Mission: Allah Akbar
by Zeeshan Ghayur
Describing the heart-throb of millions of Pakistanis as a womanizer, conman, egotistic, dreamer, cunning and a nice copycat wouldn’t be a mistake. Despite these attributes that are unfortunately true for every second actor in the industry, Shaan certainly has done what most stars do after decades of struggling. He occupied the entire Lollywood and declared himself as the King of it right in the beginning of his career. Son of a patriot and well-honored filmmaker Riaz Shahid and the star of her times Neelo, he has flourished his family name with respect nationwide. Losing his father at an early age he was sent to USA for studies. Upon return he was as stern as a stone to dig down a milestone in the Pakistani film industry and mark his name as the ruler of it. Having a tattoo of Superman at his left shoulder, he certainly flew good times in the industry. The times were in his favor.
Below is a list which justifies the claim that he truly is the 'Master of Lollywood'. Presented in the list is mostly Urdu with a few Punjabi blockbuster names. The distributors of these films where able to fill up their bank balances to such an extreme that boosted their morale to re-purchase his starred movies till date:
1990: Bulandi (Super Hit Urdu Film)
1991: Nigahen (Super Hit Urdu / Punjabi Film)
1992: Naila (Super Hit Urdu / Punjabi Film)
1993: Insaniyat (Hit Urdu / Punjabi Film)
1994: Akhri Mujra (Average Urdu Film)
1995:
1996: Ghunghat (Super Hit Urdu Film)
1997: Sangam (Super Hit Urdu Film)
1998: Nikah (Super Hit Urdu Film)
1999: Daku Rani (Super Hit Urdu Film)
2000: Ghar kab ao ge & Tere pyar mein (Super Hit Urdu Films)
2001: Moosa Khan (Super Hit Urdu film)
2002: Raqasa (Hit Urdu Film)
2003: Commando (Hit Urdu Film)
2004: Hum ek hain (Hit Urdu Film)
2005: Kurian Shehar dian, Bhola Sunyara (Super Hit Punjabi Film)
The champion had thought of settling down quite early in his film career. And who else could he have proposed to, other than his co-star who got debuted in the same film he was introduced in, Bulandi. Yes, Reema starred opposite the heartthrob in 1990. A scandal broke out with the news that Shaan has proposed to Reema. Reema didn’t accept the proposal that led the angry young man to cause an absolute havoc. Shaan was lucky enough to win a Nigar Award for his debut film but perhaps Venus wasn’t smiling at him. His presence in the films reduced and the end of 1994 marked his departure from Pakistan back to States. Not to forget this was the time during which other stars grabbed the opportunity and stepped into the film industry namely Babar Ali and Adnan Sami Khan in 1995 and Moamar Rana and Arbaz Khan in 1996.
Shehzad Rafiq was the one to bring the man, who was being missed by the distributors, back onto the soil. The soil that actually really did make him a star. And starring in Shehzad’s film, the records of Super Hit Films began once again from 1996 box office and onwards. This time Shaan was noticeably serious about his work and for his ambitions in direction/production that were to become a reality quite in the distant future.
Shaan began his career as a film director/producer with his ‘Guns and Roses Aik Junoon’ released in 1999. Starred opposite to Meera and Faisal, the movie was as an average Urdu film at the box office. Letting her job in the film fulfilled his promises to Meera. However, Faisal couldn’t lift himself up though he was given a chance to do so.
Moving on his career in film direction he released ‘Mujhe Chand Chahiye’ during March 17th, 2000. The movie starred Shaan opposite Noor, Reema and Moammar Rana in lead. It was a diversification from an action thriller to a romantic genre. However, once again the film was an average Urdu film at the box office. Shaan was now desperate to find an answer to bringing the rank of Super Hit in his directorial flicks in future. The time was to be in his favor in the distant future.
During the year 2001, Shaan became the first ever-lead actor to have diamond jubilee films in both Urdu and Punjabi language in his portfolio. The man continued proving to the industry that he is carving his name for eternity.
Shaan’s film career though didn’t get affected but his mindset surely did after when he witnessed the industry falling ill due to the private and mostly illegal cable channels featuring pirated Indian Movies for free and on a 24 hours basis. A wild cat if trapped in a cage would bang its head onto the cage steel rods in retaliation and so it happened. What the Pakistani audiences were to witness wasn’t something anyone could have had predicted about.
Neglecting the minority community rights as well as exaggerating that the Islamic scholars wouldn’t object, 'Moosa Khan' gets released and becomes the Super Hit Urdu Film recorded on the box office of 2001. It was a strategy to let the audience come back to the cinemas as well as the current moviegoers to get the spice they had been longing for. However, Shaan admits that he couldn’t make the movie well. Perhaps all the Mullahs during all this time when the distributors were filling up their pockets were busy watching the Indian movies on the pirates’ cable channels. 'Moosa Khan' is a film that would aggravate the Hindu community to such an extent that it could have had caused riots had it been released in India. Moreover, the showcasing of the Holy Quran was not dealt with care and there are scenes as well as dialogues that can aggravate even the so-called modern Muslims.
Since the movie itself had various flaws and due to its low quality wasn't accepted by the educated moviegoers, it was after earning millions, when got noticed also got banned. 'Moosa Khan’s' censor certificate was withdrawn in 2002. The further exhibition of the film in cinemas was banned. Later when it got released onto the home video, it again was halted and banned from further distribution. Anyhow, the cast and crew of 'Moosa Khan' were able to fill up their pockets and laugh away the poor management of authorities.
During the year 2004 when he was being paired almost in every movie with Saima (a Punjabi film known actress who got debuted in 1990), the pair celebrated their 100 films partnership.
Following his blasts by 'Moosa Khan',
Shaan is working these days on his forthcoming film ‘Mission: Allah Akbar’. Sources say it’s a film about a Jewish lobby planning to steal relics of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) from a Pakistani museum. There have been rumors that he might play a negative role in the first part of the film and then a positive role in the second part as he did in Moosa Khan. Whatever the plot is, the authorities surely are awaiting this movie’s release with care.
During the entire of 2005, 52 films in total were released throughout the country. 13 Urdu, 13 Punjabi and 26 Pashto films comprised the entire chain of film productions with censor certificates of cinema exhibitions. Two of Shan's Punjabi movies were recorded as Super Hit at the Pakistani box office.
Pak Showbiz is applauding Shaan on his continued success and wishing him all the successes in his future projects. Shaan truly is a Pakistani.
there are video clips on the site
http://www.raw.com.pk/lollywood/mission_allah_akbar/
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