KARACHI: It was arguably the most well-attended, crowded for the claustrophobic, film premiere at a local multiplex on Tuesday night ever since the Pakistani cinema industry came out of the survival phase and sashayed into ‘revival’ mode.

In a showbizy way, it was understandable: the story has Mahira Khan in the lead role. She is a crowd-puller. And no points for guessing the title of the film: Superstar.

By now it should be taken as a ‘given’ that movie events take time to shift gears in terms of arrival of guests. After all, good-looking people need to doll up. Still, the anticipation and pre-release hype of the project had the prying media cameras firmly placed smack in front of the red carpet zone from 7.30pm, ready to capture every single move that the creative members of the fraternity would make.

Of course, Mahira Khan and her co-star Bilal Ashraf would not have come way too early. But it was nice of the director of Superstar, Ehteshamuddin, to arrive an hour before his team and entertain the invitees, including the large media contingent, with his views on the film.

Talking to Dawn, Ehtesham described Superstar in the following words: “You can call it a beautiful love story [khubsurat si love story]. It’s pure. The line we have used in the script explains it, umeed or yaqeen ke darmayan aik safar [journey between hope and certainty.]

“You should watch this film because it might take you on a nostalgic trip, a bit back in time. We have tried to make the cinema that the people in the subcontinent want to see. This means ever since revival of cinema in Pakistan, we have mostly been watching romcoms. Our movie is not like that; it has a social angle,” Ehtesham said.

On casting Mahira the film-maker, who is best known for directing the TV play Udari, replied, “The [lead] character in the film was written for Mahira.”

Mustafa Afridi has penned the dialogue for the characters in Superstar. He gave an interesting nugget of info: “The current scenario vis-à-vis India and Pakistan is touched upon in it.” Sounds interesting.

All the cinema halls at the multiplex were booked for the premiere. By 9pm, the floor was chock-a-block with people. Guests were ushered into their allotted halls with a gap of 10 to 15 minutes. Cinema 2 was given to the cast of the project and other dignitaries. A bit after 10pm the film — starring Mahira Khan, Bilal Ashraf, Nadeem, Javed Sheikh, Adnan Shah Tipu, Marina Khan and Alizeh Shah — began.

Superstar releases on Eidul Azha.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2019