'Mohabtaan Sachian' will definitely change the image of the Punjabi cinema in Pakistan in a very positive way.
This was maintained by film producer and director Shehzad Rafique in an exclusive interview with Metro.
Shehzad was leaving for Mumbai, India, where he said he would complete the background music of ‘Mohabtaan…’. The editing and dubbing work of the film is already complete.
When asked why India, Shehzad replied, “Well, if you want quality in your film’s postproduction work, you ought to go abroad for that. Other countries are very expensive, so we opted for India.”
Shehzad revealed that ‘Mohabtaan…’ was a DTS film. It is produced by a US-based electrical engineer turned film maker Chaudhry Shafqat who, Shehzad said, had long had to face criticism on Pakistani movies. ‘Mohabtaan…’ will be released under the banner of 'Sound Vision Production' in May this year simultaneously in India, US, Canada, UK and Pakistan.
Interestingly, this is going to be the first Pakistani Punjabi film whose songs have been recorded with Bollywood singers in India. Shehzad said that Wajahat Attrey had composed some great melodies for Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan and Richa Sharma. Riaz ur Rehman Saghar has penned the lyrics.
The third-time director said that ‘Mohabtaan…’ was a love story made in Punjabi language that was without a ‘gandasa’ or ‘lacha kurta’.
“It’s a film about the urban-based youth of today, and it must carry that flavour,” he declared.
“Since our hero and heroine play students, we shot a major chunk of the film in Azad Kashmir University. Besides, we shot extensively in Kotli, Mirpur, Kalam and Lahore.”
The film stars Veena Malik, Babrik Shah and newcomers Adnan Khan and Maria in the lead. Zahid Saleem, Rashid Mehmood, Ali Ejaz and Naghma Begum play supporting characters.
The story concept is by veteran TV producer Ayub Khawar, while Pervez Kaleem has scripted the dialogues and screenplay.
In reply to a query, Shehzad said that the image of Punjabi films had taken a beating over the last few decades, and the urban youth and families did not like to go to theatres for watching them.
“Earlier, we used to make timeless movies like ‘Heer Ranjha’, ‘Mirza Jutt’ and ‘Dil Laggi’. But, the Punjabi movies of today are mostly loud and rowdy. But, I can assure my audiences that there will be no such elements in 'Mohabtaan Sachian'.”
Shehzad said that he did not believe in quantity, rather he focused on quality. “That's why I have directed only one film in two years.”
He also made a fond mention of such legendary film directors of South East Asia as Yash Chopra, Gulzar, Majid Majidi and (the late) Nazrul Islam.
It may be mentioned here that ‘Mohabtaan…’ is Shehzad’s third directorial venture. His earlier films include 'Ghoonghat', 'Nikah', 'Rukhsti' and 'Salakhein'.
