I really wanted to work with Atif Aslam again: Onir

Atif Aslam won't sing for Onir's next film after all.

Atif and the National Award-winning director have worked before in Bas Ek Pal for which the singer recorded 'Tere Bin' and the two have been close since then.

Unfortunately due to the tension between the two countries, the two will not be able to collaborate again in Onir's upcoming film Shab.

According to Times of India, Onir feels it will be a "loss for both industries" if this matter isn't sorted. In a conversation with IANS, the director says, "I really wanted to [work with Atif Aslam]. It would have been so amazing, just like a retreating therapy. But unfortunately at the point when we had to record, things were not great between [the neighbouring countries]... There were a lot of problems happening with films and ours being a small film I couldn't afford that kind of thing."

The Nikhil director is upset about this development but understand that the circumstances are too dire to take any risks. Says Onir, "I understood the sensitivity. I have a lot of friends in Pakistan and I have been to the country. I think it is a loss for both our industry if we don't exchange talent but the entire situation is complex. Both me and Atif discussed [about it]. We will work together in future if we didn't do this."

Shab features Raveena Tandon, Ashish Bisht and shall mark the Bollywood debut of French actor Simon Frenay. The film revolves around the idea of dreams, love and happiness.

"The journey with Shab was very special," says Onir, "It started 17 years ago when I wrote the first draft of 'Shab'. It has been a really long journey."

As a tribute to his friendship with singer Atif Aslam, Onir has taken "one of his old songs 'Tere Bin' in the film" and kept it as background score.

Shab will hit screens on June 30.