LAHORE: An eager crowd of acclaimed actress Mahira Khan’s fans, dispersed disappointedly, after waiting outside Hall 2 of the Alhamra Art Centre for an hour. Mahira Khan’s session on her recently released social drama film ‘Verna’, moderated by actor and filmmaker Sarmad Khoosat flanked by Mira Hashmi, was scheduled to take place on the concluding day of the esteemed Faiz International Festival. It had already been the popular choice for all visitors to attend, but only a handful of them were able to enter the hall’s premises. A humongous sea of crowd huddled outside the hall, as per schedule; Khan’s session was to be held between 4pm to 5pm. People were excited to attend for many reasons out of which, one was that filmmaker Shoaib Mansoor had made a film after a hiatus of seven years, post critically acclaimed films such as ‘Khuda Ke Liye’ and ‘Bol’. The session was to be held on his third film. Secondly, the sea of crowd was eager to attend the film’s session because of the recent controversy it had created which involved hurdles in the film’s release. The crowd containing Khan’s fans of all ages and walks of life had started gathering outside the designated hall by 3pm, and some even before that time had made their way outside. By 3:45pm, the entire area surrounding Hall 2 was packed. The curators, ushers and the programme directors instructed the crowd to make a queue and then re-instructed them to make another queue of gents and ladies separately. However, the excitement turned into despair, when the crowd was told by organisers, that the hall had already been filled, and there was no point in them waiting for their turn to enter. On these words, the doors were tightly closed and sealed. The crowd waited some more before, dispersing, clearly disappointed, all the time wondering how the hall had been filled if the doors to it never opened for them in the first place. Fathers were seen cheering their daughters up, with whom they had waited outside the hall, and several others were heard talking on the phone, telling their friends and family how they were refused the chance to see Khan talk about her film. Published in Daily Times, November 20th 2017.