Bin Roye picks up steam

 

(From left to right) Armeena Rana Khan, Humayun Saeed and Mahira Khan, all smiles for the camera

 

Lahore

At the end of the night of June 9, everyone present inside the beautifully adorned Crystal Hall of PC hotel, Lahore, had a Mahira Khan selfie to boast of. The lady, looking a million bucks in a white Feeha Jamshed outfit, was absolute royalty at the unveiling of videos of her second Pakistani film (Bol in 2011 was her first), Bin Roye. She was decidedly no more just a ‘Humsafar gal,’ as she has been popularly dubbed. She was more of a Mahira-who’s-shared-screen-space-with-the-king-of-Bollywood.

The guests, especially the media folk, were all falling over themselves to catch a glimpse of the country’s first actor to be debuting in the big, bad Hindi film industry with The Shah Rukh Khan. Khan got the maximum limelight as she walked the red carpet, followed by Humayun Saeed who shone no less bright in a slim-fit black suit, looking graceful and — as someone in the crowd commented during the Q&A session — “young and fresh!”

Veteran Lollywood writer-director Syed Noor even quipped tongue-in-cheek, “Male actors achieve superstardom when they turn 40. So, Humayun has a good reason to cheer!” Everyone in the audience had a laugh.

“Film is a larger-than-life medium.” - Syed Noor

Earlier, Khan and Saeed were joined on stage by the doe-eyed Armeena Rana Khan, another TV actor who is now crossing over to cinema with Bin Roye; senior actor Azra, President Hum TV Sultana Siddiqui, and Momina Duraid (now MD!) who is the film’s producer and first-time co-director.

When quizzed as to how and when she decided she could direct a film, Duraid who has previously only produced TV serials said, “I had to jump into direction majboori mein, when our other director (Haissam Hussain) left the project mid-way. We were shooting in America at the time, and had no choice.”

Playing a sport, Mahira Khan grabbed the mic from Momina Duraid and came to her rescue. “You know, there’s something called fate,” she murmured. “That happened with us.”

Eventually, the videos of ‘Balle Balle’ and ‘Tere Bin Jeena’ were played for the guests, to huge applause. The songs are said to have been sung by an interesting mix of talent from both sides of the India-Pakistan border. They include Rekha Bharadwaj, Harshdeep Kaur, Ankit Tiwari, and our very own Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Shiraz Uppal.

When Syed Noor was invited to the dais to say a few words, the showman spoke assertively for the traditional format of musicals in the subcontinuent. “I am often asked, ‘Where in the world do people sing songs, running around trees?’ and I tell them, ‘In films!’

“Film is a larger-than-life medium, and songs add to this aspect. Besides, songs and dances have a repeat value,” he said, and everyone seemed to agree.

(From left to right) Na Maloom Afraad’s Mohsin Abbas Haider, Humayun Saeed & Ahmed Ali Butt

Also spotted on the occasion were Muneeza Hashmi, film director Shehzad Rafique, Bin Roye music composer Sahir Ali Bagga, Na Maloom Afraad-famed Mohsin Abbas Haider, CEO Royal Palm Golf & Country Club Ramzan Sheikh and model Natty who was managing the red-carpet star arrivals.

Made under the banner of Hum Films and MD Films, Bin Roye is slated for Eid ul Fitr release — that is, over a month from now. And, the makers of the film are every bit conscious of the limited time they have at hands for its promotion. No wonder they have kick-started a vigorous marketing campaign. The Lahore music launch was held on the heels of a similar event in Karachi, reportedly on as lavish a scale.

Team Bin Roye is now off to Dubai for an even grander show on June 13 (today). They are eyeing on the film’s “simultaneous international release,” as Humayun Saeed said on the occasion. If they can manage this feat, Bin Roye shall go down in the history of Pakistani cinema as the first film to be released worldwide at the same time.