‘Shah’, a biographical film based on the true story of the legendary Pakistani boxer Hussain Shah, is set to release in cinemas across Pakistan on August 13.
A homeless child from the streets, Shah is the only Pakistani athlete to win an individual medal at the Olympic Games in the last 50 years, but he is soon forgotten by the nation.
This small budget, independent film is directed by debutant director Adnan Sarwar and produced under the banner of Logo Films. Adnan Sarwar plays the title role, with Kiran Chaudhary, Sardar Baloch, Adeel Raees, Faiz Chohan and Gulab Chandio are in the supporting cast.
According to Sarwar, who underwent boxing training for a year to portray the role of Shah said, “I lived and breathed boxing. I had to go through functional resistance training and running in the morning and boxing drills in the evening with very little intake of food. It was tough,” he said about making ‘Shah’.
Living on the streets of Lyari in Karachi, Shah went on to dominate Asian boxing for nearly a decade before becoming the first South Asian in history to win an Olympic Bronze Medal in boxing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Within a few years of his historic achievement, Shah was forgotten by the government and media and fell back to a life of abject poverty before vanishing from the public eye completely.
