When New Year came 2 months earlier

Last night I had the utmost privilege to attend first day first show of the musical extravaganza which is called Happy New Year!!!!  I am still speechless. This was a movie where everything and everyone kept shining during the entire 180 minutes or so of its run time. 

But I'm digressing. Let's get some things in order:

• Happy New Year is NOT Ocean's Eleven or Twelve or whatever our dear Shaan Shahid has been calling it. Yes, it is a heist film but in reality it is much more than just that. For me, the movie in those 3 hours became so much more than just a story about a gang of thieves planning to steal some diamonds. It also contained love between father & son, an amazing lead pair in terms of SRK-Deepika Chemistry, some great supporting cast members and a lot of soul. 
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• These days, Hollywood has seen a revival of the musical genre as well. I remember a few years back when Glee came, suddenly every TV Show wanted to do a musical episode. Some of the latest movies like Step-up, Mamma Mia, Broadway plays like Hedwig etc have further strengthened the belief that if the script is well woven and songs or dance numbers don't act as roadblocks then these grand musical numbers are definitely justified. 

• If someone were to ask me what Happy New Year really is all about I would have to say its a movie which celebrates music and dance. And that was obvious considering the fact that Farah Khan was sitting at the Director's seat and was finally fulfilling her dream of making a film which unabashedly expresses its love for music and dance. 
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• From the first scene to the last one, every single minute has been so well executed that all you can do is stare and the big screen and be dumbfounded. The scale on which HNY has been mounted is breathtaking. The location of Atlantis Dubai, the arena where SRK fights and even the dance bar of Deepika has all been designed and crafted with utmost sincerity and conviction so that the viewer doesn't feel cheated. 

• The script is the king. That is what I have always heard and remembered. HNY boasts of a very ordinary script which has been converted into an extraordinary screenplay. The lengths to which the team has gone to cover up all the loopholes tells me that there was a master storyteller hiding inside Farah Khan who has finally come out of her shell.  
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• Instead of spoiling the movie for everyone I would like to mention some things which were very well planned and scripted. The fact that HNY stars 6 leading cast members itself is amazing. And when the team decides to give every single person in the cast gigantic roles, larger than life emotions then all you can do is clap and whistle. 
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• It would be unwise to end a movie review without discussing SRK. One thing which kept coming back to my mind was the fact that SRK has finally grown up. He realizes that as producer of a film not every scene needs to be about him, but when he does come on screen then every eye in the auditorium HAS to be on him and him alone. Hopefully, this will continue for his future ventures as well. 

• Do go and watch Happy New Year (i.e. if you are lucky enough to get tickets) but this one is surely a film to be seen on the big screen. FULL PAISA VASOOL.  

Na Maloom Afraad: They came, they saw and they pretty much conquered

So its been more than a year since my last post (just in case anyone of you actually is reading). Thankfully the lack of posts was not due to scarce activity on the local cinema front but it was rather my lazy attitude, coupled with a few personal and professional changes that kept me a bit pre-occupied. Yet I have not lost touch with the happening events in our budding film industry.

Before coming to my main topic, I would first like to give a HUGE SHOUT OUT to a few amazing, understated and well conceived feature films released by Pakistani film-makers over the last year since Waar happened. Tammana, The System, Dukhtar and a few others were all a step or maybe even several steps forward towards a level where our makers can release at least 50-60 films every year and make significant money on them as well. I feel extremely proud of everyone who is doing their tiniest bit to revive the local films. We will continue to make mistakes but soon there will come a project which will not only outshine others but will surpass all expectations.

This aptly brings me to the main topic at hand. Na Maloom Afraad!!!! The first time when I heard this title I was instantly intrigued. Here was a movie which was being made by people belonging to the creative advertising agencies, all based in Karachi and they were calling it NMA. I was hooked. And then came out the first trailer and the social media went nuts over it. People started sharing and re-sharing the 2 minute trailer because for the first time since Khuda Ke Liye, Bol and Waar here was a local film that boasted of international quality filmmaking, yet had songs, was a funny and thoughtful piece of cinema and was being shot using brilliant camerawork and set designs. I knew in my gut that NMA will become a game changer and thank god I turned out correct. 

Today the film has almost crossed the first week business done by O21 (which not to forget stars Shaan) and has surpassed Bang Bang collections by a wide margin. Moreover, next weekend shows of the movie are already houseful in several cinemas of Karachi so much so that 3 people in my office have tried to get movie tickets but they were unsuccessful. So clearly from box office point of view NMA is already a winner. 

Instead of actually dissecting the pros and cons of the movie (something that an actual film critic would do so much better than I ever will) I would just like to focus on a few things that the team of NMA did which created this magic on the screen and set the cash registers burning. 

The first thing NMA did was create a kickass trailer. Its said that "Agar picture ke trailer mein jaan ho tou picture mein definitely jaan hoti hai". NMA's trailer offered something for everyone. It had the rib-tickling humor, the glimpse of Mehwish Hayat's hot jhutkas, a beautiful Urwa, and obviously my dear city Karachi which was portrayed in such an amazing and captivating manner that made burning cars and torched buildings a treat for the social media junkie to savor. So the hook had been created. And this was less than 6 months back from today.

Next, the team of NMA put sincere amount of planning and scheduling into the process of making a feature length film. This shows from the fact that NMA is the sole film of recent times which was not only announced in 2014, but it released its first trailer within the same year, launched an extensive marketing plan for the screening and eventually was put on air right on the date committed at the beginning. There were no delays, no mishaps, no tantrums and ironically "no halaat karab hogaye hain rona" made by the makers. They promised fans a movie before the year ended and they knew that the fans will eventually forget their kickass trailer unless they time the release of NMA well in advance. 

A film is meant for big screen. This means that using smaller cameras, tiny sets or cheap costumes can and will cut costs but it will lead to the film being labelled as a tele-film instead of a full length feature. NMA team (Nabeel and Fizza) knew all this and they mounted it on a grand scale, showcasing Karachi's best locales using high definition cameras and combining it with sets that portrayed a true picture of small houses and yet when they went big they went "Mout ka Kouan" (Well of Death???)  big and trust me Mehwish Hayat truly deserved such a grand setting for Billi. 

Amir Khan is touted in Bollywood as a marketing genius but in our case I would crown Fizza, Nabeel, Fahad and Mohsin with the same title or at least something in kind. The team of NMA did something very pragmatic: they produced an above average product but they marketed it in a spectacular manner. The distinctive poster designs, the burnt car placed in cinemas, the media overload on Facebook, Hum, 8XM, radio channels etc..... the BTL activations in places like Iqra and CBM did wonders in producing positive word of mouth for NMA. Infact ever since the film has released and gotten huge acceptance by Pakistani "awaam" the marketing of NMA has been notched up even further. Using gimmicks like more University visits, special screenings, co-branding has helped the team of NMA ensure a successful 2nd week run at the box office in Pakistan.     

   

Last but not the least I am an ardent believer of one thing. And I really can't put it better than Vidya Balan herself. "Filmein sirf teen cheezon ki wajah se chalti hain Entertainment, Entertainment aur SIRF Entertainment." (Films work only because of 3 things: Entertainment, Entertainment and ONLY Entertainment). NMA thankfully had oodles of it. Instead of tackling a social issue, or terrorism or even a love between mother and daughter NMA went all bonkers and used the best bits of Bollywood humor which maybe crass and silly but it sure is entertaining as anything, combined it with local flavor, took on board a brilliant cast of seasoned and new actors, created some amazing musical numbers and voila!!! The stage was set for a hit. At last producers in Pakistan have realized or they should now realize that audiences will not only come if you try a "hatke" or a "socially relevant" venture. What this industry needs right now is business and business will come from single screens, from small towns and villages where people still like to watch Maula Jatt or Chennai Express or even Dirty Picture. Combining sensible cinema with the right amount of commercialism may just be the key which will make our films reach out to a wider audience all over the world. 

Therefore, I would just like to reiterate the fact that if any of you (here "you" means anyone who is actually reading this stuff since I doubt people are actually interested in my humble ravings) has still not gone and invested your 300 or 500 rupees in either NMA or O21 I would tell you to please not wait any longer and go for NMA. Watch it, criticize it, love it or hate it but give our budding film-makers a chance so that one day you can proudly say that YES, Pakistan has a film industry and we CAN and we do produce content which is comparable to any global standards. 

IMHO the future of Pakistani films is going to be bright and dazzling.