While the Pakistani
television industry feels threatened by international content seeping through
to our TV screens, it seems that some creative minds, like Yousuf Salahuddin,
are actually working to take Pakistani content across borders.
Cultural and social
icon Salahuddin, popularly known as Mian Salli, is proud to announce that his
big budget production Heer Ranjha will be the second Pakistani drama to be
dubbed in Chinese, after Waris which was written by Amjad Islam Amjad. Mian
Salli feels that the project is an opportunity to promote Pakistani heritage.
“The beauty of Heer
Ranjha is that it takes you back in time,” says Salli, about the folklore which
has been immensely popular locally and internationally, both.
Giving details
about his musical play, Salli says that Heer Ranjha is made for the wider
masses and aims to bring Pakistanis back to owning their culture.
“I want to reach
out to my people,” says Salli. “I am not here to make money — I have not made
any money in all of this.” He also points out that PTV is a government
institution and works in the same manner.
While the play was
penned down by Aqueel Ruby, Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah was responsible for
the narration. Pakistani TV actor Ahsan Khan and model-actor Zaria Butt are in
the lead roles of Heer Ranjha, and other cast members include Shafqat Cheema
and Rambo.
The project started in February last year, and was wrapped up about
two weeks ago.
“The whole
technique is purely Pakistani,” explains Salli. “The main thing is that the
project is close to reality. I used furniture which is 200 years old and
tapestries which are over a 100 years old — all of the locations are a 100%
real.”
Salli shares that
the recently launched original soundtrack is now available in most markets
across Pakistan. The music features Rahat Fateh Ali Khan alongside Sahir Ali
Bagga, who is also the producer of the album. Salli has written the lyrics for
majority of the songs and the soundtrack also includes the voices of Hina
Nasrullah, Fariha Parvez, Humera Channa, Sanam Marvi and Malaika Ali.
The success of his
drama venture has opened doors for his next large-scale project which is on the
life of Emperor Jahangir. This will also be a musical and may have up to 20
episodes. His inspiration for the new musical came from the style in which BBC
dramas such as Tudors have been shot. The play’s script is being written now
and Salli may start to shoot it by September.
“We may not have
that much of a budget but what we do have, are the most amazing places to
shoot,” says Salli. “We have the entire fort, Shalimar Bagh and all the other
Mughal monuments. I will not go for sets.”
Promoting Culture
Yousuf Salahuddin
is one of the biggest cultural advocates of basant (spring season). He says
that the banning of basant has played a negative role for the cultural
activities in Lahore.
“There were a few
meetings that were held [regarding basant], but nothing came out of it,”
explains Salahuddin. “I think it’s sad that basant is celebrated all over
Punjab but not in Lahore. To take basant out of Lahore is killing the city and
its whole culture — these things lead the young generation to look towards India
or the West.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 4th,
2013.
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