Project Ghazi releases nationwide tomorrow, Friday 14 July! Yes, you read that right. Pakistan’s first superhero film which stars Humayun Saeed, Sheheryar Munawar and Syra Shahroz will be playing in cinemas all over Pakistan in just a day. Are we excited? You bet we are! And why not, for the trailer was quite promising and we really are eager to see history being made this Friday when a Pakistani superhero makes his way to cinema screens! (Although factually, 1989 release Shaani is the first superhero sci-fi film from Pakistan)
But while we are ecstatic for the release, our enthusiasm is not really shared by quite a lot of people, including the general ticket paying public, the makers of the film, the film’s PR team, hell the cast itself! And this makes us question why is this poor film even releasing? Don’t believe us, well check out these pointers where we explain why we feel that the people involved with the film haven’t really been that generous with the film, and have led us to believe that this film is the unwanted child nobody really cares about.
1. Poor Release Date
We wrote an entire article on this blunder. (Click Here)
The crux being that ‘Mom’ and ‘Spiderman’ released last Friday and are running to packed houses while Ranbir-Katrina ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and the much awaited ‘Planet Of the Apes’ release this Friday. Oh, and Eid releases ‘Mehrunisa V Lub U’ and ‘Yalghaar’ are also playing in cinemas, so yeah! Whoever chose this date needs to reconsider career options.
2. Inadequate Promotion Time
Okay, so the chosen release date was a bad idea to begin with, but what made it worse was the fact that the promotions kickstarted on 19 June when the trailer came out, meaning less than a month to promote the film! It should be noted that Na Maloom Afraad 2 and Punjab Nahi Jaungi trailers have already been released and promotions for PNJ started while the films will be releasing in September.
3. Where art thou Humayun?
So the team had less than a month to promote the film and their biggest star was missing from the promotions from the word go. First we thought he’s pulling a Shaan Shahid on the film (you know how Shaan wasn’t promoting Yalghaar) but we talked to Humayun Saeed and he informed us that he is very much on board for the promotions, it’s just that he was busy with the Yalghaar’s international premieres and kickstarting the promotions for his next, Punjab Nahi Jaungi which releases on Eid-ul-Azha. So, unfortunately, Humayun was completely absent from the promotions and well that further weakened the promotions.
4. The PR push missing
Samra Muslim and Walnut Media are known as the go-to people as far as film marketing is concerned and the track record they have proves their worth. Visiting TV Show Sets, Cinemas, Schools, Universities, Magazine Covers gives the film a PR push and team Walnut has been known to successfully do this and generate hype for a film. However, this time around, the PR push wasn’t strong enough and our phones can prove this because generally when a Walnut PR film comes out, our phones are filled with pictures of the cast from here there and everywhere, but this time around, my phone just has my selfies.
5. Lahore ignored?
Okay, this might be a bit personal, but hey, you can’t ignore the mighty Punjab now, can you!? Punjab brings in the most money for a film which is why all film promotions are incomplete without a visit to the province. However, Project Ghazi has very conveniently skipped this step and are happy with the Karachi promotions, whatever little they did there. Now it is being said that the team will visit Lahore post release and that is their plan. Well, I guess the plan is to visit empty cinema halls, because the buzz for the film here in Lahore is at a record low and the film would need a thunderous word of mouth to do well.
We know that making a film is not an easy task and are aware of the blood, sweat, and tears that go into making the film. Thus, we hope that the film does wonderfully at the box-office and wish the makers all the best, but given the current situation and thinking realistically, only a miracle can save this film.
