Dawn Images

Resham is returning to the big screen in a lead role for Shoaib Sultan’s new project, Gunjal, alongside Ahmed Ali Akbar.

The star shared the news on Facebook and said she is both scared and excited. “People say it’s my grand return to the cinema, but I say I was never separated from cinema,” she wrote. Her most recent film appearance was a cameo role in The Legend of Maula Jatt as Fawad Khan’s mother. Before that, she starred in 2015’s Swaarangi.

“Director Shoaib Sultan’s Gunjal is a very special film for me — it is cinema without a reason, which I always wanted to do but unfortunately never got a chance to do. But ages later, when I was told Gunjal’s story, I immediately expressed my interest because the time has come for us to talk about these important issues,” she said.

Resham called her journey a memorable yet difficult one. She said they took great pains to ensure an accurate depiction of the film’s period and she believes Sultan was successful in doing so. “This is a film that will always be close to my heart,” she said.

The actor told Images that this is a film of an “international level.” Though she wasn’t able to reveal much, she did share the names of her costars — Butt, Amna Ilyas and Ahmad Ali Butt among others.

Ever since I saw Parizaad, I wanted to share a screen with Ahmed Ali Butt and look, I got my wish, she said.

Resham described the story as a “true” one, saying that people now want to see out of the box content, like Kamli.

She said a lot of hard work went into the film, which she described as “not commercial”. After a release in Pakistan, she expects that it will go on to tour film festivals abroad. “It’s very technically strong,” she said.