Jaffar Mahmood is a young and talented Writer/Director whose film ‘Shades of Ray’ is about to hit the film festival circuit this season. Jaffar was one of the panelists at the recent OPEN event for Pakistani American film directors in New York. The film is about a half Pakistani, half American man named Rehan who goes by Ray. Ray’s heritage is the same as Jaffar’s: Jaffar was born to a Pakistani father and a Caucasian catholic mom and so he grew up in a multi-cultural/multi-religious household. Jaffar was born and raised in New Jersey and went to Tufts University for his undergraduate. Even though his major was economics, and he was on track to be an investment banker, he decided to switch paths and pursue his real passion, films. He is currently based in Los Angeles, where he also did his Masters at the Peter Stark Producing Program at The University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television. He is teaching directing to college students part time while working on his film projects. We spoke to Jaffar about his journey into filmmaking, the difficulties he encountered, and what he has learned.
Q. How did you decide to get into the film field?
A. It was my junior year in college. I studied abroad in London for the whole year, at University College London, where after having satisfied my major’s pre-requisite requirements, I finally got to take classes that really interested me. I have always been a film lover and loved watching movies as a kid. I was the kind of guy who would choose to go to a movie Friday night rather than a party. An Art History class I was taking in London had an emphasis on film, and at the end of that semester I did a paper on Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’. Upon finishing the paper, it was the first time in my academic career that I wanted to learn more about the subject I was researching than was necessary for the assignment. That was the turning point and I started thinking of whether it was possible for me to pursue a future in film instead of investment banking. After looking into graduate level film programs, I found The University of Southern California’s Peter Starks Producing Program - the only graduate film program that did not require a portfolio of pre-existing work in film. The program was 50-50 split between a focus on the business side and creative aspects of filmmaking and they actually preferred applicants without a film background that still brought their love of film to the table. The program was very competitive but as luck would have it, I got in.
Q. So it was there that you made your first film?
A. Yes. I received a grant in my second year to direct a short 35MM film called ‘Eastern Son’. It was based on a true story of my great grandparents. I traveled the film festival circuit with it in 2003 where it was very well received. Unfortunately, what I was not prepared for was that the first question out of everyone’s mouth was, ‘What’s your next project?’ So after that, I came back and realized I needed to write my own scripts – no one was going to hand me something just because I made a solid short film. After writing a lot of high-concept ideas that didn’t really ring true to me, I finally decided to follow the old saying of ‘write what you know.’ So I focused on what was unique to my life, my mixed heritage, noticing that there was no mainstream Hollywood movie I could think of that had dealt with a bi-racial protagonist in a comedic, relatable way.
Q. And that became the basis for ‘Shades of Ray’?
A. Yes. It took about 2 years to write the script for ‘Shades of Ray’, nearly 40 drafts in total. Originally, I thought the ideal budget would be about $1M, as the script didn’t have a big car chase or any kind of special effects. It was then, however, that I encountered the issue of obtaining financing to make the film.
There were two different production companies who said they loved the script but would only be interested if I would change Ray’s ethnicity from half-Pakistani to either half-African American or half-Latino. South Asians don’t come out to the movies is what they told me, so the companies didn’t want to finance a movie for such a niche market. I thought about the change and the financing they could bring to the table but decided that it would no longer be my story if I changed the ethnicity. So, I walked away and I put my economics background to work. I created a business plan and (along with copies of my short ‘Eastern Son’) approached Private Equity investors. Eventually I raised about half of my original goal from 38 individual investors and got to make the movie I wanted to on my own terms with no concessions.
Q. What about distribution?
A. That’s the million dollar question. While making an Indie film is hard, unfortunately getting the chance to sell it to a theatrical distributor is even harder. The current economic slowdown isn’t going to help matters either. Just within the last few months, four of the major buyers of independent films have disappeared. It has taken me about four years from start to finish – from script to screen. There’s no question it was a different environment for independent films when I started writing ‘Shades of Ray.’ The independent film scene was booming at the time. And that’s just no longer the case.
Q. So what are the plans for the film?
A. Well we will be world premiering the film on October 18th at the Austin Film Festival where ‘Shades of Ray’ has been selected to compete for best narrative feature film. That’s where we’re unveiling the film to distributors and the industry for the first time. No one has seen the movie yet. So hopefully we’ll get some positive responses and go from there. We’re also screening at the South Asian International Film Festival in NYC on October 25th and will have our international premiere at the Cairo Film Festival in November where the film will compete for best international digital feature. That will be really interesting to see how an international crowd reacts to this American film.
Q. Is the film festival open to all?
A. Yes. All information regarding the festivals, along with trailers of the film, can be found on the film’s website: www.shadesofray.com
Q. What has been the reaction to the film so far?
A. We did a test screening right before the final cut of the film. It was part of the market research that we did. We got a complete group of strangers to view the film and during that, the film scored really well amongst all ethnicities. But other than that and the teaser trailers we’ve released online, nobody but the cast and crew has seen the film. The Austin Film Festival is where everyone can see it for the first time.
Q. Can you tell us a bit about what the film is about?
A. The movie is about a guy in his late twenties named Ray. He is half white and half Pakistani. It is essentially a father-son story where in the first scene of the film, we see a 12 year-old Ray being told by his father that even though he (his father) has married a Caucasian woman, he thinks Ray should marry a Pakistani girl. Then we see Ray grown up, proposing to his Caucasian girlfriend (he followed his father’s footsteps instead of his advice). She does not immediately accept and instead asks for some time to think. In this shell shocked state, Ray’s father shows up at his doorstep after Ray’s mother throws him out of the house. The father expects to be taken care of by Ray and during his stay, the father guilts Ray into seeing a Pakistani girl who turns out to be half-Pakistani like him. Interestingly enough for Ray, he feels a connection with this girl. The rest of the film is about him trying to get his parents back together while trying to figure out what is best for him.
Q. In trying to figure out the reluctance of companies to finance a film with Pakistani characters, who was it that financed movies like ‘The Namesake’ and ‘Bride and Prejudice’?
A. Well those movies are based off of well established books (which help considerably when raising financing) and they were actually not financed by Hollywood, but by UK and Indian companies. UK companies unfortunately don’t tend to finance any ventures that don’t have a British director or British actors.
Q. Is the movie based in Los Angeles? And who’s in the cast?
A. Yes, the film takes place in LA. In fact, the entire movie was filmed in LA, with an LA based cast. The lack of funds made it impossible for me to hold auditions anywhere but LA, which was a bit frustrating for me at the time since the majority of western-born South Asian actors are in NYC, Toronto and London. I literally read every Pakistani, Indian, Arab, Persian, and Lebanese actor that was in his late twenties living in LA at the time of my auditions-- and while many were quite talented, none of them had that perfect blend of comedy and drama that the part demands. After exhausting the ethnic pool of actors to choose from, my astute casting director politely reminded me that the character of Ray is also half white. Even if we were to find the perfect Pakistani actor to handle both the comedy and the drama, if he was fully Pakistani, he would be just as wrong (or right) for the role as if we cast a fully white person with dark features. Her point was a valid one. So after finally opening up the role to dark-featured Caucasian actors, we had the good fortune of casting Zachary Levi of NBC’s ‘Chuck’ to play Ray. Not only could Zach handle both the comedy and drama with his eyes closed, but he made the character even funnier than what was scripted. At the end of the day I cast the best actor for the role, and that’s my main responsibility as director.
In the film, Zachary Levi is joined by Sarah Shahi (NBC’s ‘Life’), Bonnie Somerville (‘Friends’), Fran Kranz (Fox’s upcoming show ‘Dollhouse’), along with Kathy Baker (‘The Cider House Rules’) and Brian George (Babu Bhatt from ‘Seinfeld’).
Q. Do you think the film will resonate with your average American?
A. With American being the melting pot that it is, I’d certainly like to think so. My hope is that no matter your background or race you’ll be able to understand or identify with Ray’s issues in the film. Clearly ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ proved that you didn’t need to be Greek to enjoy or appreciate that film, so I’d like to think the same can apply to ‘Shades of Ray.’
Q. Any regrets?
A. Well sure, my peers who are corporate lawyers or consultants are well established already and it can be frustrating if I start thinking about their bank accounts compared to mine right now. But then I focus on the fact that I get to wake up every morning and love what I do. And that’s really important to me.
Q. Future projects?
A. I just finished a feature length script for Sony-based Outlaw Productions (ofTraining Day and Santa Clause franchise fame). It’s a high school teen-comedy set in present day Lahore about a sixteen year-old Pakistani boy looking to throw a house party to impress the girl of his dreams. It’s a fun, lighthearted movie that was written predominately for western audiences in an effort to show that innocent and beautiful things are still happening in places like Pakistan. My goal as a filmmaker is always to entertain first. If I can slip a little message into that fun, then great, but I want to tell stories that appeal to everyone. Hopefully I’ll keep getting the chance to do so…
Jaffar - Thank you for taking the time to talk to us about your film. We urge our Texas and NYC based audience, and anyone travelling to Texas on October 18th or NYC on October 25th to check out the film. We wish you the best of luck with ‘Shades of Ray’ and all your future endeavors. Please check out the trailers for the film at: www.shadesofray.com
Till next time,
Khuda Hafiz
Aaliya Naqvi-Hai