Media Magick

Short films in Pakistan are amongst the latest craze for filmmakers, more than they are for viewers. During Covid 19, multiple platforms have launched in Pakistan that are digitally releasing short films and some webisodes on regular basis. Some of the platforms are featuring reputed and famous names in their short films and some are mostly relying on titles that allure and often mislead viewers – more of a clickbait mechanism. In 28th February 2021, Digestive Showtime released its 1st of 5 short films titled Yorker. The short film is released on YouTube and is free for all to watch. The short film is directed by Ahsan Rahim and Syed Nini. Those who are familiar with these name will get the idea what Yorker might offer them in terms of entertainment.

The story is written by Sultan Ghani Afzal and it is loaded with blunders and from the treatment it is on-point headless entertainer. The story has no realistic feel or approach and this gives a superlative kind of experience to viewers. Dialogues and screenplay by Ali Abbas Naqvi and Basit Naqvi are too loud and are not as dense or hard-hitting for audience as they might have felt to them. The element of comedy is missing from this Loud-Comedy. There are a few good one liners here and there but that’s just about it.

Actors like Ehteshamuddin, Wahaj Ali and Jawad Bashir try their best to add life to the fluff characters that are written for them. Potential actors like Faizan Shaikh is wasted and Salman Sheikh (Mani) and George Fulton are too loud and ham in most of the scenes.

The script had all the interesting elements that are needed to engage young audience for instance, emphasizing on English language, cricket craze and YouTube influencers being made fun of for their tactics to stay in the limelight but unfortunately all fall flat because of shallow and below average performances and mediocre script.

Yorker – Short Film

One of the most promising thing of Digestive Showtime’s Yorker is that Director of photography (Zain Haleem) has done an amazing job. The content might entertain those who prefer slapstick and no-brainer short films. But for those who like quality entertainment and are in to genuine witty stuff might be disappointed with Yorker.
After all, Yorker is free to watch, so go and watch it on YouTube, but if you think time is money then let’s not waste it.