LAHORE, Aug 30: The much-hyped Pakistani film ‘Zinda Bhaag’ starring legendary Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah will be released on Sept 20 now. Due to a backlog of unreleased films, the release of ‘Zinda Bhaag’ has been postponed. It was earlier set to release on Sept 6.

‘Zinda Bhaag’ won four awards when it was screened at the Mosaic MISAFF Festival in Canada earlier this month. The cast includes model Amna Ilyas, Khurram Patras, Salman Ahmed Khan, and Zohaib. The film’s music includes top brass of the industry, including Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Abrarul Haq, Arif Lohar and Amanat Ali. The music has been composed by Sahir Ali Bagga.

The film has been directed by Meenu Gaur, a trained filmmaker of Indian origin, and Farjad Nabi and produced by Mazhar Zaidi. Meenu has a PhD degree in film studies from the University of London. Her previous project ‘Paradise on a River of Hell’, set in Kashmir, had received critical acclaim. Nabi has made a name for himself as a filmmaker starting with a project that mapped qawwali maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s world tour a decade-and-a-half ago.

In March last year, Indian megastar Naseeruddin Shah was in Lahore to shoot his parts of the film, and conduct a weeklong workshop with a group of greenhorns part of the film’s cast.

A bilingual film, ‘Zinda Bhaag’ is being expected to set new records of popularity at the local box office. The directors of the film have also co-authored the script that is a mix of Punjabi and Urdu. The film revolves around the urge in youth to find a shortcut to living abroad. It has been entirely shot in Lahore.