Now playing across Pakistani cinemas this month, the new animated production, Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor, made in collaboration with WWF Pakistan, is not only a visual delight for cinemagoers, but also highlights a crucial issue: wildlife conservation.
At the heart of the story is protagonist Allahyar, a young boy who befriends Mehru, a markhor (an endangered wild goat species and Pakistan’s national animal), and their thrilling journey to save Mehru’s family at the hands of Mani, a merciless poacher.
Set against beautiful Pakistani landscapes and scenery, the film packs a punch vis-à-vis dazzling cinematography, heartwarming songs and lovable characters.
Having specialized in character animation from Vancouver Film School, the film’s director, Uzair Zaheer Khan, isn’t a rookie to the world of CG (computer graphics), and has worked in the CG industry for two decades on a number of projects – one such being the award-winning Pakistani animated series, Burka Avenger.
“Since there haven’t been a lot of animated films being made in Pakistan, I thought I’d take the initiative to produce one for several reasons,” Khan says, “One was that I wanted to demonstrate that our country’s CG artists can create quality work at par with what’s being produced overseas. We have so many decent artists in Pakistan and not enough projects, so I thought if we put together something nice, it would encourage others to contribute towards the local animation industry.”
Khan mentions that through Allahyar and the Legend of Markhor, he also hopes to promote Pakistani culture in addition to instilling in Pakistani children values – such as empathy for all living creatures – that are “slowly being eroded.”
While the director understands that the local animation industry stands at a nascent stage, he feels there’s enormous talent on home turf for it to truly take off.
“We lose a lot of brilliant artists to international studios and I’m pretty sure if all of them came back, there would be incredible films being made here. Sure it’s cool to work in all these awesome places where there’s immense learning involved, but I feel it’s our responsibility to stay here and give back. I’m a firm believer in the fact that there’s a lot of potential and talent in Pakistan that’s just waiting to be explored.”
But while the team currently rides the high-tide of public and media praise, the film was not without its challenges. “There were humongous issues,” Khan reveals, “If you plan something which you haven’t ever done before, there are a thousand things that you overlook. We made lots of mistakes. Since we had budget constraints, we couldn’t work endlessly on the film and knew we wouldn’t be able to perfect it one hundred percent. However, since this was our first production, and now that we’ve gone through the process, we have an opportunity to make better films in the future.”
