Daily Times

‘Laal Kabootar’ seems to have all the elements of thrill and excitement to take cinemagoers to a rollercoaster ride featuring Ahmed Ali Akbar as Adeel Nawaz and Aliya Malik, played by the alluring Mansha Pasha. The film is all set to release across Pakistan over the weekend. This movie is directed by Kamal Khan whereas Mo Azmi is the director of photography.

‘Laal Kabootar’ is the debut film of Nehr Ghar Production and Harvard graduate brother sister duo Hania Chima and Kamil Chima are its executive producers. The genre of this movie is crime thriller.

The trailer of ‘Laal Kabootar’ depicts that this movie is about criminals and extortionists. Last year, a couple of movies were made on this topic but their scripts were inclined towards comedy. The stern faces of characters in the trailer signify that this is a more serious movie.

Talking about their debut movie, Hania and Kamal Chima revealed that they wanted to tell a gripping story through relatable characters. The effort was to make the screenplay seem so natural that the audience feels immersed in the world of ‘Laal Kabootar’. To make their thought a reality, they had to engage a total of seven writers and all of them brought their unique perspectives to the mix.

The film was shot in Karachi. Explaining about the shooting of the movie, they said, “We undertook the very tough task of shooting in over 20 different locations over 36 days. But all that movement and diversity of locations is what makes the film visually engaging and interesting to look at.”

Talking briefly about the cast, the Chimas were of the opinion that Mansha Pasha and Ahmed Ali Akbar fit the characters “like a glove. We are sure that their performances, as well as that of Rashid Farooqi, will be remembered for a long time to come”.

Hania Chima said that like all South Asian stories, ours would be incomplete without music. This movie consists of seven songs. One unique element of this movie is that along with songs in Urdu, it has songs in Sindhi, Punjabi and English also.

The extremely talented Taha Malik was at the helm of the music department of ‘Laal Kabootar’.

His infusion of modern beats with classical instruments is expected to enhance the audiences viewing experience.

In the first phase, ‘Laal Kabootar’ will be released in Pakistan only but plans for an international release are in the pipeline.

The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached at kzk1972@gmail.com and Tweets at @KhurramZiaKhan

Published in Daily Times, March 21^st 2019.