Dawn Images

Pakistan will see its first film of 2017 with the release of Rafay Rashidi's Thora Jee Le on January 20.

The film is the story of college friends experiencing the ups and downs of real life. The friends, played by a cast of first-time film actors including model Rizwan Ali Jaffri and TV actor Bilal Abbas, grow closer and fall apart — but the end message is one that "the youth of Pakistan needs to hear as we move towards a positive, progressive Pakistan," says Rafay.

Here's 5 things you should know about Thora Jee Le:

1) The film is inspired by the concept of six degrees of separation.

In a chat with Images, Rafay shared, "I had shot a promo two years ago titled Six, which dealt with the idea of '7 years of friendship lasting a lifetime' and the concept of six degrees of separation. I merged the two together, and created seven characters and their journey of life."

In the film, we'll see the friends reconnect when one of them is met with "a 'certain' incident".

2) It's a film for young people, but that doesn't mean the characters are all the same.

About the characters he wrote, Rafay said, "The friends all come from different backgrounds with their very own insecurities, complexities and issues. Conflicts will be witnessed between the rich and poor, the middle class and upper class, the party crowd and the fashion crowd, a loving yet possessive husband."

"I've tried to break certain stereotypes with these characters," he added.

3) TV personality Mahtab Akbar Rashidi steps into cinema with this film.

Director Rafay Rashidi makes his feature film debut with Thora Jee Le — and he has his mother, famed TV personality Mahtab Akbar Rashidi to thank for that.

After a degree in IT, Rafay decided to chase his childhood dream of making movies, he shared in an interview on Dawn News. When he sent this first script to his mother for feedback, she liked it but was curious about where he'd get the funding for the film.

'Ammi Baba hain na' ('There's always mom and dad') was the expectation. And so, Mahtab stepped into the film industry as Executive Producer of Thora Jee Le.

4) Rafay deliberately chose to not cast a prominent star.

"Lots of people recommended that I go for senior actors," shared Rafay, "But I didn't want one famous face, and the rest all fresh. The entire focus of the film would have fallen on one particular actor. Thora Jee Le is a film that focuses on youngsters, so I decided to go for fresh faces."

5) The film is a true test of Rafay's directorial abilities.

Rafay also didn't want to the ride on the coattails of his actors' star-power.

Talking about his choice of a fresh cast, Rafay further said, "A directorial debut meant proving my worth as a storyteller and filmmaker. For that, I wanted my audience to witness and give feedback about whether I was able to succeed as a director whose job is not only to shoot scenes but also to bring out good performances from actors with a good plot."