Multiple Pakistani films such as Janaan, Bin Roye, Jawani Phir Nahi Ani as well as some recent films including Teefa In Trouble, Load Wedding and Parwaaz Hai Junoon have seen an international release.
InstepUpdate
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry recently tweeted that PHJ will be the first commercial film to screen in Saudi Arabia. This isn’t the case as Hareem Farooq and Ali Rehman Khan-starrer Parchi had a limited release in Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
Multiple Pakistani films such as Janaan, Bin Roye, Jawani Phir Nahi Ani as well as some recent films including Teefa In Trouble, Load Wedding and Parwaaz Hai Junoon have seen an international release.
Fawad Chaudhry, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, recently tweeted that one of the latest local releases, Parwaaz Hai Junoon is set to be screened in Saudi Arabia and that it is going to be the first Pakistani film to make the cut. It is an air force film, directed by Haseeb Hassan, that released on Eid ul Azha this year and featured an ensemble cast including Hamza Ali Abbasi, Ahad Raza Mir, Hania Amir, Shaz Khan and Kubra Khan.
“Pakistani movie Parwaaz Hai Junoon will be the first Pakistani commercial movie to be screened in Saudi Arabia on 11th of October, more films and more screenings around the world in coming months,” he wrote.
However, that is not the truth.
Earlier this year, action film Parchi that released in Pakistan on January 5 and featured Hareem Farooq, Ali Rehman Khan and Usman Mukhtar in prominent roles, had a “limited” release in Saudi Arabia on January 19, 2018. It was very much a commercial film and generated decent figures at the local and global box office.
“It was a limited but a proper release with three shows per day and tickets for the film were sold out in nine locations across the country,” a source close to the film revealed to Instep. “It was released with all commercial approvals and also had a premiere with the Royal family in attendance.”
The source also informed that Parchi’s release later led to IHK (production house behind Parchi) setting up a joint entertainment company venture in Sadia Arabia.
It is good news that Pakistani films are being screened in Saudi Arabia now but for the local film industry to flourish, it is also important that it works in unison.
Fact checking is important before making any official announcement and if a film isn’t a ‘first’ then that has to be acknowledged.
