ISLAMABAD: The much anticipated and long delayed movie Khel Khel Mein finally premiered at the Islamabad Club on Saturday night.

The theatre bustled with visitors as the movie by Filmwala Pictures starring Sajal Aly and Bilal Abbas was finally shown on the big screen.

Khel Khel Mein, the first Pakistani movie to be released nationwide in 2021 post pandemic, with a stellar cast and renowned director-producer duo, Nabeel Qureshi and Fizza Ali Meerza, was set to be released on Nov 19, 2021, in cinemas across the country. The film brought to the spotlight some young and incredible new talent in a two-hour long visual treat of captivating art direction that was backed by impressive acting and an interesting story.

The who’s who of the film, entertainment and media industry attended the special screening of Khel Khel Mein amid much fanfare.

The movie’s plot revolved around the air of mistrust after the fall of Dhaka. The film was a recap of the existing mindset and curiosity around the subject, which was interestingly knit into a journey of students exploring history and making history.

The movie features veteran actor Marina Khan, who is part of the cast, with Sajal Aly and Bilal Abbas playing the lead characters.

The film also stars Sheheryar Munawar, besides notable names such as Javed Sheikh, Manzar Sehbai, Nazar Hussain, Naveed Raza, Irfan Motiwala, Zehra Nawab and Samina Ahmed.

Talking to Dawn, the film’s director, Nabeel Qureshi, said: “The film is about the fall of Dhaka in 1971, made in a contemporary way; It’s youth oriented.”

He further said the movie showed a drama club in a university taking its production based on 1971 event to a drama festival in Dhaka.

“I decided to make a film on the subject because when we talk about our successes, we must also talk about our failures,” Mr Qureshi said.

Actor Bilal Abbas told Dawn that the movie promoted love and peace while Sajal Aly pointed out that the film was dedicated to youth.

“Because we have touched upon a controversial subject not talked about before, there are misunderstandings that needed to be cleared,” Sajal Aly said.

While Hana Shehzad was excited to watch Bilal Abbas on the big screen, Ramel Mumtaz believed that the quality of Pakistani movies had improved a lot in terms of photography, acting and videography.

Movies like Super Star and Hai Dil Bechara were very nice productions, Ramel Mumtaz said.

Fatima and Zainab argued that it was important that movies touched controversial subjects.

“We need to come out of dances in the fields; we need to talk about history especially the controversial subjects to educate the masses. The director seems a gutsy person,” the young girls believed.

Fizza Ali Meerza is known for her productions namely Na Maloom Afraad(2014), Actor in Law(2016), Na Maloom Afraad 2(2017) and Load Wedding(2018). She recently won the Best International Feature film at the Rajasthan International Film Festival.

The film’s director, Nabeel Qureshi, has several awards under his belt and is known as one of the pioneers of independent films in Pakistan.

Khel Khel Mein is set to release on Nov 19 across cinemas nationwide.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2021