Back in work mode, I went through the animatic (storyboards set to sound) of “Sohni”. I could keep making changes forever, but I do need to take it further before the shoot. Umar and I went to the cloth market and picked up a whole bunch of cloth for the rest of the backgrounds, some dust and burning effects as well as 15 yards of black cloth to use as borders and backing on these beautiful backdrops. We want to preserve them and I hope to display all the artwork that went into this project in an exhibition at some point down the road.
Lahore traffic from Adnan Hussain on Vimeo.
Things were crazy and busy in the market. Just as I was purchasing some cloth, I got a call from Khurshid “Sadar” who is a storyteller during puppet shows. He introduced me to several puppeteers when I went to Multan. I have tasked him with finding the most skilled ones that I can audition for this project. He has gathered a few names for me and gave me their numbers as well. There are some complex puppets that I want to make sure they can handle. In addition, I need people that are good to work with, can take direction and are willing and interested in doing something a bit different. It can be challenging to get people to do something a bit out of their comfort zones in terms of the skill and experience they have, but that is the key to keep this art form going.