Revenge of the Worthless eyes January release

Tired of waiting for Shaan-starrer Yalghaar to materialise? Then, perhaps Revenge of the Worthless will be able to satisfy your appetite for explosions and sophisticated maar dhaar.

Jamal Shah's action drama has been confirmed for release on January 15, 2016, according to a post on the film's Facebook page.

The veteran actor/first-time director also confirmed the same over the phone to Images:

" Yes, the film will be released nationwide on the 15th of January. The film's plot is based on the days of the 2009 Swat insurgency. We selected some real-life events after some research, upon which the story is loosely based."

ROTW is a film with many plots, one of which is centred around the family of one Zarak Khan (played by Jamal Shah himself), whose family refuses to leave home during the war. Some characters meet a tragic end, so we wonder if the film has been framed as a comment on the consequences of war. The director prefers, however, to see it as a celebration of the heroism of our people:

"The film shows the deep commitment and sacrifices rendered to save our country, land and cultural narrative. The message conveyed by the film is positive."

"The most important thing in art is relevance," he continues, "In our current circumstances, it's this issue that has affected many, many lives and so is most relevant."

Jamal Shah chose to cast himself as one of the main characters in the film, which doubles the difficulty of pulling off his directorial debut. But he puts it down as a financial necessity:

"It's definitely double the challenges of making the film. When when you produce and direct, you are forced to make the film feasible and cut corners. Instead of paying another actor, I decided to do a character I knew I can do justice to."

The cast also features Firdous Jamal, Ayub Khoso, Maira Khan, Imran, Tariq Jamal, Shamyl Khan and Emil Karakose from Turkey, whom Jamal sahab during his shoot for a Turkish film.

"She was interested in acting and coming to Pakistan, and there was a place in the cast for my daughter's role, so I cast her in that," he says.

ROTW was shot over a span of 42 days in the Swat valley, with some scenes in Peshawar and Islamabad.

It was initially slated for a May 22 release, but was delayed due to a system crash that caused the team to start the film's post production from scratch.