Lahore: Barely a couple of hours since he flew down from Mumbai, at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, second-time film director Nabeel Qureshi was onboard another airplane — headed for Faisalabad.
Nabeel Qureshi, though confident to release Actor in Law in India, feels that a cross border release would come later as to not interfere with promotions in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Lahore: Barely a couple of hours since he flew down from Mumbai, at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, second-time film director Nabeel Qureshi was onboard another airplane — headed for Faisalabad. He had had little time to unwind, as he was supposed to join Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat, the stars of his much-anticipated feature, Actor in Law, who have already been on the run, promoting the film at full throttle.
Instep Today caught up with Qureshi in flight, where the award-winning film maker of 2014’s Na Maloom Afraad revealed grand plans for his latest venture, which is slated for an Eid-ul-Azha release. “Of course, we’re looking at a simultaneous world release and a number of red-carpet premieres,” he said excitedly, confirming reports that have been doing the media rounds of late.
However, even though “world release” means pet territories with large Asian audiences such as the UAE, UK, Canada, and parts of the US, it won’t include India, as rumoured. To quote Qureshi, “We shall be releasing the film in India but not right now.”
The decision, he said, has nothing to do with Raj Thakeray’s far-right party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) that created hurdles in the theatrical release of Pakistani film Bin Roye last year. Later, we know how even the Bachaana makers had to pull out, even though they had the option to release their film anywhere but in Mumbai. Director Nasir Khan even went on record to say that not showing in Mumbai meant going unnoticed altogether.
Nabeel Qureshi (left) hung out with Will Smith when in Mumbai (we’d love to get the details on that) while Mehwish Hayat, Fizza and Om Puri (above) get the film’s promotional tour underway in Faisalabad. (Pics: Instagram)
Certainly, Qureshi isn’t thinking along these lines. Not for now at least. “We believe India requires a well-designed and thorough publicity campaign,” he insisted. “We would not be able to get it right in a one-day sort of a visit. And if we had tried to make due time for India, our promotions in other countries as well as in Pakistan, would be badly affected. So, we decided to delay the film’s release there.”
Further elaborating on his point, Qureshi said, “In India, people don’t know our actors as intimately as we know, for instance, a Shah Rukh Khan or a Salman Khan. No doubt there’s some recognition for those few whose TV serials were broadcast [on Zindagi channel]. We are hoping that if the film does well in Pakistan and elsewhere, it will generate some positive buzz and that should help us to market it better across the border.”
He agreed that having legendary Indian actor Om Puri in the film should also be an advantage.
Earlier, in Mumbai, Qureshi had a hectic post-production schedule. While he wrapped up work on the Sound Design of the film, he also had Puri dub for his scenes. “The rest of the post is done in Karachi,” he explained.
For now, team Actor in Law is on a frenzied tour in major metropolitan cities of the country. They are due in Lahore on Thursday (tomorrow).
