Tamanna aims to revive Lollywood

LAHORE: Tamanna, a UK-Pakistani production, is a result of British director’s Steven Moore’s love for Lahore and an effort to bring out a film to revive the Pakistani film industry.

The movie, which is being termed as the first full-length Pakistani feature film directed by a British director, is nearing completion. Produced by the young talented Lahore-based producer Sarah Tareen, the movie features Salman Shahid, Feryal Gauhar, Hameed Sheikh and Irfan Khan in the lead roles.

The story sees a famous film director named Shehreyar (played by Shahid), who is fond of playing games, inviting a man named Riz (Hameed Sheikh) to his house. The plot develops into a feud between these two characters, who fight over a woman in a story which deals with love, adultery, robbery and murder.

Director Steven Moore, has lived in Lahore for almost five years and has been teaching at the South Asian Media School and the Film and Television Institute in Lahore. Moore believes that the Pakistani film industry is a victim of neglect, but the people in Pakistan are very talented.

Moore kept travelling to Lahore - which he believes to be his second home - and has now made a film about it.

The film has been shot entirely in Pakistan and the soundtrack features Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

The veteran playwright, poet, writer and columnist Munnu Bhai, who is Tamanna’s script supervisor, has associated himself with a project for a while. Munnu Bhai is also quite optimistic about the film project.

Sarah Tareen said that her experience of working with such senior people had been wonderful. “We kept the team very tight so we were all like a family. I didn’t have any problems while dealing with such senior people. They were all very cooperative and supportive,” she said.

Sarah told that the director met with many actors over the last year interested in the roles. “Hammed Sheikh and Salman Shahid were chosen for their suitability and their recent international film work. Salman Shahid, a veteran actor has worked in many stage plays, TV shows and films (including Khamosh Pani, Kabul Express and Ishqiya).Hameed Sheikh is well known for his character ‘Sher Shah’ in Shoaib Mansoor’s Khuda Kay Liye and has recently appeared in and co-produced the film Kandahar Break. Both are engaged and dedicated to the project as part of the team. Feryal Gauhar has a cameo role and was chosen because of her history and suitability,” she said.

Speaking about the release of the movie, Sarah said that the shooting had been completed and some work was to be done on the music track by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

“We are negotiating with people about the film’s marketing and with some channels too. Let’s see when does this get finalised. It will be released soon after these things are settled,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2010.