Aks is a new horror film that is the culmination of a joint venture between the Dubai-based MV Films and Asim Saadi Productions. The film will be directed by the UK-based Asif Pervez.
Arslan Sheraz, 22, who plays one of the main leads in the film, tells Gulf News tabloid! that the film was originally conceived for festival screenings. “It was supposed to be made in English language. Later, I suggested to my producer to invest in Pakistani cinema, which is a fertile territory. I told them there was a huge market for horror films [in Pakistan].”
A singer by profession, the Sialkot-born Sheraz has cut six albums already. Interestingly, he plays a rock star in Aks.
“You can say that I am playing myself,” he laughs. “I’m excited especially about this concert song. You rarely find a rock number in a Pak film. I think the only other time we had one was in [Shoaib Mansoor’s] Bol, filmed on Atif Aslam and Mahira Khan’s characters.”
Sheraz is quite upbeat about Aks’s musical score and declares that it “shall contribute majorly to the film’s success.”
Without giving much away, he says it has been composed by the musicians at Asim Saadi Studios in Ajman. The lyrics are co-written by him. The title track is rendered by Bushra Barday, a lesser known Bollywood singer.
The film’s cast is also an interesting mix of ethnicities — be it singer-turned-actor from Delhi, Jyoti Dagar, who plays Sheraz’s wife; or Dubai-based Roman Khan, who is originally from Islamabad; or Faiza Asif, a known UAE model, who hails from Lahore.
Sheraz is all praise for Asif who plays Aleesha, a woman possessed: “She’s so impressive that she actually scared the shooting crew once with her performance.”
He also hints at a “special appearance by a Pak celebrity”. The film is expected to hit the theatres across Pakistan and the UAE in January 2018.
