Jawani Phir Nahi Ani wasn’t the first project that saw actor Humayun Saeed don the producer’s hat. Doraha, Daam and Talafi are only some of the notable TV serials that have come from Saeed’s production house.
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar, Vasay Chaudhry and Samera Fazal are the writers on board.
Jawani Phir Nahi Ani wasn’t the first project that saw actor Humayun Saeed don the producer’s hat. Doraha, Daam and Talafi are only some of the notable TV serials that have come from Saeed’s production house. However, it seems it is JPNA’s astounding success at the box office that has prompted Saeed to invest more into films and Pakistani cinema, in general. The actor who is playing a gangster/stalker/Robin Hood in the ongoing drama Dillagi, opposite a feisty, opinionated Mehwish Hayat, has not one but four film projects in the pre-production phase.
“Vasay Chaudhry is writing two films for me – one is a JPNA’s sequel and the other one is an action thriller. I have also taken Samera Fazal on board for a social, romantic flick and Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar is, of course, working on the script of Main Punjab Nahi Jaungi starring Iman Ali in the lead role,” Saeed revealed his plans to Instep.
While Saeed is determined to contribute to the growth of the Pakistani film industry with multiple entertaining projects lined-up for viewers, he still thinks that film production, in our country, is not a lucrative option. This is mostly because the limited number of screens in the country means a film will only make a certain amount of revenue, restricting the profit a producer can make on it, despite it being a reasonable film.
Humayun Saeed and Vasay Chaudhry are set to return with the sequel to Jawani Phir Nahi Ani as producer and writer, respectively.
“Being a producer, the biggest challenge is, of course, the dearth of good directors and scripts but what is more alarming is that we have a limited profit margin due to lack of cinema houses – which sometimes discourages our morale as an investor,” he stated.
The actor added that, in Bollywood, a producer doesn’t hesitate to invest around PKR 20 to 25 crores in a single project because he knows that he will recover it and earn significantly on it, even if the film is average. “I would have made JPNA look even grander but I didn’t do so because I knew we have limited cinema houses to show the film,” he said.
Humayun Saeed ventured into film production with Main Hoon Shahid Afridi in 2013 and it took him almost two years to announce his next film, Jawani Phir Nahi Ani. Fortunately, he will not make his fans wait for his next offering for too long as he has already started work on his next projects. He recently went to Romania to finalize the location for Main Punjab Nahi Jaoungi. After it, he will begin shooting for the sequel to JPNA, which will hopefully be a rib-tickling entertainer like the original.
JPNA’s sequel will be helmed by director Nadeem Baig and while most of the cast is expected to reprise their roles, there have been hints that some new faces are likely to replace old ones. One wonders if Hamza Ali Abbasi is being replaced, since he was all too vocal about not associating himself with the first one. There is still time before one finds that out.
