Allan and Nanha, from the cult social satire Alif Noon (first season aired in 1965), are undoubtedly two of Pakistan television’s most loved screen characters of all time. Created by the late actor, scriptwriter and director Kamal Ahmad Rizvi, along the lines of Laurel and Hardy, the characters of the two friends who work together despite being diametrically opposite to each other, were immortalised by Rafi Khawar and Rizvi himself. Where Nanha is the pot-bellied, uneducated, and gullible sort, his goodness is a dramatic foil for Allan’s discreetly corrupt ways. No wonder when comedy actor Faisal Qureshi recently announced remaking the classic, it grabbed newspaper headlines.
Reports say that Qureshi, who was last seen in a supporting role in Teefa In Trouble, is developing the script for a film in which he and pop singer Shehzad Roy shall take up the lead parts of Nanha and Allan respectively. It will be Roy’s debut feature. The musician, best known for Saali, Tera Mukhra Haseen and Laga Reh, is also a philanthropist and the National Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Qureshi insists that the film will be a revival of the original “[albeit] with a modern twist.” The characters will be set in modern-day Pakistan. The idea is to appeal to “those who have seen the old classic and even the new generation that hasn’t.”
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