Dawn Images

The cast and crew of ‘Wrong No 2’ believes that cinema revival has taken place in Pakistan and cine-goers are taking unprecedented interest in new movies released by Pakistan’s film fraternity.

Speaking exclusively to Dawn on Friday, film director Yasir Nawaz said the movie was the outcome of a great effort as the cast, the director and the story writer of the film would daily gather at his (Yasir Nawaz’s) place and do a lot of work on every scene while going through the script.

“This practice continued for more than three months,” he said. He added he would always try to introduce new talent as a director.

Cinema, he said, had gone through a positive change. “Qualitative comedy is being done in Pakistan for years and the likes of Moeen Akhtar, Umar Sharif, Munawar Zareef and now many young standup comedians are doing wonders. What Kapil Sharma is doing now, people in Pakistan had done it years ago,” he said.

Danish Nawaz, the story writer of the movie, said that most of the times the comedy done in Pakistan was original and natural and it's unlike India's brand of humour.

“Comedy comes out of pain. People laugh when they fall. It generates from deep sorrow. Our society is going through a period of depression. It is better that we at least for the time being select such topics for film that should be light and bring smiles to their faces,” he said.

Sami Khan said there was a great need to strengthen the cinema by producing quality movies. He said television had remained a great source of talent for cinema for many big film names started their journey from television. He hoped that film would click at the box office.

Neelam Munir is quite optimistic about the success of her upcoming movie. “I am jubilant over the fact that in this movie I have been given opportunity for some good dancing and some wedding songs,” she said.

She said cinema was growing in Pakistan rapidly and there was a great need that the cinema owners keep the ticket prices low to attract audience.

Ahmed Hassan, who has penned down the film dialogues, said the comedy in Wrong No 2 just does not cross the fine line between family-friendly and crass comedy. “No one in the family while watching the movie should feel awkward on any of the jokes cracked by a character,” he said.

Originally published in Dawn, June 1st, 2019