Pakistani singer Haroon Rashid, following Awaz’s break-up, delivered a series of hits that are still engraved in the collective memory of fans. Out of all of his songs as a solo artist, Mehbooba is perhaps the most favoured. Many artists from this generation still cover the evergreen, which was also performed on Nescafe Basement last year.
While there is no denying that the song itself is catchy, its music video also played a major part in its success. Accompanying the Middle Eastern sounds, the video showed Haroon wandering through the pyramids of Egypt in search of his love.
Reminiscing about the shoot of the video, the singer, in a recent Instagram post, shed light on the interesting story behind it. According to him, the video that we see today almost didn’t get made. “Who remembers this one? When I recorded this song I thought, ‘Wow, I would love to shoot the video by the pyramids,” Haroon wrote as he shared a clip.
Stumbling across a production crew in the city, the star spontaneously booked a ticket to Cairo and went there only to come back disappointed. “I randomly found a production company online in Cairo, immediately booked my ticket and just got on a plane and flew out there for three days. In the end, they told me I couldn’t afford to shoot by the pyramids and it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; and that I should just shoot the video in Pakistan on a fake set,” he said.
Adding on, Haroon revealed that the producer had a sudden change of heart when she heard the song. “But then, the lady producer said I love this song so much I will make it happen no matter. She called in a favour from her best friend, who was married to the owner of the local Cairo production company that worked on the film Lawrence of Arabia,” he said. “There were so many things that could have gone wrong but the stars aligned and this music video went on to be one of my solo biggest hits, along with Dil Se Pakistan and Mehndi, and others.”
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