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‘Nazar’ insight
It goes without saying that after its many controversies, Mahesh Bhatt’s Nazar starring Meera has finally made a grand entrance, simultaneously being released in India and Dubai. But much to the cast and crew’s distress, Pakistan’s censor board has refused to grant permission to release the film on the country’s big screen.
But where there are private channels there’s always a way and Aaj TV has now bought the rights to air Nazar in Pakistan. To make the collaboration public, a press conference was recently held by Mr Bhatt and his wife-turned-director Soni Razdan, producer Sevy Ali, and a rather overdressed Meera. Speaking to a select group of media, Mahesh began in his usual casual style tracing the entire project to the recent Karafilm Festival.
Sounding somewhat defensive regarding the controversy surrounding the film, Mahesh branded the films made in Lollywood as “bad copies of Indian movies” with just as much vulgarity, probably more. To this Soni added the allegation that most Pakistani movies were actually more vulgar in terms of gestures, while calling Indian movies more technically sound. Meera chimed in to endorse these views, adding that now that she has worked with a more professional team, she hopes to bring about a fresher look to Pakistani films.
Fresh from the glowing praise from no other than Pakistan’s prime minister who had lunched with the Nazar team earlier, Meera had a lot to say on her experience of working with both Mahesh and Soni. She spoke of the reception they received in India all the way from Kanpur to Lucknow. As for her own performance in Nazar, she preferred to leave it for the viewers to judge. Still, she couldn’t resist the “bohot aachi movie hai, aap zaroor enjoy karenge that is so deeply embedded in our film actress’ psyche. Once done with her bit, she opened the Q & A session by saying: “Aab court aap ki ball mein hai!” (Now the court is in your ball).
While Soni kept a quite demeanour, Mahesh once again picked up the conversation when a journalist asked him if more Indian directors would be interested in casting Pakistani stars in their films. He stressed that such ventures will continue and added that Meera has been signed on for other Indian films as well.
According to Mahesh, a journalist in Kanpur, India, asked if the controversial scene had been edited and while he stressed that no such scene was shot, it did indeed generate enough interest to give movie an extra popularity boost. And while on the topic, he was quick to point out that even Pakistani movies are no ambassadors of their cultural heritage.
At this point, Meera cut in to endorse his views, promising that one day the Pakistan film industry would make a movie that would be a true representation of our culture. She seemed visibly upset about the fact that while her movie was a hit in India and Dubai, people in Pakistan “insist on giving it a cold shoulder.”
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