Hassan Waqar Rana’s long-delayed war saga Yalghaar has been in the making for over three years ever since it was announced for the first time.
Held in Karachi, the media launch of Hassan Waqas Rana’s war film Yalghaar was a starry affair with most of the cast (minus Shaan) in attendance.
Karachi
Hassan Waqar Rana’s long-delayed war saga Yalghaar has been in the making for over three years ever since it was announced for the first time. Starring an all-star ensemble cast, the film’s first official trailer was presented – and that too after a long delay – at the media launch held in Karachi earlier this week. The trailer is all about power packed performances more than anything else.
The cast of the film, including Humayun Saeed, Adnan Siddiqui, Bilal Ashraf, Gohar Rasheed, Armeena Khan, Ayesha Omar and Sana Bucha (amongst others), was present at the event; unfortunately super star Shaan Shahid couldn’t make it to the launch due to an injury. The star power of the event was on point, just like the film that has the industry’s biggest names attached to it.
Going by the trailer, Yalghaar is inclined towards patriotic fervor topped with hard core action and emotions. Like every war film, it revolves around the lives of brave soldiers who stay away from their homes to save the lives of their countrymen, leaving their loved ones behind in distress. As a war-epic, Yalghaar is being promoted as the most expensive movie made in Pakistan, ever, and it certainly does look big budget but will it simply push the patriotic agenda or will there be effective story telling as well? It was hard to conclude after watching the trailer.
Moving on to the cast of Yalghaar, Shaan Shahid plays the protagonist while Humayun Saeed will be seen in a completely different avatar – the antagonist – in the film. One of the highlights of the film aside from the fact that it’s a big budget project is that two most loved super stars of Pakistan’s film industry, Shaan Shahid and Humayun Saeed, will face off each other for the first time. Saeed looks promising as the villain, given the chocolate hero roles he has been doing for several years. Adnan Siddiqui, Gohar Rasheed and Ayub Khoso have done a tremendous job while most women in the film – Ayesha Omar, Armeena Khan, Alizey Nasir – seem to be there as eye candy.
Most of the actors have gone through rigorous training for the film; Bilal Ashraf trained for over seven months. Yalghaar has been shot with live ammunition, live bullets, live explosives and live helicopters and that is one of the reasons it took years to finish the project.
After writing and producing Waar, Hassan Waqas Rana has turned his attention to direction with Yalghaar.
Speaking to Instep about the film on the sidelines of the launch, Hassan Rana noted, “The audience should look forward to seeing something that they’ve never seen in Pakistan before. They’ll be extremely proud of it. Though it’s not in my control whether people like it or not, I can guarantee that it’s good.”
Upon having an all-star cast on board, Rana shared, “It’s challenging to have them together on a single platform but it’s amazing at the same time. You get to work with a plethora of talent. It’s the best talent this country has to offer and I just wanted to bring all of that to the show.”
We also asked if the film is funded by the army and that whether they have control over creative decisions. “No it’s not. All of the money is my own,” the director told Instep. “They gave us the logistics, helped us find the right research and supported us in every way. They looked at the story. All they are concerned with is that the film is not anti-Pakistan and I assured them it’s not. I got the complete creative control of the film.”
