Hopeful: Yasir Nawaz feels new film will exceed expectations

LAHORE: The introduction that it is a “comedy film with a strong message” may sound clichéd at best, but we sure have our reasons why actor-director Yasir Nawaz’s upcoming movie Mehrunnisa, We Lub You will be one to watch out for.

The film brings together the trio of Danish Taimoor, Javed Sheikh and Nawaz once again, after the success of their previous cinematic outing, Wrong No.

Nawaz himself feels the upcoming film will exceed all expectations since he and his team have learnt a lot from their mistakes in Wrong No. “There were too many budget restrictions at the time so we had to compromise on the technical aspects of the production,” he tells The Express Tribune about his 2015 directorial debut. “We had to constantly hold ourselves back from so much more that we could have done. Sound, colour grading, locations and wardrobe are all things that we had to compromise on.”



Despite seeing competition in the shape of Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan on the box office, Wrong No. did manage to keep its own, making a decent sum towards the end. “In Pakistan, the industry is very small so it’s hard to recover the money invested. Our own films don’t get the response that Indian films get but Wrong No.’s success gave the courage to do another film,” he said.

It seems Nawaz feels competing with Salman Khan’s films brings him luck and perhaps this is the very reason why he plans on releasing Mehrunnisa, We Lub You on Eidul Fitr next year, which will also see the release of the Indian superstar’s Tubelight.

Taking to the floors this time with a bigger budget and greater confidence, Nawaz revealed Mehrunnisa, We Lub You will have one of the biggest sets ever created for a Pakistani production. “We are taking over a whole Burns Road street and that alone is costing us around Rs2.5 crores. Such sets are commonly made abroad but never in Pakistan. It includes towers, buildings and a couple of hundred extras and now that we can afford it all, we will make full use of the opportunity,” Nawaz said. This very set will see almost 60% of the shooting spells; the rest will be completed in the northern areas of Pakistan.

On actor Sana Javed playing a lead role in the film, Nawaz said, “We needed a fresh, innocent face that fits the bill.” Javed will be making her film debut with Mehrunnisa, We Lub You. “I like working with newcomers. Sana’s acting skills have not been fully explored on TV so she had some problems initially. But we sat together and worked them all out.”

Nawaz also feels it is his responsibility to give the industry new film stars. “When I offered Taimoor a role in Wrong No., there were many who questioned the decision but he proved all the detractors wrong,” the film-maker said.

Mehrunnisa, We Lub You’s screenplay has been done by Nawaz and theatre performer Saqib Sumeer. The latter will also be essaying a double role in the film and Nawaz stressed it will be very interesting to watch.

“We want people to be entertained and leave the theatres thinking about what we had in mind. We have packaged that message in a comedy because we don’t want people to think we are lecturing them. Those films are the hardest to consume,” Nawaz said.

More so, the director has already begun chalking out plans for his third film that happens to be a “murder thriller”.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2016.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.