EID FILMS IN LIMBO
Rumours that some of these movies might get an online release have been rubbished by producers
Eid Al Fitr 2020 will go down in the annals of Pakistan’s film history as the first time ever when there were no theatrical exhibitions in any part of the country. Although no cinema showings is a situation which is the same everywhere in the world — theatres across the globe have been shut in order to contain the spread of Covid-19 — Pakistan’s case becomes unique when we consider how filmmakers here are fixated with Eid being ‘lucky’ for box office.
Every year, movies are announced and readied to be Eid releases. But 2020 is different. Even as the government of Pakistan has eased the lockdown lately, and shopping malls have been allowed to reopen, wthere is no word on multiplex screens housed in these malls starting operations anytime soon. Leading actor and producer Humayun Saeed says, “Even if the cinemas are reopened, the public will have qualms coming in.”
Saeed, who has consistently given blockbuster hits every Eid, had planned his next, London Nahi Jaunga, co-starring Kubra Khan and Mehwish Hayat, for Eid Al Fitr. A major part of the shoot had been completed in Karachi and Bahawalpur early this year. Team LNJ, including director Nadeem Baig, was supposed to fly to London for the film’s last, 12-day shooting spell in March, but was held back by the pandemic.
Saeed doesn’t see the film releasing even on Eid Al Adha, which falls in July.
The other much-anticipated Eid films whose release was halted, include Bilal Lashari’s long-awaited The Legend of Maula Jatt, starring Mahira Khan, Fawad Khan, Hamza Abbasi and Humaima Malik; Nabeel Qureshi’s Quaid e Azam Zindabad, with Mahira Khan and Fahad Mustafa; Iman Ali’s comeback with Farhan Saeed, Tich Button; Sarmad Khoosat’s Kamli with Saba Qamar; and director Faisal Qureshi’s “political satire”, Money Back Guarantee, which boasts an ensemble cast — Fawad Khan, Mikaal Zulfikar, Kiran Malik, Gohar Rasheed, Afzal Rambo, cricketer Waseem Akram and his wife Shaniera.