Presentation of the interp
The last two years have seen a number of releases from Pakistani films, ranging from social comments like Khuda Kay Liye and Bol, romantic comedies (Karachi is Lahore), love stories (Bin Roye), Social Satires (Na Maloom Afraad) and bio-pics like Manto and Shah among others. The landscape of modern cinema, although young, was quite diverse and experimental. The kind of superhero, however, seems to be relatively intact, with the only film closest to a superhero film being 3 Bahadur, an animation.
When you think of international cinema, it is difficult to ignore or trivialize the impact and relevance of superhero films on the landscape. There was not one summer without major release. With a story over 80 years old, Hollywood put the bar high for superhero films, thanks to their large casting, a clear writing and the ability to convert decades of comics into fun and accessible adventures.
Pakistani cinema, however, remained deprived of this unique kind from the start; Lollywood had practically no place for superheroes and it is easy to believe because the average Punjabi hero was born with supernatural trends. The first superhero film (or closest to that one; may be more a film “special effects”) forever made in Pakistan was the masterpiece of Saeed Rizvi, Shaani (1989), which was appreciated for its special effects and also won a prize. Then came the 3 Bahadur of Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, who exploited two unexplored territories: animation and superhero. But we are about to see this change.
A film entitled Project Ghazi is in preparation. Directed by Nadir Shah and produced by Ali Raza, this film is based on a mission (Project Ghazi) and features Humayun Saeed, Sheheryar Munawar and Syra Shehroz in the main roles with Adnan Jaffar, Aamir Qureshi and Nusrat HidayaLlah in support roles.
“Superhero films are very successful internationally,” said Nadir Shah to Intepep of his next adventure. “”[And] There is certainly an audience for this kind in Pakistan. With the first film, we aim to present people in the world of superheroes and it is always possible to play with this genre in the future. “”
Nadir Shah and Ali Raza, who also co-written the script, had the idea of ​​a superhero film which will be a combination of action and emotion.
“It is a film with two heroes,” shared Humayun Saeed, who tries the role of a veteran Salaar soldier, shared with Interp. “I play Sheheryar’s mentor and my character in the film is impactful because I am the only one to take the mission, Project Ghazi, forward,” noted Saeed.
The actor will be considered the colonel who takes a young soldier (played by Sheheryar) on board to bring his mission to the completion. “I [am] Working below which gives me the margin of being a soldier as well as an ordinary man at the same time, “said the veteran actor.
By taking Saeed on board, producer Ali Raza noted: “Humayun is one of the few players on list A that we have in our industry. He is the eldest of the film, the eldest of the two. His personality and his physique make him best suited to the character.”
It is a film full of action and forced the actors to follow a little training before shooting. While Saeed worked for 8 to 10 days to stretch his muscles before starting to shoot, Sheheryar Munawar followed intense training in martial arts for five months to look at the game. “As this is an action film, I focus more on the physical appearance of my character,” said Munawar with Intepp in an anterior interview. “He is a very different character from the one I played in my last film (Ho Mann Jahaan). It’s a little more sober; a character that people can admire.”
Saeed and Munawar will both play protagonists who appear as a superhero of the Ghazi project while Adnan Jaffar will be considered the Qataan antagonist who, too, has super powers in the film.
Actress Syra Shehroz, who recently completed the shooting of her next film Chalay Thay Sath, was encroorded to play the main female role in front of Munawar. The actress will try the role of a scientist who embarks on a trip to discover what Ghazi is. “Syra has his own narrative line in history,” said the director. “Her character is progressive and she has an essential role in the film.”
In the midst of action sequences and a strong scenario is a sweet love story between Munawar and Shehroz, but it is not a typical love story. “There are romantic elements in the film but it is not the major part,” said Shah. Saeed also has a romantic interest in the film, but the actress has not yet been finalized; She will have an appearance in the film.
From sets to costumes to the overall aesthetics of the film, the filmmakers assure that everything is Hollywood standard. “The appearance and feeling of the film are close to Hollywood,” said Raza. “We remained faithful to the genre of superheroes and made a deliberate effort to stay away from the Bollywood shooting style.”
Since the infrastructure in Pakistan is very different, the manufacturers had to find things from scratch. “We have created a whole universe for that,” observed Raza. “Nadir (director) and I have been working on the idea for some time, then we started writing it; finding a story was a big challenge. Everything is purely original; the script, the costumes and the sets. All the costumes were designed in Pakistan by our own team. It was very difficult; we had to do a lot of research.
Costumes play a gigantic role in making any superhero film, details that the director shared: “First of all, we made the conceptions, then our creative team developed them according to the requirements. The masks were created by a 3D printer to ensure high special special effects.”
Even if the “army factor” is involved in the film, it is said that the film is not like these typical army stories that we generally meet. “There is no political agenda in the film,” said Raza. “History is very strong; it is essentially a classic fight between good and evil. Generally, evil is from the outside, but in it, the problem is local. Project Ghazi deals a lot from the trend of intolerance that we have in Pakistan,” he added.
The Ghazi project will be Shah’s first feature for which he found a solid story. “It is not a hollow story without any challenges,” noted the director. “It is the story of a hero; history is symbolic and can be interpreted on several levels.”
Developing what made them go for a kind of superhero, Shah explained that it is easier to take into account a broader perspective in this genre and films, in general, allow you to talk about the wider perspective and to remain anchored at reality at the same time. “Films have their own world and have more margin for exploration unlike television which is mainly focused on national themes,” he observed.
With the release of the film expected in 2017, manufacturers are convinced that the public will be able to see what they expect from a superhero film. Although this is too early to comment on how the film turns out to be, we hope that it only adds to the diversity and reach of Pakistani cinema and establishes a reference for future films.
