Promoting a film is a major aspect of film production. It is the time when the principal cast of the film has to gear up and enthusiastically attract the audience to go see their labor of love on the big screen. The team of the last release of the year, Sacch, has been involved in a hectic promotional tour, being interviewed for various morning shows on HUM TV and Channel 24, as well as touring cities across the nation as the film gears up for a nationwide rollout this Friday. However, surprisingly, not everyone from the main cast of the film is present during the promotional activities. There has been one glaring absence.

The curious case of the missing lead

Humayun Ashraf, one of the main leads of the film alongside Asad Zaman Khan and debutante Elysée Sheikh, has been missing from practically all the promotional activities related to the film. In times like today where even dramas are not spared intense marketing gimmicks, the absence of an actor from a film’s promotions is not easy to ignore. In fact, it sends a direct signal that there’s bad blood involved, especially when the film is a major mainstream production.

We reached out to Humayun Ashraf to ask the reason why he has been so completely absent from Sacch‘s promotions. He did not give us any particular reason for his absence but curiously talked about how he does not want to comment on the film or his part in it — till the film has been released. This does make us wonder if he is waiting for the right time to talk about the film and that time definitely isn’t now when it is the most important to talk about the film.

The troublesome rumors

While we wait for Humayun to give his reasons, we have heard of some unconfirmed reports that hint towards why he has been kept away from the promotions. Apparently, when the film was in production, Humayun was said to have created much trouble on the sets in Scotland. The grapevine talks about verbal harangues and a constant back and forth between him and the makers — in short, the cast and crew endured quite a testing time courtesy the actor.

Another bird tells us that there have been some payment issues between the actor and the producers which is why Humayun has distanced himself from the film. Zulfikar Sheikh, the film’s producer, even joked in one of the shows where he appeared to promote the film that Humayun is not promoting the film because he was slapped pretty hard in one of the scenes (the scene is present in the film’s trailer). We wonder if there was more than just lighthearted humor to his quip.

Gumm, redux?

All of this gives us deja-vu of what happened with Gumm earlier in January this year. One of the film’s lead actor, Shamoon Abbasi vented days after the film released (and bombed) about the alleged mistreatment he had to endure at the hands of that film’s production team. His list of accusations was a horror story in itself, which made us wonder why the actor agreed to the project in the first place. The makers distanced themselves from the set of accusations.

We will not be surprised if Humayun goes the same route. Ironically, both Shamoon and Humayun are currently working on an upcoming film, Dhai Chaal.

The days before the film’s release are the ones when most hype is created about the film and everyone from the cast to the crew does not miss any opportunity to have their presence known. Whether or not Humayun’s reason for not being present for the promotions is due to the rumors or some other reason remains to be seen. But till then, it surely does not create a positive image for the film to have one of its main cast so completely detached from the final just a few days before its release. We will be watching this story as it develops. Stay tuned!