KARACHI: The trailer for Kamal Khan’s Laal Kabootar was launched at a local multiplex on Monday evening.

The event was hosted by the producers of the film, Kamil and Hania Cheema, who are aspiring film-makers, who studied at Harvard University and are hopeful that with their film — under the banner of Nehar Ghar Films — they would be able to promote the crime-thriller genre in Pakistan.

The fast-paced trailer of the film that was unveiled at the event featured Ahmed Ali Akbar as a hustling taxi driver, looking for a way out of Pakistan and Mansha Pasha as a strong-headed girl whose world turns upside down after a series of incidents. Together, they go against the many different characters who appear in the trailer, including veteran actors Mohammad Ahmed, Rashid Farooqi and Ishtiaq Rasool, and take the audience on a roller-coaster ride that is laced with action-packed sequences.

Helmed by Kamal Khan, who is making his directorial debut with the film, Laal Kabootar looks to break away from the stereotypical films being produced in the country for some time now.

Answering questions after the trailer was revealed, lead actor Ahmed Ali Akbar said that it was a project for which he gave his heart and soul. He added that in order to achieve the required result, he and the rest of the cast had talks with director Kamal Khan who was very friendly with all of them and made things easier for his actors.

Mansha Pasha who plays the female lead in the film was all praise for the director as well and said that she wanted to work with Kamal (Khan) ever since she saw one of his music videos on TV a year back.

The film’s producers Hania and Kamil Cheema disclosed that since they were based in Lahore, they saw Karachi from a different perspective which will be highlighted in the film. They added that all the actors in the film were gracious enough to agree to an audition for the characters they eventually played and that practice helped them get the best people on board. Director Kamal Khan credited cinematographer Mo Azmi for being his inspiration whereas writer Ali Abbas Naqvi thanked the whole team for giving him the chance to write a film that reminded the audience of the work of Bollywood director Anurag Kashyap.

The event was attended by the who’s who of the showbiz fraternity, including director Saqib Malik, singer Zoe Viccaji, writer Bilal Sami, actors Tipu Sharif, Adnan Shah Tipu, Zhalay Sarhadi, hosts Dino Ali, as well as political figure Jibran Nasir to name a few.

Laal Kabootar will release on March 22 in cinemas all across Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2019