Friday 28 November 2014

Halla Gulla' is not a sequel to 'Na Maloom Afraad, says director

With the success of Na Maloom Afraad (NMA), Pakistani audience is now hooked on entertainment movies. And director Kamran Akbar Khan’s "commercial comedy" film Halla Gulla will soon be heading that way.
Speaking to Dawn about the film, Khan said the team started working on the project in September and plans to release it in March or April next year.
“We basically plan to release the film after the ICC World Cup next year and we have completed 75 per cent of the work,” said Khan.
He stressed that though Halla Gulla is also a comedy film, it is not a sequel to NMA.
“Nabeel Qureshi’s NMA was indeed a wonderful film, but Halla Gulla and NMA are poles apart," explains Khan. While NMA focused on all aspects of Karachi, especially its everyday problems, Halla Gulla only shows the posh parts of Karachi — the neat and clean side."
Khan further shared: "Halla Gulla will have at least five songs, which shows that it is a commercial comedy— one of which, "Ishq Kamla", has been released. There is one item song and one club song along with others.”
  Actor Ismail Tara in a poster of film 'Halla Gulla'. – Photo courtesy: Halla Gulla's official Facebook page
Actor Ismail Tara in a poster of film 'Halla Gulla'. – Photo courtesy: Halla Gulla's official Facebook page
The cast of the film includes veteran actors Javed Sheikh, Ismail Tara, Ghazal Javed, Ashraf Khan and Adil Wadia along with some relatively new faces, including Asim Mehmood, Sidra Batool, Muneeb and Maryam Ansari among others.
“I think the reason people are drawing parallels with NMA is that it also has Javed Sheikh sahib and the genre is also not a serious one but I assure you that they are not similar. Hulla Gulla will be a total comedy and a family entertainment film,” said Khan.
Though he didn’t disclose the story, Khan said Javed Sheikh will be playing the role of a don and Asim Mehmood will be playing his son.
“Like Indian films Golmal or Housefull do not follow stories and are more concerned with a chain of events, Halla Gulla will also have a similar take,” Khan said.
Giving an insight about the music score, Khan revealed that the songs have been sung by Indian singers Mika Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan.
“Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has also lent his voice for a song and we are in talks with [Bollywood playback singer] Sukhwinder about another one.”

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Maula Jatt feud: Round 3

Faisal Rafi will be writing and co-producing the movie Bloody Nasreen, which is an adaptation of Shahan Zaidi’s graphic novel. PHOTOS: FILE
KARACHI: 
The ensuing confusion between Sarwar Bhatti, Bilal Lashari and Faisal Rafi pertaining to the copyrights of the Maula Jatt franchise is getting interesting with every passing moment.
Earlier, Sarwar Bhatti, the producer of the original Maula Jatt films, had accused filmmakers Bilal Lashari and Faisal Rafi of possible copyrights infringement, if they were to produce their respective remakes. However, there were no formal announcements made by Rafi about his remake.
Rafi, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and producer at The Crew Motion Pictures clarified his stance on the issue by telling The Express Tribune, “I have no perspective on the Maula Jatt remakes since it is not something that I am working on.” He elaborated that he held two private meetings with Bhatti but nothing materialised: therefore he ultimately decided to drop the project. “These meetings [for Maula Jatt] were confidential and by speaking about them to the press, Mr Bhatti has shown a lack of professionalism and maturity,” said Rafi.
Faisal Rafi who will be writing and co-producing the movie Bloody Nasreen, an adaptation of Shahan Zaidi’s graphic novel, remarked that the ideas of remakes do not appeal to him. Despite backing away from the project, he said that copyrights would not have been an obstacle if he were to proceed with his remake. “Since after Maula Jatt about three Maula Jatt films were made, I don’t think any party has any rights to any material or the characters. Since I am not working on anything of the sort, it’s not really my concern,” explained Rafi.
He, however, did not rule out the possibility of making a Gandasa film and has even outlined a roadmap to ensure he faces no such obstacles whenever he adapts the story by Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi. “The only thing under consideration for the distant future is a possible film version of the short story Gandasa, by Ahmed Nasim Qasmi, and if that happens we will obviously seek permission from his daughter and son before announcing anything to anyone,” exclaimed Rafi.
Bhatti, the chairman of Bahoo Films, the production house which produced the Maula Jattfilms, had earlier stated that Bilal Lashari was not covered on the legal front, stating, “I met Lashari and have told him that he is not making the film legally. I informed him that whoever has invested in your project will suffer because you have not bought the rights to Maula Jattfrom me.”
Earlier, speaking to The Express Tribune, Lashari responded to these accusations of copyright infringement saying that he is legally covered for the film as Nasir Adeeb, the writer of theMaula Jatt films, has the right to  the films and he is part of their team.
When called for confirmation Bhatti remarked, “An employee will never have the ownership of his boss’ property. The rights to Maula Jatt are on my name and even the censor certificate is addressed to me. Nasir Adeeb worked as a script-writer for me and he was paid for that; he cannot claim ownership of the Maula Jatt franchise.”

Friday 7 November 2014

‘GOOD MORNING KARACHI’ TO RELEASE THIS JANUARY

 Director Sabiha Sumar’s ‘Good Morning Karachi’ is finally set to see the light of the day in Pakistan. After doing rounds on the international film festival circuit for almost two years the film is slated local release in January 2015.
The film stars Amna Ilyas as Rafina  an ambitious girl who leaves behind the small lanes of Karachi’s Shah Faisal Colony and joins the glamorous but cut throat world of fashion.
Sawera Nadeem, Saba Hameed, Farhan Ali Agha,and Khalid Malik are also among the cast.
In an interview with HIP, Farhan Ali Agha talked briefly about the movie and his character.
Earlier titled ‘Rafina’, the film follows the journey of a model. Agha plays the role of a shrewd, street smart advertising agency head in the movie who hires Rafina (Amna Ilyas) and gives offers her a job.
“I worked for this movie around two and half years ago. It is predominantly in English and was made overseas only. It first released in Europe and was later featured in quite a few foreign film festivals. But it’s finally going to release in Karachi on January 1st and I’m sure you must be as excited about it as I am.”  
The actor also shared that his wife, Uzma, who is often his biggest critic loved his performance in ‘Good Morning Karachi’.
Agha says that working on the film was a challenge but he learned a great deal from the experience as the international crew forced him to push him to do his best.
“Who is Fahad? the assistant director would ask me when I was on set. He did not want to here rote learned lines but a deeper understanding of who I perceived this man to be. I described the character that was not written in the dialogue or stage direction,” he said. According to Agha working on the film was a step in the right direction in his long term goals of breaking.

Saturday 1 November 2014

‘Price of Honour’ to release after Muharram



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Showbiz activities in the country come to a standstill in respect of the Holy Muharram but three small budget films will be releasing at the end of the month.
‘Price of Honour’
Syed Noor’s  ‘Price of Honour’ which aims to promote parallel cinema is expected to release after Muharram. Made on the topic of honor killings in Pakistan the film has primarily been shot in Rahim Yar Khan, a region where many cases are reported. The cast included newcomers Atif Naveed, Rakshi and Danyal.
Initially, the film release was schedule to release in 2011 but it was postponed and now it is ready to hit screens.