KARACHI: The director of upcoming film Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai, Anjum Shahzad got visibly upset at the music launch of his film at a local hotel on Wednesday evening when during the question and answer session a couple of journalists asked him about the box office failure of his previous offering Mah-i-Mir. He first responded by saying that they (makers) did not make the movie for cinema. When the journalist reasoned it was shown in cinemas, he retorted that it was done so to check your intelligence and found out that we hadn’t become that intelligent to watch a film like that.

He said watching Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai would make them realise that life’s beautiful. The journalist rebutted that many often trailers made movie projects looked good to which the director replied he should attend the premiere of the film and would get all the answers to his questions.

When another media person began his question, Shahzad requested him to talk about the new film and would hold a separate press conference for Mah-i-Mir. He said the film’s cast included Feroz Khan, Sajal Ali, Jibrael, Shafqat Cheema, Nayyar Aijaz, Rashid Farooqui and Alyy Khan. He said the concept of the story was original and had no similarities with any of the other films (Actor-in-Law as mentioned by the media man). He said Abdul Khaliq had written the script four years back, and the shooting for the project began last year in October. He said it’s an emotional roller-coaster.

Lead actress on the film Sajal Ali said she had worked both in Indian and Pakistani films and found out that there was not much difference between the two. Except, she said, technically Pakistani films needed to improve. Alluding to her late arrival for the music launch, she said in India too traffic jams caused actors to arrive late at events.

On the question of releasing the film on Eidul Azha, when two other Pakistani films will also be screened, Shahzad said if you’re a cinema lover, you should watch all three of the Pakistani movies.

Talking about the film’s music, Shahzad said songs were made to support the story and help it move forward.

With regard to the cultural aspect of the story, the producer of Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hai, Rafiq Ahmed Chaudhry said it’s a pure Pakistani film.

Shedding light on the title of the project, Shahzad said it’s a family drama in which the story revolved around a couple. “When they’re together, life is beautiful, when they’re separated, life’s not beautiful.”

Earlier, the trailer for the film was shown and three songs from the soundtrack were played. The audience particularly liked the one played by the band called Soch.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2016