Daily Times

Pakistani film ‘Load Wedding’ starring Fahad Mustafa, Mehwish Hayat, Qaiser Piya, Samina Ahmed, Noor ul Hasan Rizvi and Faiza Hasan has hit the screens world over and is turning into a critically acclaimed success. I spoke with the cast and crew of the film a few hours before the film released about their hopes and expectations from the film. The film’s lead actor, Fahad Mustafa, who plays the role of “Raja” was very upfront about his goals for the film. “We want to make some money now!” he quipped. “It’s about time. It’s a good film. It’s an intelligent film. The rest is up to the audience.”

Fahad has been collaborating with Nabeel and Fizza, the writer-director duo who had previously worked with the actor on films, ‘Actor in Law’ and ‘Nalamoom Afraad’, which were critical and commercial successes.

“One of the ideas behind making this film was to make a film that wasn’t a one-time watch. You can watch this film multiple times”

“What we say now is beyond the point – the audiences have to decide. This is my sixth film – and I think this is my best. Even for Nabeel, as a director, I think this is his best work. And now we wish that how we feel about this film is how the audiences feel about this film too,” he added.

Lead actress Mehwish Hayat said : “This is one of our finest work. Honestly, when I was watching the film, I didn’t think it was me on the screen or that it was Fahad on the screen. I felt like they were these people who belonged in a different world.” Mehwish plays the role of “Meerab’, a girl who the main protagonist, Raja (Mustafa) had loved and lost but now aims to win back again. “If you can disconnect from yourself, if you can see yourself from that point of view, I think the rest of the world can see it too. People will buy into the story because the story telling was situational, and it flowed. That really matters. When you think of it as a romantic social drama – you might think that ‘hey this might not work here, this might not connect here’. But, not being biased, everything is knitted really well.”

The director of the film, Nabeel Qureshi had an important message to add to the conversation. “Sometimes when audiences go watch the film, they make these small videos on Snapchat. Ten to fifteen second videos are released on peoples’ social medias. Also at premieres, some people tend to go live from their phones. The premiere is a special event and those people who have been invited are special and we’ve extended out this opportunity to them as a special gesture. So, I wish people would respect that. And even when you are watching the film and if you’ve decided to put it on your social media, you are losing the moment because you are distracted. You won’t enjoy the experience. If you’re watching the film and you really like it and if you want people around you to enjoy it, go after watching the film and tell your friends and family that I’d love to go watch the film with you again. But don’t stream it or snapchat it from your phones because it not only gives away the story, you’re also committing a crime. And a lot of people don’t know this, but piracy is a crime and you’re committing it by streaming a film on your phones and your social media.”

Producer, director and storyteller, Fizza Ali Meerza spoke about one of the many ideas behind ‘Load Wedding’. “One of the ideas behind making this film was to make a film that wasn’t a one-time watch. You can watch this film multiple times and every time you can pick up something new and get entertained. It will grow on you – I know it’s my film, but I can guarantee that you’ll want to watch it again.”

“I think it’s hitting the right cords and it’s very thought-provoking, which you don’t really see in a lot of movies these days,” Hayat added.

“And it matters to you when you choose the roles, you choose roles that give a strong message?” I ask.

“Yes, absolutely,” she said categorically. “That absolutely matters.”

Published in Daily Times, August 25^th 2018.