceptional illustrators, writers, animators and visual effect artists.

Times of Youth: Considering the fact that you are quintessentially an Academy and Emmy award winning documentary film maker who is venturing for first time in the field of animated film making, what areas required most of your attention and to work the most on? How easy/challenging was it for you?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Animation is a beautiful medium for fiction storytelling because it offers a lot of scope for creativity and imagination. On the other hand, documentary films find their strength in a honest and realistic depictions of the world.

I was nervous because I had never worked in animation before, and documentary films are very different in terms of content and style. Seeing the characters that had only existed in static images come to life with their own quirks and mannerisms was an incredible experience!

Times of Youth: Why did it take so long for Pakistan to make an formal big screen animation film?

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: Pakistan has created animated content for many years, but the industry is overwhelmed with product driven content, in which the focus is on selling rather than story telling. We need to move away from this model, and put the narrative first.

Making an animated film is costly wherever you are – the nature of the medium is inherently costly and incredibly time consuming. Unfortunately, unlike films, the amount you spend is directly related to the quality that you can achieve. Pakistani animators are skilled enough to produce content that mirrors Pixar in terms of quality, but you need the budgets and timelines that will support such work. We haven’t done our animators justice in this country, and have not given them the space and resources required to show off just how talented they are. We have all the ingredients to one day be a nation that produces multiple animated films every year, and I am certain that ‘3 Bahadur’ will play its own small role in expanding the industry and getting more people interested in what animation has to offer.

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