It is widely believed in the film world that touching the classics for the sake of remake is a bad idea. But then there are few like Anjum Shahzad and Abdullah Kadwani who believe more in taking risks and bringing the history on the front for the modern world. This indeed was a surprise as no one would have thought that 7th Sky Entertainment would pick the ‘Cult Classic’ of the 60s, Armaan, for its next project.
Ceremonies, screenings, dinners, awards and what not. This is all coming with LUMS International Film Festival (FiLUMS) 2013, due to start on coming Friday — 8th February. FiLUMS is a source to a big boost to the local film talent having its unique significance given the troubled times on the local film industry. The festival not only gives a chance to the industry cadre to meet at a vibrant platform and discuss the industry issues, but also
Bollywood film Race II was premiered at a local cinema in Lahore few days back. The premier show was obviously expected to be a grand event with Geo Films distributing the movie in Pakistan, and the attendance by a number of Pakistan’s fashion celebs including, TV actress and host Natasha, super model Mehreen Syed, photographers Ather and Shahzad, designer
Not much has been revealed yet, but Mission Allahuakbar is going to be the film that will announce the superstar Shaan Shahid back in both, the directorial and acting scene of Pakistan Film Industry.
Having directed four films already in his career; with Zille Shah to release in 2009 being the last one, Shaan is certainly coming back to directorial world after a long break. The last Urdu film to release having Shaan in the lead role was director Altaf Hussain’s Khamosh Raho in 2011, film failed to attract the audience to cinemas and was considered a disaster at box office, forcing Shaan to take a shift to small screen with his own morning show.
Now with the start of new year, the superstar has already initiated the work on his next directorial flick named, Mission Allahuakbar. What is this film about? Is it a military film? A religious one? Or will it focus on any of the social subjects? Well, we seriously don’t know.
But what we know is that Shaan has already cast Humaima Malick opposite to him in the movie, whereas the film is written by our very own Parvez Kaleem. “This film is going to be interesting. I cannot divulge too many details but it’s about a mission,” said Parvez in one of his very recent interviews. Parvez also informed that the film has already hit the road as it is currently under production in Thailand.
It has also come to our knowledge that actress Juggan Kazim; who has already been paired with Shaan in Khamosh Raho, was originally supposed to play the female lead in the film, but things couldn’t workout between both the two and Shaan at last replaced her with Humaima Malick.
Chup and Masakali were the two films that were previously announced to be produced under Riaz Shahid films banner and directed by Shaan obviously, the actor had even made a contract with Juggan Kazim to work in three of his future films. But nothing seemed to be progressing in the right direction and both the projects were shelved for indefinite period.
Mission Allahuakbar cannot just be the rebranded version of Masakali as the latter was written by Shaan himself, with the well-known Sarmad Khoosat being its script writer, whereas, as mentioned earlier this film is penned by the famous Pakistani film producer and writer Parvez Kaleem. However, there is a little possibility that it is Chup that was thought all over again and is now re-launched with a brand new name. Anyhow, all that concerns us is that this project progresses well and finally manages to hit the local cinemas.
The machinery of Pakistan film industry; like the capital of the country few days back, seems to be on halt these days. With exceptions to one or two ongoing efforts and work on upcoming announced films, there doesn’t seem to be much activity in film circles. If we talk about the expectations regarding the ‘New Year’ of 2013, well, to be honest we haven’t got much new to discuss.
Upcoming Punjabi/Urdu film Zinda Bhaag is now in its final stages of editing and is scheduled for international release at the end of 2013. Amongst other little known actors, the cast boasts the inclusion of Naseeruddin Shah.
“We had a clear idea,” says Meena Gaur who has co-written and co-directed the film with Farjad Nabi. “We wanted to emphasise on people’s everyday lives as opposed to the geo-political scenes of terrorism,” she adds. Gaur’s husband, well-known journalist Mahzar Zaidi, is the producer of the film.
“We wanted this film to be intimate and reflective of everyday life,” she explains, adding that the film is a result of two scripts that Farjad and her were researching. The story is about three boys who are looking to find success by leaving their country. It tackles the theme of illegal immigration and is set in the mohallas of Lahore. “We wanted to shoot the film in Pakistan, because the stories are from here,” says Zaidi.
Gaur explains how the story was born. “Setting out on a long research period, we started to document stories of people who had gone through the process of illegal immigration,” she says.
Zaidi explains that they held auditions for local, unknown actors who didn’t have much acting experience. “Despite being inexperienced, they are talented,” he said, referring to newcomers Sarfraz Ansari, Imranul Haq and Malik Aslam.
“We wanted this film to be reflective of the reality of young people in Lahore, so we wanted actors from those neighbourhoods,” says Gaur. “We are telling their stories.”
Gaur says film-making in Pakistan is difficult because there is a lack of trained personnel and technical equipment, which has forced them to bring people together from different places. She feels that while the making of the film itself is not an issue, “A major obstacle for film-makers in Pakistan is the marketing and distribution.”
“Here, a film-maker has to be involved in every aspect of film-making because the distribution of films is not structured. Hence, it is always a struggle to get your film on screen.”
Zaidi explains that on a broader level, problems with distribution can be explained by the fact that major distributors function more in the form of importers, and the reality is that there is limited space for Pakistani cinema even in Pakistan. The team that was brought in included individuals from India, who trained and assisted on technical aspects of the film.
“We have film importers, not old-style distributors as once seen in Pakistan,” says Zaidi.
“The professionals we got from India understand the language and culture, so they can speak to the local crew; they have imparted a lot of knowledge to us,” he adds. “The crew we worked with is now working on other films as we speak.”
Zinda Bhaag promises a soundtrack that will include music directed by Sahir Ali Bagga and songs by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Arif Lohar and Amanat Ali to name a few.
A long way from Hollywood, actor Faran Tahir shared his experiences and love for the performing arts with the audience at The Second Floor (T2F) on Sunday.
Famous for his role as a villain in the movie based on Marvel’s superhero, Iron Man, Tahir has worked along the glitterati of Hollywood, including Tom Hanks, Natalie Portman and
We shared with you the details of Mona Lizza changing her name to Sara Loren and featuring in a Bollywood film Murder 3. The film as we earlier told you would be heavy on erotica, as a common thing with the Bhatt’s and Murder Franchise. Here is a sizzling still from the film, followed by the official poster. Looks like someone is idolising Veena Malik 😉
Being torched down and looted exactly three months back (21st September 2012) by the mobs protesting against the profane film on Prophet (PBUH), the eminent single screen cinema of Karachi, Capri, opened back to the general public on 21st of December with Salman Khan starer Indian film Dabangg 2.
Investment; and not just creativity and technicality, has now become the dire need for a film industry to survive in this age of ‘Global village’. This dosen’t just go for the commercial cinema, for an art film too, money is as important as it is for other genres. Where the fine quality of imagination and complete hold on the subject and overall procedure is required, a good investment helps that imaginative composure to turn into reality. This is as if constructing Taj Mahal, the finer you want to build it, the more resources you
