Veteran performers provide significant criticism of Pakistani cinema’s commercial and arthouse growth. TV star Faisal Qureshi discussed his return to movies with the horror thriller Deemak with Independent Urdu.
Faisal discussed horror films and his decision to do Deemak. I think Pakistan hasn’t done much horror yet, the actor said. “Work is scarce lately. Bara Baje and Zinda Laash were serious films from the past.”
About his latest assignment, he said the interesting script captivated him at first read. Screenplay engagement connects you to the screen, as the actor stated. So that was great. Visualizing it was fun. I told Rafay the same thing. Another plus is that it’s not a 3-hour film. We expect to finish the picture in 90 or 120 minutes.”
Faisal also talked about Mango Jatt, his first Punjabi feature arriving this year. “So, the best thing I found in that film when reading the script was that Abu Aleeha discussed very small issues well,” he said. Faisal thinks these issues will appeal to all ages.
The star praised a good Punjabi film for its promise of enjoyable entertainment and underlined the importance of human ties. He said that even if we see Spider-Man or any Marvel or DC series in today’s times, there is a discourse about relationships. Faisal told a story about his recent love of playing villains in the TV series Shikaar and Zulm.
Sometimes characters haunt you. After reading 10 episodes of Zulm, I told Mr. Ilyas Kashmiri, the serial’s director, not to give his character a favorable turn. “I told him we should prove he’s bad.”
He added, “If you look at both my characters, we see people around us who can’t do us harm. How do we fight them today? An old viral video inspired Zulm. People will know that video when they watch it.”
Faisal suggested, “One of the most important things is cinemas, which are on the brink of extinction in Pakistan,” to help Pakistan’s film industry go global. We laugh at Indian film box office numbers; we can’t imagine that in Pakistan.”
Not all films are about dancing and singing. Through films, we can do much. We can educate many individuals, he said. Faisal further argued that inflation makes cinema tickets costly for the general public, saying that Pakistani daily wage earners cannot watch movies.
Bashar Momin takes a sophisticated approach to exhibiting Indian films in Pakistani cinemas, which is often controversial. “I am patriotic, but if you want Pakistani cinema to survive, you must show Indian films.” “I know that the people of Pakistan want to watch Indian films, and you cannot impose your will on them,” Faisal said, calling his argument utilitarian.
