Lost and found in Mauritius

‘Bachaana’ starring Mohib Mirza, Sanam Saeed and Adeel Hashmi to release on February 26

KARACHI:

An Indian girl gets stranded in an alien country before a Pakistani man comes to her rescue. At first glance, the story for the Mohib Mirza-Sanam Saeed starrer may have a similar ring to Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan but a complete viewing of Bachaana’s trailer would tell otherwise.

Laughing off comparisons with the Indian film, director Nasir Khan joked that the only similarity audiences are bound to find between the two movies are that, “In Bajrangi Bhaijaan, they helped return a little girl to Pakistan. In Bachaana, we’re returning a fully grown girl to India,” he said at the trailer launch of the film.

Having earmarked a release date for February 26, the movie is all set to be the second major release of the calendar year. With the romantic-comedy having been in the works for quite some time, Khan shared his excitement at the film finally seeing the light of day. “I have been working on this for the past three years. Visualising it in my head first, and then planning for it on paper before moving onto its production. So right now I have only one wish – that audiences finally see the movie,” he remarked.





Bachaana is one of the few films from the new wave of Pakistani cinema that has been shot in a foreign location. Elaborating upon why the production team chose Mauritius as the background setting, Khan explained that, “We could have also gone to Bangkok but when we visited Mauritius we fell in love with the place. And if audiences get to make a trip to Mauritius for just Rs400, what’s so bad about it?”

While the scenic locations may add to the visual setting, Khan remarked that it offers more than just beauty. “The location plays an important part. Mauritius is a small country with a small population. At night it gets really quiet over there and the sort of problems and situations they get into are complemented by the nature of the place.”

Boasting of some of Pakistani television’s most renowned faces such as Mohib Mirza, Sanam Saeed and Adeel Hashmi, the director remarked that audiences will get to see the cast in completely new avatars – one that they were not accustomed to.



Hashmi joked how he had initially decided against doing the film but when he heard they were filming in Mauritius, he was instantly on board. On a serious note, the actor shared that more than anything else, he was keen on contributing towards the revival of Pakistani cinema.

Known more for her stint on television with serials like Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Sanam Saeed termed her role in the movie as a far cry from the intense and message-oriented characters that she plays on the small screen.

“It’s really fun to see myself and Mohib in a different avatar. Not so serious, not so angry, not crying; just really being silly and laughing,” stated the movie’s female lead.



Produced by Rizwan Saeed, Bachaana is expected to have a runtime of less than two hours. “In a two and a half hour long film, the viewers are constantly checking their cell phones. To keep the audience engaged, it was important to have a tight film,” the director explained.

Bachaana chronicles the journey of an Indian girl, Aalia (Sanam Saeed), who encounters a series of unfortunate events and is forced to place her faith in a man she hardly knows. That man, Vicky (Mohib Mirza), is a Pakistani taxi driver in Mauritius.

The soundtrack for the film has been composed by Ali Sher, Symt and Pasad Saste with Indian singer Benny Dayal also singing a track.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2016.

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