If you are a true patriot, cricket has to be in
your blood. Actor and producer Humayun Saeed is well-aware of that as he is set
to release his new film Main Hoon Shahid Afridi on Eidul Fitr this year. From
the very beginning of his career, he was determined to make films. And with
this new sports film, Saeed feels he would be delivering something to new to
the audience.
“Film has always been a passion [for me] and
this was the reason why I joined this industry,” he says. Over time, Saeed
gradually became one of the most successful TV drama producers in Pakistan. He
feels this success has granted him space to experiment and return to his first
love, which is film. “It’s important that we make [good] films now. If we do
this, then in two to three years, Pakistani films will be a success,” he adds
positively.
Main Hoon Shahid Afridi is unlike any previous
Pakistani film — it is commercial but is an underdog story which centres on the
game of cricket. The star-studded cast includes Javed Sheikh, Nadeem Baig,
Shafqat Cheema, Noman Habib (lead), Mahnoor Baloch and a host of others
including Saeed himself. The film has been directed by Syed Ali Raza and is
written by Vasay Chaudhry.
Saeed is aware that India and other countries
have produced films on such subjects before — Iqbal, Chak De India and Lagaan.
But he feels Main Hoon Shahid Afridi is purely Pakistani and is different from
the kind of scripts Saeed has been known for. “People expect me to produce
something which is themed around shaadi, romance and emotion but I was keen on
doing something different,” he continues.
“In India, several sports films have been made.
But in general, it’s quite risky to make these because they come across as
dry,” he adds, saying he was dreading that. “But I feel if it’s done
intelligently, then it could turn out to be an exciting project.” A lot of
collective input and effort made this film come to life. “Everyone was tense
yet interested in how we could make this film great. You will see that viewers
will like this project too,” he says.
The film is about a young boy (played by Habib)
who dreams of becoming the famous cricketer Shahid Afridi one day. The local
club he plays for, however, goes bankrupt and that changes the whole ball game.
In order to deal with the hard times, Habib must figure out a way (with a team
of misfits) to win a major local tournament in Sialkot. They ultimately seek
the help of an ex-cricketer named Akbar Deen (played by Saeed) who has a dark
past.
“Unfortunately, new actors have the tendency to
become commercially-inclined but the people we found for this film, are
[genuinely] interested in doing good work,” says Saeed, about the cast. “And I
think that is very important.”
Speaking about the film’s music, Saeed says it
will be released on June 29. The soundtrack has four songs by Shani Arshad Ali
and Kamran Ismail-Kami aka Shani and Kami while the lyrics have been written by
Sabir Zafar and Nadeem Asad. “The music is brilliant. Even if all songs are not
hits, I am 110% sure that at least two songs will be very successful,” he says
enthusiastically.
Saeed strongly feels that this change in
Pakistani cinema, in which new people will step up and make new films
consistently, will ultimately result in the revival of the film industry. “I
will be making two films — they are going to be different [from the usual
duration] and will be about an hour and a half or two hours long each,” he
says. “What digital [videos/films] have done, is that they has opened doors for
films to be made. We will make mistakes, but I think it’s a good starting
point.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th,
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