The Meaning of Headlines: 'to make a film for 15 years'

The Meaning of Headlines: 'to make a film for 15 years' - entertainment

The Image section of Dawn published an article on February 22, 2016, with the long headine: ‘I’ve been saving money to make a film for 15 years, says Bachaana director Nasir Khan.' Has he really been making a film for 15 years?

The article interviews director Nasir Khan on his first movie, Bachaana, filmed in Mauritius. I have been to Mauritius and it's an ideal island location to make a movie. It’s a romantic comedy thriller. Khan says ‘I’ve wanted to make a movie for the last 30 years, so Bachaana didn’t happen overnight. I’ve been saving up money to make a film for the last 15 years.’

What Khan actually means is that he saved money for 15 years before he made the film. The film didn’t take 15 years to make. The article headline is therefore a quote from the director.

However, for clarity, the preferred way to ensure that the emphasis is on the correct verb is to rearrange the sentence. The current word order places the emphasis on the verb ‘to make’ and therefore ‘for 15 years’ is associated with the phrase ‘to make a film’ – he has been saving money to make a fim for 15 years.

By placing the phrase ‘for 15 years’ in association with ‘have been saving’ there is a completely different interpretation. For example: ‘I’ve been saving for 15 years to make a film.’ Ah, so now we know exactly what he means – and as Khan said – it didn’t happen overnight!

Scorecard for Dawn is 99% - the author of the article was not confusing the message – the author was the messenger who quoted the director. Therefore, in this case, we can’t shoot the messenger. As for the director, after 15 years, anyone would be excited to finally have the film finished and ready for release on February 26 in Pakistan. Besides, the film director has responsibility for the creative direction of the movie, so even if he is not behind the camera, he is still ‘calling the shots’ and he can shoot it any way he wishes. Therefore, in this case, we can’t shoot the director either.

http://images.dawn.com/news/1174869/ive-been-saving-money-to-make-a-film-for-15-years-says-bachaana-director-nasir-khan

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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