LAHORE: As part of his efforts to help revive the Punjabi cinema, film director Syed Noor is making a production Teray Bajray Di Rakhi.

Almost 90pc of work on the project has been completed and the remaining task has somewhat been delayed by Covid -19 and is likely to be completed soon.

One of the salient features of the film is that Mustafa Qureshi and his son Aamir Queshi will work together for the first time. The male lead is a young boy being introduced for the first time to the silver screen. Abdullah had studied film from Canada. The female lead is TikTok girl Janat Mirza. The other cast includes veterans such as Saima, Irfan Khusat, Shafqat Cheema, Iftikhar Thakur, Agha Majid, Saleem Albela and Saima Saleem.

Speaking to Dawn about his endeavour on Sunday, Mr Noor stressed a few other Punjabi movies are also going to hit the shooting floor. He said the people of Punjab wanted to see Punjabi movies and efforts should be made to revive the ‘golden era’. “My film is part of that effort,” added he.

He said the government should focus on establishing a film academy and the students should be taught theory besides giving lessons in practical experience. He hailed the announcement by the Federal Minister for National History and Literacy Heritage that the government would establish a film institute.

The film has mostly been shot in Lahore and adjacent villages. The music has been composed by Zulfiqar Ali and it is penned by Syed Noor.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2020