“My kids will like me, right?”
“Sometimes, sometimes not. But even if they don’t like you, they’re going to love you forever. And they’re going to appreciate everything that you did for them even if they don’t say it out loud.”
“Did you say it out loud?”
“Not really.”
If you had the chance to go back in time and meet the younger version of your parents right before you were born, would you? The science-fiction short film Desi Standard Time Travel explores this concept in a heartwarming and bittersweet narrative. The main protagonist of the film is Imran (played by Adolyn Dar), a Pakistani Canadian who is about to be a first-time father. From the beginning of the film, viewers are introduced to the tense dynamic between Imran and his ill and hospitalized father, Faisal, over a phone call. Imran’s parents immigrated from Pakistan to Canada as young adults before he was born, and Faisal reminds Imran of all the sacrifices they made for him and his future child to have a better life. He tells Imran how he didn’t have someone to guide him on being a father for the first time and that he’s lucky to have that guidance now.
“Thank you for the advice. Maybe I’ll actually call you when I want it.”
“When do you ever call? One day, you will actually want to call me, and I won’t be around to pick up.”
Fast forward, Imran’s first child is born, but Faisal has passed away. Imran feels a great sense of regret for not having the best relationship with his father before he passed, and he wishes he could ask him for advice on being a father. Unexpectedly, Imran receives a phone call stating that Faisal had a time travel policy under his life insurance that expires soon, and he has the chance to go back in time for one evening. Ultimately, Imran accepts the offer and time travels to when his parents first moved to Canada right before he was born, giving him limited time to talk to the younger version of his father who is facing his same fear about fatherhood.
As one of the screeners for the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival this year, this short film stood out to me and was able to provoke a strong emotional reaction from me, especially during the first watch. This year’s festival theme is “Reflections”, and this film highlights how the relationships we form within our lifetime can be a source of reflection and growth. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask the director of the film, Kashif Pasta, about the inspiration, process, and challenges behind creating this film.
Q: Did you have any specific films and other sources of media as inspiration when creating this film?
A: “I grew up on a steady diet of British sci-fi and comedy like Doctor Who, where they rarely had the budgets to do something visually extravagant and instead have to rely on the strength of their writing, world-building and performances that brought a sense of reality to the most absurd premises. That kind of grounded feel really stuck with me. When you’re working with limited resources, the concept becomes the star, and you have to make the ideas compelling enough to fill in the gaps.
For this film, I wanted to capture that sense of texture, place, and tactility. I drew a lot from Mogul Mowgli by Bassam Tariq, which has a rawness to it, and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, which feels incredibly real and filmic. I don’t know if the influences are obvious when you watch the movie, but they definitely fueled me through the process.
And then there’s Back to the Future of course, which is baked into the collective consciousness to the point where even if you haven’t seen it (and surprisingly, I hadn’t seen it when I made Desi Standard Time Travel), its influence is everywhere. The concept of using a car as a time machine for example just feels natural to us all, because that film has impacted our culture so much.”
Q: What was the biggest challenge in creating this film?
A: “One of the biggest challenges was finding the right tonal balance between a grounded drama and a sci-fi adventure. I needed to ensure that the emotional journey and the logic of the sci-fi elements didn’t feel like they were from two different films. The tech needed to support the emotions, and the emotions needed to anchor the tech. I had to explain just enough of how the world worked to satisfy curiosity, but not so much that we ended up bogged down in details and lost sight of the characters and their emotional journeys.”
Q: What was the hardest artistic choice you made in the making of this film?
A: “If the biggest challenge was the balance between sci-fi and grounded reality, the hardest artistic choices were in finding the balance between comedy and drama.
The early cut of the film was so funny that the emotional beats didn’t land at all. We realized it was because our main character was too much of the “funny guy.” He was charming, sure, but if he didn’t take the situation seriously, it was hard for the audience to take him seriously when things got real.
Luckily, some useful trauma from directing commercials where you need to have so many variations of the creative ready meant that I had already had our lead actor, Adolyn, take on the incredible challenge of playing scenes in a range of tones on set—from comedic to dead serious. His flexibility allowed us to fine-tune the performance in the edit, adjusting where he should be more charming, more serious, or just flat-out exhausted by everything happening to him. That helped us build an emotional arc feel authentic and earned.”
Q: Were there any major differences between what you envisioned the film being like versus the end product?
A: “My favorite thing about being a filmmaker, as opposed to doing something more solitary like writing a novel or painting, is the chance to collaborate with so many talented people, each of whom brings their own unique vision, experiences, and skills to the project. That naturally shifts the vision as each person elevates the work in ways you didn’t even know were possible. With this film, it truly felt like we created something more than the sum of its parts. That might sound like a cliché, but it’s true—every person’s hard work, unique personality, and history contributed something special.
Adolyn, Anika, Ali, and the rest of the cast brought such nuance and depth to their roles. Dmitri Lopatin’s cinematography elevated what I thought was possible on our budget. Our gaffer Jason D’Souza was a magician with the latest LED technology, finding ways to keep the lighting natural and unobtrusive, even in the tightest spaces.
Even our PAs, who were always two steps ahead moving the crafty tent out of the frame at just the right moment so we could turn the camera around and every inch of a location. It’s little things like that, which don’t always get noticed, that really allow the rest of us to focus on making the movie as great as it can be. It’s not just about the vision of one person; it’s about a hundred little visions coming together to create something that feels like it has a life of its own.”
Q: How did your upbringing influence how you go about filmmaking and the choices you make as a director?
A: “I grew up in a family of film fans, which definitely shaped me as a filmmaker. My dad grew up watching Pakistani films with his father in the 1950s, and my parents bonded over Indian cinema in 1960s Malawi. By the time I came along in Canada, my film diet was an eclectic mix: Bollywood, Pakistani TV dramas, British comedy, and good old American popcorn movies. Watching films was this fun, communal experience, and it shaped the way I think about storytelling—stories that are accessible and entertaining but have a beating heart at the center, a kind of “nutrient density,” if you will.
Those influences come through in my work. I strive to make films that are enjoyable and grounded, with depth. Films you’d want to talk about and share with others once the credits roll.”
Q: Representing the complex relationship between an immigrant parent and a first-generation child can be a very difficult dynamic to encapsulate on screen, especially when there is also the element of grief involved. Was it difficult to write about and represent this type of relationship on screen?
A: “The relationship might seem complex, but I tried to approach it straightforwardly: by treating both the parent and child as fully formed people with their own perspectives. We tend to see each other in our roles, like “father” and “son,” but we’re a lot more than those labels. You’re not just a dad; you’re also someone’s kid, maybe someone’s partner, and you have a whole life outside of these roles.
The goal was to let the characters recognize a bit of that complexity in each other. I thought about them as two people who could just as easily be friends if they’d met through time travel under different circumstances.
Grief does add complexity, but it’s also clarifying. When we’re grieving, we aren’t confused about how we feel; we’re just overwhelmed by it. That clarity helped shape the emotional needs of the characters, and the story became about trying to see each other for who they really are—not just as the roles they’re supposed to play.”
Q: If you could have anyone who watches this film take away something, what would it be?
A: “It’s all about seeing the people in your life as real, full human beings. We carry so much baggage in our relationships, but if we can recognize the humanity behind the titles, it can go a long way in helping us understand each other. I’ve been touched by the number of people who watch the film and then feel compelled to call their parents. If my work can bring people closer together while generating some great reviews on Letterboxd, I’d be more than happy with that as my legacy.”
By the end of the film, Imran is truly able to see his father for the first time. It’s easy to associate the firsthand memories and experiences we have of another person into creating a fixed image and perception of them in our mind. This film reminds us that our parents had a life before our existence, and they were once experiencing life for the first time. Looking at them beyond their title as “mom” or “dad” can help us empathize and realize that at the end of the day, we are all humans just trying our best and figuring things out along the way. Desi Standard Time Travel is featured in the short film program The Pursuit of Happiness, available to rent online during this year’s festival run from November 7th to November 17th, 2024.
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