The film’s visible delay and edits seems to have given it no success.
With a two-year delay and several controversies hindering the release of the Humayun Saeed, Syra Shahroz and Sheheryar Munawar starrer, Project Ghazi, the film finally saw its private premiere on Friday in Karachi.
Present at the event were several stars of the industry, including the cast, Sheheryar Munawar, Humayun Saeed and Syra Shahroz, along with Asim Raza, Behroz Sabzwari, and Maya Ali, amongst others. They were present to support the film by director Nader Shah.
Exploring the story of ‘Ghazi’ soldiers – a team of expert military men who hold special abilities, the narrative looks at the story of Salaar Salahuddin (Humayun Saeed) and Major Zain (Sheheryar Munawar). Both are connected by a tragedy; a connection of special abilities in the years after the Ghazi program had been disbanded.
Looking at a serpentine narrative, where things take a turn for the worse when a villainous power – Qataan - starts taking over the city with his trove of toxins and mind-controlling power, the film largely is a unique take on the superhero narrative in a Pakistani setup where the lines between evil and good blur.
Talking about this unique storyline, Maya Ali, who was present at the event, commented on the film’s sci-fi story.
“You know, it’s a different thing. When I was coming here I was wondering what Project Ghazi is and what it’ll be about — whether it’s a romance, comedy or what the action will be, but I have realised it’s a very different film altogether!” she said. “I really loved Sheheryar, Humayun and especially Syra’s work. When she enters in a superhero-like costume, I got really excited to see that we have a supergirl in our industry too! My message to everyone is to please come and watch films of our own country and see how they are and learn to appreciate them if they look different.”
Adding onto it was also the film’s lead protagonist, Syra Shahroz, who spoke about the film’s release.
“I’ve actually seen it completely right now and I am very happy about it,” the actress said. “There was so much happening in the film that I didn’t know so I was taken by surprise myself. I feel really happy!”
While the film received good reviews from the celebrities who came there in support, the audience gave Project Ghazi mixed feedback - with many complaining about its lack of continuity.
This unfortunately, remained true for Project Ghazi despite its two-year delay. For instance, many of the scenes in the film looked jumpy due to visible cuts made to the film.
Whether they were scenes connecting the story of Salaar and Zain, or exploring the minutely-romantic connections between the latter and Zara (Syra Shahroz), the film either loosely connects the plots or fails completely.
Additionally, the film’s VFX – albeit better than before - had major issues where the foreground and background have stark differences, signaling towards obvious use of low-quality chroma. Although for a layman, this probably won’t affect them, it still is enough to scoop one out of the film’s experience.
At other places, the film has added unnecessary product placements to pay lipservice to their sponsors, which once again, creates the most toxic environment for Pakistani films to grow. One wonders when filmmakers and producers will learn to keep sponsorships at bay instead of making them glaring pieces within the film.
All in all, while it’s a welcomed change to bring in new narratives to the industry, Project Ghazi does no favour to filmmaking by what it shows. If two years were taken to make this ‘better’ and this is what was let out, then perhaps, they should have just shelved it altogether.
