After several delays, the film Tamanna has quietly
finished filming this week. The film, starring Umair Rana, Salman Shahid and
Feryal Gauhar has already been featured in film festivals for its catchy
soundtrack sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. A less talked about late addition to
the cast is the talented actor Mehreen Raheel, who has been given an extended role
in the film.
Tamanna is a UK-Pakistani production and is the
first full-length Pakistani feature film directed by a British director Steven
Moore. The story of the film is about a director who invites a man to his house
to play games, but instead, the two characters fight over a woman. The story
revolves around love, adultery, robbery and a murder. The film has been shot
entirely in Pakistan.
Mehreen has been seen as the face of several brands
with the most popular being Ufone and appeared in many television dramas as
well. She feels that the film Tamanna is part of a larger project to help
develop a Pakistani film industry. This is her second project since the much
talked about co-production film, Virsa.
“Since our film industry has been in decline in the
recent past, everybody is now working hard to revive it,” she says. “There was
a big gap but the film industry never died out.”
Mehreen believes that the Pakistani film industry is
functional mainly for the masses. However, now the directors and producers are
focusing on making movies for “the elite or the educated”. “We need some time
but we are actually being recognised in the market now,” she adds.
As she grows, Mehreen is more concerned about her
craft. Presently, she has two television dramas on air, including a PTV Home
production Daag-e-Nadamat and also Hum TV’s Zindagi Gulzar Hai. She dispels the
notion that she is being type-cast in younger character roles.
“I am a character actor,” she explains. “If you give
me a younger role, I will do a younger role and if you give me an older role, I
will do that. People think I am being typecast, but there is a lot of other
work I do that should be reviewed also.”
Mehreen feels that she is versatile and is
interested in both films and dramas, but that there is no comparison between
the two. “It’s like comparing apples and oranges. Film can be a royal
experience — it is the ultimate exposure. And if it’s an international film,
one is not restricted to being popular only in their country.”
She adds that the new-age film scene is about
struggling, coming together and making sacrifices to generate a new environment
in our film industry. She acknowledged that talented people are working towards
making films, despite the barriers and hang-ups that still exist.
“We have modern thoughts that we have to execute
with stone-age equipment; so it will take some time to be nurtured,” says
Mehreen, adding that things need to change for improvement in the industry.
“A lot of film offers are coming my way,” says
Raheel. “But if I am going to do something I want to represent my country —
that comes first. It has to be something that I am proud of.”
Tamanna:
Mehreen plays the role of a young girl in the film
and says it is an interesting one. “When we started out, there were limited
scenes for me but as they saw my work, the director decided to add more,” she
adds.
Joining the film at the tail end of production,
Mehreen says that she is excited about the soundtrack. “The soundtrack for my
first film was also sung by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, which was a super-hit,”
shares Mehreen, referring to Rahat’s hit song, Mein Tenu Samjhawan.
The young actor feels that this film is different
from other films because of the subject it tackles.
“It’s not about a social issue,” she says, adding
that there’s enough media coverage on those problems. “We have enough issues
being highlighted daily on news channels. [They] touch upon sensitive topics
both social and political,” says Mehreen. “It [Tamanna] is a pure entertainer;
the story is a murder mystery. It’s about our glory days of cinema.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th,
2012.
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