Daily Times

Breath-taking locations, flawless direction, veteran actors, realistic stories and pleasing title songs used to characterise the drama serials of Zulfikar Sheikh and Tasmina Sheikh, the husband-wife duo who when entering the Pakistani drama industry back in the late 1990s, created quite a stir.

Produced by the wife and directed by the husband, the drama serials would revolve around the problems faced by Pakistani expatriates living in European countries. Accordingly, the projects would switch settings between Pakistan and the United Kingdom, examples being ‘Ansoo’, ‘Des Pardes’, ‘Thori Khushi Thora Ghum’, ‘Maa’ and ‘The Castle – Aik Umeed’ from PTV and ‘Khaali Ankhein’, ‘Naseeb’, ‘Khandan’ and ‘Phool Wali Gali’ from private channels.

However, much to the disappointment of their fans, the couple that used to make quality drama serials with actors like Talat Hussain, Humayun Saeed, Nadia Khan, Samina Ahmad, Shagufta Ejaz, Shakeel, Aijaz Aslam and many others, disappeared from the Pakistani television screen.

It is after quite a long time that Zulfikar Sheikh has announced his upcoming project on social media, which is going to be a film titled ‘Sach’ (The Truth). Not only this, but through the pictures uploaded by the director, it seems that the film is already under production, for stills involving actors from both Pakistan and abroad can be found in the director’s profile. The apparent cast of the film includes Nauman Masood, Fazila Qazi, Javed Sheikh, Arisha Razi, Sarah Razi and Uzma Gillani who also acted as the protagonist in his popular serial ‘Maa’.

Kabir Lal, one of the best cinematographers from India with popular films such as ‘Taal’, ‘Yaadein’ and ‘Yuvraaj’ to his name, happens to be the film’s cinematographer, as told by the director, making ‘Sach’ a multinational film having people from Pakistan, India and Scotland.

The film will no doubt be a visual treat because someone who was making projects involving high quality camera work back in the ’90s will probably make his comeback with updated technological equipment. We also expect an excellent storyline because we still have not been able to forget Sheikh’s stories which he always got written by amazing writers such as Haseena Moin and Seema Ghazal.

It’s a pleasure to see that in the revival of Pakistani cinema, not only directors residing in Pakistan are working hard, but foreign producers and directors associated with Pakistan such as Tasmina Sheikh, Zulfikar Sheikh and Yasir Akhtar are also contributing and with full energy and passion.

The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached at m.ali_aquarius85@yahoo.com