Pakistani completes first Pak-US film

Pakistani completes first Pak-US film

Staff Report

LAHORE: A United States-based Pakistani film producer, Dr Hassan Zee, has finished the postproduction on the first Pakistani-American film, named Night of Henna, in San Francisco.

Mr Zee is the writer, producer and director of the film.

In an e-mail message to Daily Times on Friday, Dr Zee said he recruited a top tier Hollywood production crew to work on his film. “The crew included Oscar Award-nominated cinematographer Hiro Narita,” he said.

Night of Henna represents a blend of cultures from East and West. The story is about a young woman’s struggle and her dreams about how she is torn between the love she has for her family and her desire for the freedom to make her dreams come true.

“As I shot the film in San Francisco, I was able to use the city’s historic beauty as a backdrop that captured the stunning performances of talented actors from Pakistan, America and India,” the producer said.

Dr Zee said he chose actors, costumes and locations up to the Hollywood standard. “The music is very good and selective. I believe people will like it,” he added.

“One evening in the sound studio, I was listening to music tracks to put in my film and came across a piece by Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan, titled “Kesse Kesse”. I decided to include the song in my film,” he said.

Mr Khan is an internationally renowned musical talent. Dr Zee said described Mr Khan’s unique classical voice as a gift to today’s music from God. “I am proud and honoured to have Shafqat’s voice in my film as an integral medium to communicate emotions when words alone don’t suffice,” he said.

The cast is Puja Kumar, Ginja Shankar, Craig Marker, Ponni Chesser, Noor Shic, Giuseppe Distefano, Azhar Shah, Sohail Tayyab, Reef Kanm, Nancy Carlin, Kevin Walsh, Mary Farzaneh, Sanjay Lovji, Jeanette Penley, Vik Narukar and Joy Carlin.