Veena in Indian Punjabi film

LAHORE,June 29(Online): Actress Veena Malik says she takes pride from having performed in an Indian-Punjabi film, but is not concerned whether it is screened in Pakistan or not.Daily Times reported.




The actress held a joint press conference with actor Ajab Gul at a local hotel on Monday to highlight her Indian film project ‘Pind di kuri’ and her signing for Mr Gul’s upcoming film ‘Kyoon tum say itna piyar hai’. She said ‘Pind di kuri’ was a copy of Pakistani film ‘Baoo jee’. The film’s budget is Rs 70 million.




Mr Gul admitted the big budget project was a risk now when Lollywood was in crisis, but hoped the film would do well.




Ms Malik lost her temper when she was asked is she had landed the role by paying for it. The furious actress remarked that young actresses like her should be encouraged rather than given a bad image. The press conference at times seemed more of a talk show, with comedian Umar Sharif, who was conducting the conference, asking most of the questions, leaving little time for reporters.




Mr Sharif in his introductory remarks pointed out that no Indian artists had come to Pakistan to perform in films, but it was good that Pakistani artistes were performing in Indian flicks as “goodwill amba**adors”. Ms Malik said Indian film professionals contacted her through film producer Shehzad Rafique for ‘Pind thi kuri’. She stressed that she was honoured to have been offered a leading role in an Indian film. She stars alongside Saurnjeet Cheema, a Canadian. The film is produced by Iqbal Dhillon and directed by Sakhwant Dhadda.




She said her co-star in the film was Sheeba Bagri, but she avoided saying that stage actress Sheeba Butt was also part of the film because of their known differences. The actress said Ms Butt brought a bad name to Pakistan because her behaviour had lost the film producer Rs 700,000.




She said the film would be released in the USA and Canada in August, but was not concerned whether it would be released in Pakistan or not because this was a problem for the producer