This Eid Al Adha, the competition at global box office is likely to hot up as Pakistan and India pitch their season’s best movie bets against each other. For the Asian diaspora, especially in the UK and UAE, this is going to be the match of a lifetime, second only to a cricket ODI between the ace players of the two neighbouring countries. Actor-producer Humayun Saeed’s modestly budgeted Punjab Nahi Jaungi is all set to take on the mighty Bollywood production Baadshaho, which stars Ajay Devgan in the lead. In the UK alone, PNJ is having arguably the widest release ever for a Pakistani film — what with 70-odd screens.
Speaking to Gulf News Tabloid! from London where the film’s core team landed late Saturday night, after a whirlwind tour of the Punjab province back home, Humayun Saeed announced bigger times ahead for Pakistani cinema. “We’re credited with producing the country’s biggest money-spinner [Jawani Phir Nahi Aani] till date, and I believe we should only move up from this point. More records should be shattered,” he said.
Whereas PNJ is also being released simultaneously in the US and Canada, it is the UK market that Saeed is especially rooting for. His confidence comes from the fact that his last major cinematic outing, Bin Roye (2015), also starring Mahira Khan, had registered huge collections in the region. Last year, Janaan, another Pakistani venture, performed decently at the Top 10 UK charts, lagging only marginally behind the Katrina-Kaif-Sidharth-Malhotra-starrer Baar Baar Dekho. This time around, Saeed is hoping to create history by rivalling his Bollywood competitor. B4U Movies, the international distributors of PNJ, are said to be feeding his optimism.
Interestingly, whereas the film’s other lead actors — Mehwish Hayat, Urwa Hocane and Ahmad Ali Butt — are also in the UK to take part in different promotional activities, it is the inimitable comedian Sohail Ahmad who is hogging the limelight. “Oh, he’s a rage,” commented Saeed. “At Royal Nawab [restaurant], the people are just going crazy. I didn’t know he was this popular.”
No wonder, the latest publicity posters for the UK audiences have been redesigned with Ahmad also in it. Whether PNJ emerges a winner, only time will tell.
