Producer has eye out for fresh face
* Shehzad Gul joins Lollywood luminaries in criticising local film industry
By Shoaib Ahmed
LAHORE: Producer Shehzad Gul is scanning colleges in Lahore in the hopes of uncovering a new star for his next film, Iman.
The movie is to be shot in Sindh and Rajasthan and Mr Gul is currently putting together a cast and crew, the filmmaker said in an informal discussion with Daily Times. Mr Gul hopes to sign veteran actor Shaan and fashion model Iman Ali, who hitherto has acted only for television, as the leads for the film, a love story, but hasn’t made any firm decisions yet, especially with the female cast.
“We have tentatively penciled in Iman as the female lead, but I’ve been told by television people that her acting can be a bit wooden and we’re not sure she can pull off the lead,” said Mr Gul. “I don’t know how she will look on “I am still looking for an innocent face to cast. I want to give a girl her debut,” he said, adding that he was looking at girls in the National College of Arts and Kinnaird College.
Mr Gul said he had not yet selected a director, but the contenders are Shehzad Rafique, Hasan Askari and a young director named Ibrar who has done film studies in the United States.
About the film soundtrack, Mr Gul said he would be working mostly with Indians. While the music has been composed by a Pakistani, Amjad Bobby, the arrangements have been done by Yougesh, who worked on Bollywood blockbuster Devdas. “Honestly speaking, they (Indians) are more professionally sound than us,” he said.
Mr Gul was critical of standards is Lollywood, becoming the latest in a long list of Pakistani film professionals lamenting the lack of professionalism in the local film industry, which has at least partly contributed to a shift in jobs in local movies to across the border.
He said apart from the big names, Pakistani singers and musicians were unprofessional. “We have no young singers that can be compared to the likes of Sonu Nigam. He has immense knowledge of music and recording.
“The singers in Pakistan get exposure on television by rehashing old songs, but they don’t have an in-depth knowledge of music. Ninety-nine percent of musicians in this country do not start a shift before noon, despite the fact that the shift starts at 9am. For good song compositions, one needs 100 to 200 violins. None of the musicians have more than 15 violins. There is no proper recording system. In India, they are now using a computerised recording system.”
Mr Gul criticised local choreographers as well. “Not one of them has a professional regiment of extras. Here, grandmothers who have been associated with studios for several years try to get their grandsons or granddaughters in songs as extras. In India, if a choreographer has 50 extras all the girls will have the same height and physique. In Pakistan, if there are 10 girls in a song, the rest will be eunuchs. Filmmaking can’t be done like this,” he said.
Mr Gul admitted he also considered himself a non-professional, since he has not studied filmmaking, but he was born into a Lollywood family and had been in the business for several years so he now understood the complexities of filmmaking.
He said he had signed Udit Narayian, Alga Yagnik, Sadhna Sergam and Shriya Gopal, who appeared in the Devdas soundtrack, to sing in his film.
He said the film budget was roughly Rs 30 million, but could be raised to Rs 40 million if it was released on stereo.
