First-time film director Wajahat Rauf’s Karachi Se Lahore technically marks the transition of the film industry from Lahore to Karachi. At the star-studded affair in Karachi last week, the trailer of the movie was launched and the date of release was also announced.

Javed Sheikh, an essential part of film revival these days, told the audience that when he was approached by the director, he initially had his reservations. After listening to the story and then working on the movie set that had the same equipment currently used in Bollywood, he changed his opinion about Wajahat. He believes that even though both the director and writer (Wajahat Rauf, Yasir Hussain) are new to film making, Karachi Se Lahore has all the tell-tale signs of a box-office hit.

Director Wajahat Rauf thanked the senior actors as well as the young cast; his son Aashir Wajahat is also part of the film in an important role as is the director himself in a cameo. Actor Yasir Hussain told the audience that it took more than two years to complete the script, and acting in it was an amazing experience as well.

Two songs that are not ‘item’ numbers stole the spotlight as did Yasir Hussain’s character and Shahzad Sheikh’s expressions.

Ayesha Umer and Shehzad Sheikh play lead roles in Karachi Se Lahore, and she thanked the director for helping her break away from being typecast while Shehzad revealed that he wasn’t in the film initially like his father (Javed Sheikh) but joined the cast a month later. Theatre actor Ahmed Ali, who has also done a few films in the past, said that he enjoyed working in the film and learnt a great deal which speaks a lot about the movie and its mood.

New discovery Mantaha Tareen Maqsood who plays Javed Sheikh’s love interest termed it as a great experience while veteran actor Rashid Naz called it a breath of fresh air in the environment of doom and gloom.

The trailer was played twice on screen. Two performance-based songs that are not ‘item’ numbers — one featuring Mantaha Tareen Maqsood and the other with Ayesha Umer — stole the spotlight as did Yasir Hussain’s character that suffers from stuttering and Shahzad Sheikh’s facial expressions. Javed Sheikh was his usual cheerful self while the rest of the cast seemed to tag along. KSL will be released globally by IMGC on July 31. Here’s hoping that the impressive trailer will give way to an even more entertaining feature.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, May 3rd, 2015

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