I think we first heard the name of Waar long time back. It was somewhere in 2010 that the media picked up a news story regarding the making of a Lollywood movie with international standards. At that time its claim to fame for was that it was the first Pakistani movie being made under the banner of Warner Brothers. This truly excited me and just like everyone I also started anticipating its release with bated breath.
As time went by there was a trickle of information regarding the project and slowly and gradually the movie became bigger and bigger. The Likes of Meesha Shafi, Ali Azmat among others only added fire to the excitement. Expectations were very high for the movie since it was being directed by a guy who had worked on the mega-hit Khuda Ke Liye with Shoaib Mansoor himself i.e. Bilal Lashari.
By this time we had entered into the late 2011 and Bol had been declared a hit at the local Box Office. In November of the same year the first teaser of the film was launched with much fanfare on Youtube and it went onto cross more than 1 million views within a week. Media hype again picked up for the movie and it was expected that within a month or two the movie would be released all over cinemas.
Sadly, the viewers still had a long time to wait. As 2012 began reports started pouring in that the director was not happy with the Final cut of the movie and wanted to re-shoot major portions all over again. This being Pakistan people simply thought the movie had been shelved and will not see the light of the day. By this time my fervor and enthusiasm for the movie had pretty much dissipated.
A movie starring Shaan in the lead role and that too in a role that was being touted as one of the best getting delayed every few months was not a good sign. 2012 was an extremely bad year for the local film industry as no Urdu film was released in the entire year. Had Waar been released at that opportune time its makers would have reaped maximum benefits?
2013 started on a positive note for the industry with ARY stepping in as a major film distributor. Waar is now all over the news again. Its trailer can be seen on several channels and cinemas across Pakistan with a "Coming Soon" subtitle. After 4 long years it seems that the movie may finally see the light of day but nothing is guaranteed as yet. Just a few days back Mr. Lashari himself posted that after watching the Final cut during a screening all he wanted to do was to re-shoot the movie all over again. This attitude of a film maker tells me that he is making films either to pass time or just to prove a point. Cinema is not perfect and no single movie can be declared perfect. It should be the responsibility of a film maker to do best under the circumstances and then leave the final verdict to the audience.
Here is hoping Waar actually manages to get released this year because I distinctly fear that if this does not happen it will be a final nail in the coffin. Cine-goers all across Pakistan are super excited and they should be given a chance to enjoy this magnum opus before its expiry date.
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