Ambition vs Duty: ‘Abu’ Spotlights the Age-old Dilemma
By Anwar Molani
Los Angeles: “We don’t abandon our kids but why do we quit our parents when they are most helpless and vulnerable?”
These are the words spoken by our protagonist, Arman, at a critical moment in the movie ‘Abu’. The words aptly describe the dilemma most of us face when our parents have grown old and infirm and need our support the most.
The problem is universal but the response is often conflicting in the East and the West: In most Western countries, the old, helpless parents are enrolled in a nursing home and their children visit them occasionally. In contrast, taking care of one’s parents is considered a duty in Eastern societies. It constitutes an integral part of one’s life, a task in which the entire family, the whole neighborhood, and in case of a village, the entire community is involved. With the advent of globalization, and growing influence of the glittery, affluent and materialistic West, more and more people in Eastern societies are giving up the deeply ingrained practice of parental care and leaving the helpless parents exposed to the elements in their twilight years. The rich are admitting their parents to nice five-star nursing homes while the middle class dumps them in the so-called old homes which are nothing but a bunch of geriatric torture and abuse centers. The poor leave them on the street to beg and languish.
Abu marks the debut of FarazAlam as director, producer, actor and writer, who addresses these issues in an enlightened, though Eastern, context and perspective. Born in Lahore, Pakistan and raised in New Jersey Faraz quit his lucrative marketing job to relocate to Los Angeles to undertake the production of this movie. Thanks to hisunflinching willpower, commitment and zest, he succeeds in recruiting a cast and crew with minimum resources at his disposal. The result is a beautifully knit-together story of a South Asian family confronted with the modern-day dilemma which is non-existent in most of the Eastern hemisphere of our planet.
Faraz tells us the story of a career-oriented and ambitious young man ‘Arman’ who feels the biggest obstacle in the advancement of his career is his ailing father or Abu (Abu is the commonly used word for father). Suffering from an early Alzheimer’s disease, his father’s condition rapidly deteriorates after suffering a stroke. All this happens at a time when Arman, played by FarazAlam himself, gets the biggest break in his career to fulfill his cherished dream. Faraz takes us through a journey which is filled with confusion, frustration, and anger pitched against a sense of duty and immense love for his father.
The performances of the cast are superb. FarazAlam gives a very powerful portrayal of a young man who is emotionally torn between his ambitious goals and what he considers his duty of taking care of his father. It is obvious that he loves his time with his father but when he is out at work he feels the weight of his duties as a son and feels that he is helpless. Anwar Molani plays the role of a fun-loving, taking-everything-easy kind of father but at the same time stresses the importance of duties of a man as a father and as a son. He made that same choice which his son faces currently. Anwar Molani’s performance as a demented middle-aged man with a rapidly deteriorating physical condition is brilliant. The supporting cast of Ashley Kay as Zoya, Dhruval Joshi as Amaan’s boss, and Misha Molani as Noor, does a wonderful job and pieces together a collage of colorful strokes in the canvas of this movie.
The music is superb and so are the songs. Ali Aftab Saeed is the composer and vocal artist, and he has given a wonderful performance. Lyrics have been written by ShakeelSohail. The music and the songs are in perfect harmony with the characters and flow of the movie.
This is a very low budget movie which Faraz financed by using all his savings and taking loans from anyone he knew. The performances of Faraz and his father, played by Anwar Molani, are powerful. The story is fresh and sends a powerful message although the editing, coloration, sound and cinematography reflect the low budget production value.
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