‘Yalghaar’ to hit theatres within next three months

Shaan Shahid-starrer war epic will have post-production completed in four different countries

KARACHI: It doesn’t come as a surprise anymore. The fact that majority of the new-age Pakistani movies have painstakingly-lengthy shooting schedules and even longer post-production phases. One would then expect these films to hit screens on expected release dates but judging by the track record so far, that rarely ever happens. Hassan Waqas Rana’s feature film and directorial debut, Yalghaar appears to be no exception.

Rana recently confirmed that the film had entered its final stages of post-production and the team was busy chalking out a release strategy for the movie.



“The rough cut is ready and we are now working on the post-production for Yalghaar, mainly the visual effects (VFX) and sound design,” shared the writer-director, speaking to The Express Tribune. According to Rana, post-production is taking place in four different countries. “We are currently uploading the film on the servers after which production companies from four different countries will work on it,” he said.



The director, who also essays the role of an army general in the upcoming movie, further revealed that a major portion of the VFX work will be taking place at Pinewood Studios in London. “Minor post-production will also be done in Turkey and Bangkok,” he said. The sound design, on the other hand, would take place at Skywalker Sound in the US, according to the film-maker. Skywalker Sound is the audio production division of the famous Lucasfilm Ltd, the production company behind iconic Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.

With the film nearing completion, the team has already started mulling potential release dates. Having earlier eyed a July premiere, Rana acknowledged that it will be a difficult task to accomplish and may prove to be a race against time, for both the crew and the studio executives.



Based on the theme of the movie, the director has been receiving suggestions from numerous people in the industry to release the movie on either Independence Day or Defence Day. “A lot of the people have recommended releasing Yalghaar either on August 14 or September 6 as it would complement the movie’s theme,” shared Rana. “We can only begin marketing and promotions for the movie once we have the Digital Cinema Package (DCP) in our hands, so a July release at this point does not seem possible.” Despite this, he does not intend to push the film too far back and therefore sees Independence Day [August 14] or Defence Day [September 6] as the next best alternatives.

Directed and written by Rana, Yalghaar features an ensemble cast including Shaan Shahid, Humayun Saeed, Bilal Ashraf, Ayub Khosa, Adnan Siddiqui, Sana Bucha, Aleeze Nasser and Armeena Rana Khan in lead roles.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2016.

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