LAHORE, May 1: An Indo-Pak co-production ‘Janat’ will be released for the first time simultaneously in Pakistan and India on May 16.

Earlier ‘Awarapan’ was released in the same week but not the same day. The premiere of the film will be held on May 13 in Lahore and the cast from India will attend the event.

The cast includes Emraan Hashmi, Sonal Chauhan, a new face from Delhi, Samir Kochhar, Vishal Malhotra and Javed Sheikh.

The movie has been written and directed by Kunal Deshmukh, who was assistant director of ‘Awarapan’. The singers are Kamran Ahmad, who is a Dubai-based Pakistani, KK, Richa Sharma, Rupam Islam and Rana Mazunder. Sayeed Qadri, Kamran Ahmad and Neelesh Misra penned down the lyrics while Pritam Chakraborty composed the music.

The film has been produced on the basis of 50-50 per cent by Suhail Khan from Pakistani side and Mahesh Bhatt from across the border. The film has been shot in South Africa.

Suhail Khan told Dawn the story of the film was about a bookie, who fixes cricket matches. A time comes when he has to choose between his girlfriend and the profession.

Khan said the film cost around Rs150 million. “Joint venture is in benefit of Pakistan as India is a growing film industry,” he added. He said the reason of releasing the film concurrently was the very fear of piracy.

“Culture Minister Saad Rafique has a positive attitude towards co-productions between India and Pakistan,” he said.

“The revival of Pakistani film industry is very much attached with co-productions because if one produces over Rs200 million budget film, one does not have the kind of market in Pakistan to have one’s money back. Having only 15 to 20 good cinemas in the country is a big problem when it comes to the exhibition of the film,” he added.

A large number of showbiz personalities and film taskmasters are expected to attend the film premiere.