Having established his credentials with features such as ‘Actor In Law’, ‘Load Wedding’ and the ‘Na Maloom Afraad’ franchise, Nabeel Qureshi is now out to prove himself a ‘responsible’ filmmaker. Last week, the multiple award-winning director took to Instagram to announce starting two films simultaneously. This came as a pleasant surprise to his fans as well as the industry people who always knew Qureshi and his producer Fizza Ali Meerza worked on one project at a time. And to think that they haven’t had a single release in more than a year.
“With the ban on Bollywood [movies] coming into effect, the cinema industry in Pakistan has been hit hard,” Qureshi tells Gulf News Tabloid. “It’s a worrisome situation, because we do not produce enough movies that can keep the [cinema] business running. We have a couple of releases on the two Eids every year, and that’s about it. At best, we are producing 15 to 18 movies in a year, which is an insignificant amount. So, it is upon us [filmmakers] to come forward and shoulder greater responsibility.”
When asked if working on two projects at a time is a feasible idea for a filmmaker like him, Qureshi says, “It’s not that we’ll be shooting both films together. We might shoot back to back, though. It depends on how organised you are.”
Reportedly, one of the projects, titled ‘Fatman’, is a desi superhero flick, a first for Pakistani cinema. In the words of Qureshi, “We’ve been wanting to make a real-life superhero film for quite some time. The idea was developed, and we thought of going ahead with it.”
He goes on to explain what he means by “real-life superhero”: “Our superhero will be different in the sense that he won’t have any super powers, but he might have something else, something extra.”
Could it be inspired from the Eddie Murphy film, ‘The Nutty Professor’ (1996)? Qureshi laughs, “Trust me, I haven’t seen that movie. So there’s no question of being inspired or not inspired.”
His second film, ‘Quaid I Azam Zindabad’, sounds like a patriotic theme. Again, Qureshi won’t spill the beans just yet. He only reveals that both the films are scripted by him and Meerza.
Is he going to repeat Fahad Mustafa who has starred in all of his previous films? “We are in the process of casting. No one has been finalised.”
However, he adds that the reason why they repeated Mustafa was because “he’s a good actor, and he’s hardworking. Besides, he has the right attitude.”
Qureshi hopes to start filming end of this year.
