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Celebratory debutante baker, Asim Abbasi’s Cake delivered at theatres last weekend, bringing forth layers of butter, crunches and diverging flavours. Cake is a story that primarily revolves around sisters, Zareen (Aamina) and Zara (Sanam), but the film is

Celebratory debutante baker, Asim Abbasi’s Cake delivered at theatres last weekend, bringing forth layers of butter, crunches and diverging flavours. Cake is a story that primarily revolves around sisters, Zareen (Aamina) and Zara (Sanam), but the film is set in the backdrop of a disjointed family and how several hidden realities unfold as they all come together after an emergency.

We begin our chat with the talented cast, by speaking of how much of the turmoil they related to from their personal experiences. “Of course we did. We all come from backgrounds with siblings,” Sanam is the first to respond. “I’m the eldest in my family, Adnan is the youngest and Aamina is the middle child. So there are definitely different nuances and responsibilities; there’s a different perspective from each point of view and in the film.”

Aamina felt that the sentiment of the film is what the cine-goers resonated with. “The essence of the conflicts may be different in each family, but the emotions you go through when it comes to holding resentment or confrontations you’ve never faced before, or voicing your opinions to the other sibling, unfolding of the past; I think the emotional palate is very common from our real lives, which is where we got our inspiration from. The story itself is very close to us and Asim,” she smiled.

Giving his two cents, Adnan drew parallels with his household. “By nature, I think the family structure kind of lends itself to a lot of comedy and drama. There is one way we present ourselves as a family to the world and there’s another in which we interact with one another. The film is about showcasing that; what families keep secret. It’s about those mad, private moments that every family shares,” he stated. “When I read the script, in a lot of ways, it reminded me of my family. My parents have been married for 52-years now and there’s a lot of humour, fighting and anger, but at the end of the day, they’ve lasted it out and that’s what you’ll get to see.”

Sanam felt there have been moments of eye-contact-exchanges in the cinemas for its mirroring of reality, but one discovers that they went through extensive workshops to bring their respective characters to life. “Asim made us rehearse a lot; he would make us sit through therapy sessions. He made sure the sisters would have that bond, so Aamina and I would meet separately,” she revealed. “He wanted different equations to be formed, like they are in the film. That’s why I feel I’ve lived through Zara more than acted her out.”

Aamina on the other hand saw her experience as a learning curve; having to start anew after an entire decade in the fraternity. “It was hugely about unlearning. Although he’s very aware of the Pakistani industry, Asim comes from a completely different background (in the UK),” she explained. “He pampered us, but at the same time, was hard on us by making us explore ourselves in a very different way.”

“We knew each other from before, but the rehearsals were very intense as we dug into our pasts quite literally and put ourselves in a very vulnerable spot. During the workshops, we got the triggers out that made us feel a certain way and we used those points for our performances,” Aamina added, of turning to reality for getting into the skin of their characters’ inner-conflicts. “It was very intricate and as working actors on TV, a lot of things are defaulted by our exposure, so Asim took up the responsibility for not letting us fall there.”

Adnan shared how he and Aamina were made to speak about their individual trials before going on floors and how moving the experience served. “I remember her being in tears when I opened up and vice versa. We used our real life emotional experiences to get to know more about each other and that makes the cast more intimate,” he says, whilst Sanam jokingly complains of having no such customized and unguarded interactions.

They’ve all been very exclusive and haven’t barred themselves to mediocre content. But in a rather thriving industry where you’re also responsible to pay the bills, how does one sustain oneself without settling for the run-off-the-mill– yet largely accepted– genre? “I don’t define myself as a full-time actor, so I make a living through directing commercials and I feel you just have to balance it out,” Adnan opined on evaluating art with momentary stability.

“I do want to get into narrative directing in the next few years, and I took up Cake because it’s the kind of film I would also want to make. I love the coming-of-age, family-drama genre, so I wanted to work on it and see it from the inside,” Malik continued, keeping Cake as his case in point.

This is also why Sanam refuses to judge actors seen in every other drama serial or film, for they are only looking after their essential requirements and needs. Aamina on the other hand turns to architecting images, on the basis of which a public figure isn’t only dependant on acting assignments for emolument(s). Contrary to popular belief, Sheikh views it as progress of choices instead of shallow or superficial.

“There’s also something that has to be said about being a talent that is very selective about what they choose to act in as well as having the kind of commercial or market value that you build over time associating with certain brands or fashion work,” Aamina suggested. “The combination of the two is also something that is appealing to us as new-age, current actors today because globally, we are actors, but also brands and products on our own. It’s an interesting dynamic with social media also and there’s so much you have to look at that you can’t just confine yourself.”

Despite a refreshing take on a Pakistani values and families, Cake was touted as a film for a niche audience and not for the masses. It is the rat race for ratings that has popularized divorce, unnecessary violence, extra-marital affairs and now child abuse, in the most insensitive of storytelling, as Aamina vocalizes on the prosaic of narratives. “A lot of writers who usually don’t write a certain way are now beginning to write a certain way because they’re getting these directions from channel heads or producers,” she uncovers the industry dynamic. “That’s how programming slots are being filled and so we, as actors, know where these things are infiltrating from. If you know there’s no such influence or agenda in even one script a year, it speaks for itself.”

“That being said, Cake is a film that will have commercial success,” Adnan, with much assurance, concluded. “It has all the ingredients; which might not be the reason we chose the project, but after having seen it, we’re really content with the way it’s turned out. We’re just hoping that the film is able to reach the audiences with the intention that it’s been made with. In no way is it kind of an art-house, peripheral film. It’s a mainstream, entertaining film with substance and a lot to offer.”

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