Year 2014 is ending within few weeks and the recap of films released in this year is the subject of this article.
This year few Pakistan films mainly in Urdu, Punjabi and Pashto language are released. Five Urdu, Two Punjabi, Eight Pashto and one multi-lingual (Urdu, Pashto, Dari, English) films were released throughout the year. One Urdu film Na Maloom Afraad was superhit whereas the multi-lingual film O21 did average business. Both Punjabi films were flops. The pashto films performed well in the province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa only.
Urdu Films:
After record breaking success of Waar in the last quarter of 2013 there were high hopes of more quality films however only five Urdu films were released in 2014. Ironically no urdu film is screened in first half of 2014.
The System:
The System was the first Urdu film of 2014 released on 31st May 2014.Starring Sheraz Ghafoor Butt, Nadeem, Kashaf Ali, Irfan Khosat, Shafqat Ali Cheema, Saima Saleem, Nayyer Ejaz, Saira, Saleem Shah and Maryam Ali Hussain, the film was directed by Shahzad Ghafoor Butt, written by Wajid Zuberi and produced by Ghuafoor Butt. Shailesh Suvarna from India is the music composer while all songs were recorded in Indian voice except one duet by Komal Rizvi. The film also featured on Item Song ‘Naughty Sayyan’ filmed on Maryam Ali Hussain. Despite high hopes the film did not impress the cine goers.
The System was produced under the banner of Green Chillies Entertainment and ARY Films distributed the film.The film was shot in Pakistan and Norway.
Tammanna:
Tammana is released on 6th June 2014. It is a British-Pakistani film directed and written by Steven Moor and produced by Sarah Tareen. Starring Mehreen Raheel,Omair Rana,Salman Shahid,Feryal Gauhar the music was composed by Sahir Ali Bagga. It was based on 1970’s play Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer. Tammana was an experimental film and as expected fall flat at box office. Tammana also featured three songs in the voices of Ali Azmat, Amanat Ali and Rahat Fateh Ali.
Tammana was produced under the banner of Concordia Productons and ARY Films was the distributor.
Sultanat:
A big budgeted movie starring Indian and Pakistani artists, Sultanat is released on Eidul Fitr on July 29th, 2014. It was produced by Aslam Bhatti, directed by Syed Faisal Bukhari and written by Pervaiz Kaleem. The cast of the film includes Aslam Bhatti, Javaid Shaikh , Sila Hussan , Deepak Shirke,Akashdeep Saigal, Shweta Tiwari ,Zainab Qayyum ,Nayyar Ejaz ,Shabbir Jan ,Mustafa Qureshi and Mona Lizza (Sara Loren). Sajid Hussain was the music composer, one song in the voice of Shahida Mini was remix of famous Punjabi song Sonne Di Tavitri. Sara Loren performed on the Item Song of this film.
As per press reports though Sultunat earned 4-5 crore (40-50 million), but it failed to recover its claimed cost of 22 crore (220 million).
Sultunat was produced by AB Productions and distributed by ARY Films. The film was shot in Thailand, UAE and Pakistan.
Dukhtar:
Dukhtar was released on 18 September 2014. The film is directed and written by Aafia Nathaniel. Its main cast consists of Samiya Mumtaz, Mohib Mirza, Saleha Aref, Asif Khan, Ajab Gul, Samina Ahmed, Adnan Shah Tipu, Abdullah Jaan, Omair Rana. Sahir Ali Bagga was the composer of three songs in the voices of Hina Nasarullah, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Shafqat Amanat Ali. Dukhtar was not a commercial success but was praised by critics of English Newspapers. The film is also selected for OScar Nomination from Pakistan.
The production company was Zambeel Films and The Crew Films and it was distributed by Geo Films. It was shot on the scenic locations of Gilgit Baltistan.Dukhtar was released with Indian film Khoobsorat and perhaps it suffered on Box office as Khoobsorat attracted all the attention.
Na Maloom Afraad
Na Maloom Afraad was the last Urdu film released in 2014 on Eidul Azha in October 2014 and proved successful. The film is still running in single screen cinemas in various cities. It was the only Urdu film which can be labelled as Made in Pakistan as all the crew members were Pakistanis from actors, singers, choreographer to composer. Produced by Fizza Ali Meerza, directed by Nabeel Qureshi and written by both Fizza Ali Meerza the film stars Fahad Mustafa, Jawed Sheikh, Mohsin Abbass, Urwa Hocaine, Salman Shahid, Umber Khan, and British actress Kubra Khan while Mehwish Hayyat had a guest appearance in the item song Billi. Shani & Kami composed the music while Sajjad Ali, Mohsin Abbas Haider, Sara Raza and others provided vocals.
The production company was Filmwala productions and Hum Films distributed the film. The film was shot entirely in Karachi.
Na Maloom Afraad is the most successful film of 2014. As per press reports the film has a budget of 8-9 (80-90 million) crore rupees and till date it has earned above 11 crores (110 million). Surprisingly the film competed well with Indian films Bang Bang and later Happy New Year.
Na Maloom Afraad was announced in January 2014 and completed and released within same year unlike many other films which are under production for past two three years.
Multi-lingual film O21:
One multi-lingual film O21 was released on 2014 on Eidul Azha. It was in Dari, Pashto, Urdu and English languages.It was produced by Azaan Sami Khan and Zeba Bakhyar and directed by Summer Nicks and Jami. The main cast consists of Shaan Shahid,Shamoon Abbasi,Aamina Sheikh,Ayub Khoso,Gohar Rasheed, Hameed Sheikh and others. The film has no song.
The production companies were One Motion Pictures,Azad Film Company,Interactive Studios and ARY Films was the distributor. O21 performed average at box office mainly in multiplexes cinemas. The film failed to recover its cost too.
Punjabi films
Two low budget Punjabi films Lafanga and Jalway were released only in Punjab in 2014 and both failed to attract viewers. Jalway starred Khushboo and Saud, while Lafanga starred Iftikhar Thakur.
Pashto films
Total eight pashto films were released this year only in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi. The names of films wer Tamashbeen, Kukkay Khan, Aazari, Orbal, I miss You, Badmashon ke Badmash, Jaji Naroki, Zarayay Wabud Amla.
This year Zara Sheikh and Meera also started their Pashto film career.Pashto film is considered a safe investment and it easily recovers its cost.
So it wraps up the roundup of Pakistani films released in the year 2014.
Do share your views. Thanks for your time.
Rashid Nazir Ali