Makers of ‘Zinda Bhaag’ to release a comedy film

If you absolutely loved Zinda Bhaag then you’re going to love this news!

Meenu Gaur, the co-director of the insightful Zinda Bhaag has finished work on a new satire-based film on Pakistan’s media.

She described the upcoming film as full-on comedy. “It’s very entertaining and I’m sure the audience will enjoy it a lot.”

“The title of the film has not been decided yet,” Gaur told us at the recently held Karachi Literature Festival (KLF). She further added. “You know this happened with Zinda Bhaag as well. We decided the title in the end when everything was done.”

Promotions for the film are due to begin later this year

Director of the acclaimed film Zinda Bhaag was one of the panelist at the session titled ‘Can local cinema travel globally’ held on day one of KLF.

Apart from her, Munizae Jehangir and Sanjay Iyer from India were also part of the panel while Mazher Zaidi – producer of Zinda Bhaag and maker of popular docudrama Nar Nareman – hosted the session.

The discussion started with the point that although Pakistan doesn’t have a regulated body which recommends Pakistani movies to international festivals; social media has made it easier for Pakistani filmmakers to promote their work globally.

Munizae’s opinion on the matter was that Pakistani films should definitely go abroad because that’s one of the most effective ways to change the negative perception that the west holds about us. “Pakistan is usually shown from the prism of terrorism and our documentaries that have made it big globally, usually show negative image of Pakistan.”

She insisted that there should be more ‘fun’ movie made in Pakistan as well.

“At the end of a tiring day I’d like to watch an entertaining film.” She further said that this doesn’t mean that they focus only on formula films but try to balance both serious and entertaining cinema.

The Pakistan’s representatives Meenu and Munizae insisted that the audience and any other authorities in Pakistan should stop pressurizing the makers to show positive image of Pakistan. “Instead they should be encouraged to make the film on whatever subject they feel like and tell true stories [in an entertaining way] which people can relate to,” Meenu said.

She also said, “We’re always told that Pakistanis love action films.  I contest that because the audience is only being shown action films. For Zinda Bhaag we were told [by the distributors] that it won’t do well becasue it’s in a vernacular language [Punjabi]. You’ve restricted it. But its longest run of 8 weeks was in Karachi [which is not a Punjabi-speaking area].”

Meenu insisted that, “Make the film you want to make. Find the audience and market it accordingly. Clever marketing is all it takes. Parveen Bilal went to DVD stores, that sell pirated DVDs, and asked them to sell her film’s DVD legally. So she ended up selling legal DVDs through an illegal channel!”

The session ended on a positive note as the Indian guest Sanjay Iyer said, “I’ve a gut feeling that Pakistan’s time has come.”

The panelists concluded that more movies should be made in Pakistan and as a result the audience will have more variety – comedy, romance, thriller, action, sci-fi – and then they can choose whatever film they want to watch according to their mood or preference.