“The System” vouches to create a lasting impact

With the overwhelming success of “Main hoon Shahid Afridi” and “Waar”, Pakistani film makers are keen to invest heavy amount of money in film making. “The System” is an example of their attempts to revive Pakistani cinema.

The system is a combined venture of LEOS Productions, green Chilli Entertainment & Prime Films. It is an action drama film starring Shehraz, Nadeem Baig, Kashaf Ali, Irfan Kosart, Saima Saleem, Nayyar Ejaz, Saira, Shafqat Cheema, Saleem Shah, Rabia Tabassum and Mariyam Ali Hussain in lead roles.

It is directed by a Norway based director, Shahzad Ghufoor. The lyrics are penned by Bollywood lyricist, Irfan Siddiqui and music is composed by Indian music director, Shailesh Suwarna. The songs are sung by famous singers including Javed A who’s known for chart buster songs like “Guzarish” and “Tu hi haqeeqat”.

“Our country’s film industry was on its way down. Last year when I visited, I came across a script which I liked and I thought why wait until times improve. We should start now”, said Shahzad in a statement. Previously, Bol and Khuda kay liye highlighted religious orthodoxy. “The System” is based on injustice and corruption which has become a part of our country’s system. Shafqat Cheema, describing his character said “I am playing the role of a Station House Officer [SHO] who has a strong hold on the whole system. And through this control, he changes the system.”

It is shot both in Norway and Pakistan. “The system” team released a poster online which received a positive response from fans. Through the poster, a clear social message is highlighted, “I can not follow the system this system has to follow me”. The first look teaser is expected to be released at the end of this week and the theatrical trailer to follow. Movie is slated to be released in the spring of 2014.

Pakistani cinema is going global with movies like The system and Waar (Which will be released in UAE and UK soon). With such movies, Pakistani movie fans are optimistic that Pakistani cinema will start to flourish once again

WAAR on December 12th! in UAE

The Wait is Over WAAR is going to release 

on December 12th! in UAE (Grand Cinemas)

2nd Official Poster Of Upcoming Pakistani Film "The System"

The Season Of Dubbed Urdu Dramas Continues Across Arab World With "Malaal"

The dubbed Television series industry took a historic leap across the Arab world when Pakistan’s mega hit drama Humsafar (Rafeeq Al Rooh رفيق الروح) began telecasting on the popular MBC network last October. This drama captured the attention and imagination of audiences across the Arab world, making Fawad Afzal Khan and Mahira Khan popular names in Arab households. Don’t miss our earlier report here.

Now with Humsafar nearing its climax, MBC has announced another Pakistani Urdu serial that is ready to take the slot once Humsafar Rafeeq Al Rooh airs its last episode. This time it will be Malaal.

Malaal (Urdu: ملال – Arabic: حب وندم‎) is a Pakistani drama series which premiered on Hum TV on October 9, 2009. The series was written by Umera Ahmed and directed by critically acclaimed director Mehreen Jabbar.

The cast includes Faisal Rehman, Sarwat Gilani, Deepti Gupta, Imran Abbas Naqvi and Tania Kazi. Malaal (Arabic: حب وندم) was shot mostly in New York, USA and was produced by Momina Duraid for Moomal Productions.

Official Poster Of Upcoming Pakistani Film "The System"

Usman Mukhtar experiments with new-age film-making

LAHORE: 

Time and again, people are confronted with choices, but it seems Usman Mukhtar has made a firm decision. Despite being an actor, Mukhtar has followed the director’s path with two feature films already in the making. “I just want to focus on directing,” he remarks. But more than that, the talented director has been garnering quite a lot of attention for his short film, Waking Dead. 

Essentially a zombie-comedy, the film’s title song by Natasha Ejaz released this week. “I have known Natasha [for a long time] so I showed her the footage. I asked her if she wanted to try something different, maybe sing a rap song with some techno music in the background,” he says. Mukhtar envisioned the soundtrack to be fun and perky, and so the techno-track was born. The video, which shows two zombies freestyling to techno rap, appears similar to Tom Cruise’s dance sequence in Tropic Thunder.

Even though the song was completely different from what she has done before, Ejaz, too, is positive about Mukhtar’s creativity. “If you have heard my music before, it’s a huge leap. I am not really a rapper and have not played techno, but when I looked at the story, it was comedic and I can relate to that,” says Ejaz, adding that the song is about a girl who falls in love with a zombie. “We already have a lot of hard-hitting films being made but then there is this, which is fun and sort of detached from reality,” she adds. She has collaborated with composer Shaheer Shahid for the song and it took them three months to complete it.

Waking Dead has already been making waves for its peculiar genre. It has been submitted for international film festivals including the Dubai International Film Festival, Gulf Film Festival and Abu Dhabi Film Festival. But the idea for the movie came rather accidentally and with minimum planning.

Mukhtar was holidaying in Dubai last year when he found out that make-up artist Nouf al Jhadhami was in town. He then wondered whether he could tap into Jhadhami’s talent to make a zombie film. “Normally, in Pakistan we don’t find talented prosthetic make-up artists. So I thought I would work on something and edit it when I go home. Even then, we were doing this for free and there was no budget,” asserts Mukhtar. Like his little-known, independent film Black Coffee, which he had made essentially for himself but later released online, this film was also not intended to be big by any means.

However, as the work progressed the project began to grow. Within three-days, he had hours of footage and found a decent cast which starred UAE-based actors Nitin Mirani, Nadia Williams and Nidhi Jha. Working with limited shooting space, due to legal requirements, he utilised the basement garage of a PR agency and his sister’s apartment in Dubai. “When you are in Dubai, you need permission to shoot anywhere so it limited my options, but we worked through it,” says Mukhtar. He began work on the edit only two months ago. With a score by the talented Abbas Ali Khan, the dialogues are in both English and Urdu.

Meanwhile, Mukhtar has also signed on to direct Anwar Maqsood’s script, Mein Tou Dekhun Ga, which he says is very different from his popular plays on August 14. “The story is about child beggars on the street so it will be completely different. Right now we are in the initial phase so we don’t have an idea of the location, where it will be shot,” says Mukhtar. “There is also another project, which is in the pre-production phase. We are hoping that will be done for 2016, and will have a big budget,” he adds.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2013.