'Gumm' cast and crew call out director-duo for lack of professionalism

It all started after Shamoon Abbasi named and shamed the filmmakers on Facebook

"I am seriously done supporting selfish, narcissistic and egoist producers and directors that call themselves the new talent," Shamoon Abbasi has written in an explosive Facebook post on January 11. The actor was hinting at the directors of film, Gumm.

Newcomers Ammar Lasani and Kanza Zia are being called out for their unprofessional and unethical practices by the cast and crew of their  film. It all began when Abbasi took to Facebook and shared how some industry insiders have been using his name to bring in the big bucks for weak and copied scripts.

"These film-makers dragged me into these crappy projects by asking major discounts in the name of support. They messed up the scripts that they once agreed on," he went on. "I won't let my career and my name go down because you want to experiment on my behalf. I am done! No more using my shoulders for this one night fame game of yours."

The 45-year-old didn't take names in his initial post but later, openly accused Ammar and Kanza of copying Gumm from a 2011 Hollywood film called Wrecked. In a live video on Sunday, the Waar star revealed he was told that only the opening sequence of the film was slightly inspired by the Adrien Brody-starrer.

"I'm not disclosing everything because Gumm flopped or because someone else dubbed for me in it," said Abbasi. "Once the film started shooting, the script was exactly like a Hollywood film. It changed completely since the directors first approached me."

He added, "Gumm was my film. I could have simply stayed quite! But I chose otherwise because there's a lot our nation needs to know about black sheeps roaming free in the film industry. They keep cheating, dodging, confusing and breaking the code of a fair business model."

After Abbasi, the music directors of Gumm,  Jia Nauman and Nauman Khan Lasharie also opened up about not being given due credit for their work.

"Amaar Lasani and Kanza Zia approached us in March 2017 and literally begged us to sing in their upcoming film Gumm," Jia wrote on social media. "We wrote, composed and sang two songs. We handed them over in a week's time as they were in hurry. The decided amount for the film songs was far less than the fee we usually charge but due to their continued requests, we made the songs for them in the least amount possible."

Jia further shared they were paid half the amount of what was promised to them and weren't given credit. "We approached the directors to at least mention our names as singers, lyricists and music directors but they refused, saying they'll follow their own strategy. Now, it's been two days since Gumm was released but they still haven't mentioned our names anywhere."

The film's Project Head Intizar Hussain also called out the directors. "Both the directors have betrayed us by not mentioning us in the credits, which is very unprofessional of them. We all have contracts with Star Struck films. We boycott these types of people in the industry and request the concerned authorities to take action against them. I also request the Film Producers Association of Pakistan to take notice of the issue," he wrote.

The Express Tribune has reached out to Kanza and Ammar and is currently awaiting a response. 

This is a developing story and will be updated accordingly.