7 things you didn’t know about upcoming flick Wrong Number
This Eid, cinema-goers have a choice to make: should they watch Bin Roye or Wrong Number first? It's a good idea to do a little research, and we bring you a few tidbits gleaned from a chat with the director to help you decide.
1. Wrong Number is debut galore!
We'll see many TV stars prove their acting mettle on the big screen in Wrong Number, including TV host and former musician Nadeem Jaffri and actors Danish Nawaz, Janita Asma and Sohai Ali Abro.
That's not all. There's also the newbie production team: not only does Yasir Nawaz make his debut as director/producer, his wife Nida Yasir also takes the producer's chair for the first time.
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2. Another thing about the Nawaz brothers: they're not just debutantes, but second-gen actors too!
For trivia hunters, here is an interesting fact: Both Yasir Nawaz (who makes a cameo appearance) and Danish Nawaz are the first pair of real-life brothers in Pakistan who have made their film debuts together. But here's the catch: their late father Farid Nawaz Baloch also acted in a couple of films back in the day, which makes them second generation film actors!
3. Sorry guys, there's no item number in this movie.
Everyone knows that Waqar Ali has given the music of Wrong Number and Ayub Khawar has written the lyrics. The fact that Sohai Ali Abro has danced on two of the numbers – 'Selfiyan' and 'Kundi' – is also known to many. What the director clarifies is that both those songs aren’t item numbers, since they are part of the film's plot.
"There is also a song featuring Tooba Siddiqui; I guess that hasn’t been disclosed yet," he added.
4. Hiccups? What hiccups? This film's shoot went off without a hitch!
This may be Yasir Nawaz’s first film as a director but the TV director feels that the shoot went smoothly. "Usually, we have to shoot 800 to 1000 scenes in total; but here in a film, we hardly had 100 scenes. Everything went according to the plan and I was surprised myself as to why people feel that making a film is an insurmountable task; film-making doesn’t seem like 'a big tension' to me."
5. The original writer had his name removed from the credits!
"The script of Wrong Number was penned four years ago. At first, Ali Imran, Mohsin Ali and I had written the screenplay, but a lot changed in those four years," disclosed Yasir Nawaz. But when Ali Imran saw the final version he asked us to remove his name because in his opinion, the script had changed immensely and he didn’t want his name to be up there just because he was friends with me. Therefore, you will see Mohsin Ali and my name in the credits for screenplay whereas Mohsin Ali is credited with the dialogues.
6. TV discipline came in handy in the making of this film.
Yasir Nawaz believes that the migration of actors from TV to films helped Wrong Number. Actors got a chance to show their skills and "I didn’t have to face tantrums from anyone because we all were doing something new and were passionate about it. We worked like mazdoor because that’s how we work in TV as well."
Still, the director feels tense about the outcome of the film because in TV, a good episode can change the fortunes of a serial but in films, it's all a matter of under three hours! "If a person liked the product he will tell everyone, but if he didn’t like it, he will ensure that nobody gets to watch the film – that’s how film works. A drama aired on TV is free-of-cost; whereas, you have to buy ticket for cinema and every person who buys a ticket in Pakistan feels that he has bought the rights to the movie."
7. There's nothing wrong with the film's poster... says the director.
"I must say that the audience needs to mature in Pakistan," says Yasir Nawaz about the backlash about the one of the film's poster that many considered crass. "Wasn’t the poster of PK with an almost nude Aamir Khan the most discussed one… but that didn’t mean the film was below par or vulgar. A film must be discussed at all times and I hope that once people will watch Wrong Number, their opinion will change for the better."