Director Sohail Javed has a bunch of music videos and TV commercials to his name and has worked with some celebrated musicians such as Hadiqa Kiani, the original Junoon and Sajjad Ali. Most recently, he directed the song ‘Tillay Wali Jooti’ featured on the soundtrack of Jawani Phir Nahi Ani 2 that released on Eid ul Azha this year.
He is now gearing up for his first feature film that will star Faysal Qureshi in the lead role, who is also the co-producer of the upcoming, untitled project.
“It’s a tragic love story,” Sohail Javed told Instep in an exclusive telephonic conversation, without revealing too much. “I am going to tell an honest story, which I am not going to shy away from. This is why we are having difficulty in raising funds; some backed out as well saying it’s very serious. But I am still going to tell this story. There are five songs in the film but they won’t affect the story adversely. The story is very personal; it’s original and is very complicated. It will make you cry.”
He informed that they will start filming in late December of this year or January of next year while the entire cast will be announced later this year.
When asked what he thinks of the three films that released on Eid-ul-Azha, the director responded, “Load Wedding is outstanding; it has a story, JPNA2 is entertaining while I haven’t watched Parwaaz Hai Junoon.”
Reflecting on the current state of Pakistani cinema, he shared, “It’s on the move but we are not telling enough stories. We are doing skits, variety shows, tableaus, standup comedy and all of that. They are selling com-com in the name of rom-com and fooling the viewers; there is no romance, there are just one-liners, reflective of a short supply of stories.”