KARACHI: Cine-goers and the media that covers showbiz events had been waiting for this day for a touch more than two years. Finally, it came on Thursday evening as the film, Khel Khel Mein, had its premiere at Nueplex (DHA) cinema. The film had its countrywide release on Friday.

The good thing about the director/producer duo of the movie — Nabeel Qureshi and Fizza Ali Meerza — is that they don’t put on airs. They’re pretty down to earth individuals, which shows in their films, and that’s the reason that they’re often the first ones to reach functions held in connection with their own projects. Thursday was no different. The guests were given the 7pm time to arrive. The pair was there way before that.

Khel Khel Mein is finally released across the country

Ms Meerza and Mr Qureshi both were trying to sort out things for the guests. In between, they found some time to step on to the red carpet for an exchange-of-pleasantries session. Once away from the razzmatazz of the show, Ms Meerza had a little chat with Dawn. “We didn’t realise how these two years passed because we spent some time with family and then new things were happening [professionally]. There did come a time when [the pandemic] began to hit you, and you felt that yes it is having a psychological effect as life is moving in a continuation, not stopping… Finally, now we’re returning to normality.”

On the question of whether frustration crept in during the making of the movie in the pandemic, the producer remarked, “On the contrary we felt it would finish quickly. With lockdown stretching to one or two months, we felt optimistic that once it’s over we’d be through with our project.”

With regard to the topic of the film, which is to do with East Pakistan, Ms Meerza said, “Many a time, you have everything in your mind, worked out. This time round we researched and explored. We asked questions and sought answers from many people. Some answers were strange, some were good, and some were horrifying. Then we decided to talk about the subject. God has been kind to us. Now the premiere is itself a miracle for us.”

It’s after 8pm, perhaps 10 to 15 minutes after that, the actors playing the male and female protagonists in the film Bilal Abbas and Sajal Ali showed up. Well, they’re stars, they can afford to come whenever they please. But it wasn’t just them — most members of the showbiz community and some mediamen, too, came around that time. Subsequently, they went into the theatre halls to watch the film.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2021