It’s been several years since we last saw Noor Bukhari on the set of a film. This week, however, has been abuzz with a rush of excitement as we heard the news of her making a comeback to the silver screen with film Ishq Positive. The film, directed by Phida Hussain and Mazhar Abbas, is about drug addiction in the localized environment of Mianwali.
“When we started our careers, Shaan, the others and I in the industry wished to bring about changes, however, at that time there was still a demand for gandasa (a wooden poleaxe that is often used to torture criminals by the cops in Asia) in films,” says Bukhari. Even though the film Ishq Positive has been set up to be a commercial one, it has many characteristics of independent filmmaking.
The film came about by chance, when Noor decided to appear in a music video titled Channa for Raga Boyz, shot by Adeel Pervaiz Kaleem. The screen chemistry inspired Adeel to write a rough screenplay keeping in mind Noor Bukhari and Wali Hamid Ali Khan, the band’s lead vocalist and aspiring actor. Noor is certain that 2014 will be her comeback year with this film and then another one, Saya e Khuda e Zuljalal. Ishq Positive is a romantic-comedy that also stars Javed Sheikh, Shafqat Cheema and Irfan Khoosat. Interestingly, the film is being produced by the US-based producer Shazia Hussain.
“The film was always in my blood, it’s hard to explain in words what it means to me. I just love to act, the issue, however, was that, when I first started my career, I did not like the film culture that we had. This film however, is very different and interesting. We found a good team. We wanted to make a new kind of a film, that is not intense but something that people can enjoy,” says Noor.
Wali Hamid Ali Khan says that the project has generated a lot of excitement because it has been a labor of love. “I belonged to the patiala gharana and was the lead singer of the Raga Boyz who had been looking to act, I think it will be a great opportunity to act in Ishq Positive,” says Khan.
Adeel explained that unlike many of the old actors from the industry, Noor is still a young, fresh face and also a promising actor, which has helped her greatly in making a comeback.
“This will be a different role for her, I observed her and wrote it; I tried to search for the characters she is already a part of in real life,” says Adeel.
Noor, however, is not the only one who has made a comeback after seven years; Resham is making a comeback in the yet to be released independent film, Swaarangi, in which she will be seen in a completely different avatar compared to the commercial work that she has done in the past. The reinvention seems logical as even Meera, in one of her mellower interviews, said that she had not received much interest from both the television and new-cinema circuits.
The crew of Ishq Positive will be going to Azad Kashmir to shoot a song, in the coming week. The soundtrack will include songs by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, and several other well-known singers.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2014.
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