With Jawani Phir Nahi Ani (JPNA) on the cusp of release, Humayun Saeed is coming back to the big screen with a bigger cast and seemingly bigger thrills. The actor/producer spoke to BBC Urdu, giving us some more insight into what makes the actor/filmmaker who he is.
Sharing that he enjoys all genres as a filmmaker, Humayun reveals that JPNA is all about stepping out of their comfort zones.
“We should attempt fun movies as such and not be daunted by the fact that Bolly movies have bigger budgets. It’s okay if we have smaller budgets but we should atleast try! I, too, like masala flicks, the thumkas! The hype so far has been great so I’m hoping people will enjoy watching all of us just have a ball.”
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The cast of Jawani Phir Nahi Ani – Photo courtesy: JPNA Official Facebook page |
He further added: “One thing we can take away from Bollywood is that they don’t release blockbusters at the same time. Like if Shahrukh’s movie is coming out, then Aamir’s doesn’t; they try not to clash. If Ho Man Jahaan hadn’t been postponed, it would have damaged our box office collections. Asim [Ho Man Jahaan’s director] showcased great maturity in his decision to push back the release.”
No entertaining masala flick is complete without dancing.
He says: “We’re all dancing in the movie — Hamza, Vasay, Ahmed Ali Butt, all of us! We were all trying to palm off our dancing shots on to one another. The choreographer was surprised; coming from India, she was like that over there, people don’t want to give up their screen time, especially not when they’re dancing and here we were!”
It’s no secret that Hamza is not a fan of item numbers. And while the cast of JPNA has been promoting the movie in full swing, Hamza has been missing in action as he declared he feels like a hypocrite for having been a part of the songs in it.
“Hamza is going through an evolution. When I first met him, he was very different. At one point, he wanted to do an item number himself for Kambakht! He started going to all these dharnas, getting involved with PTI and I started to feel he’s changing because he will feel judged for his work as an actor,” reveals Saeed.
“He also did want to back out of the movie the last minute but because he had committed to it, he went through with it hesitantly. I respected his wishes as much as I could and I think we’ve managed to stay professional about it!”
The ensemble cast of JPNA includes Hamza Ali Abbasi, Ahmed Butt, Vasay Chaudhry, Mehwish Hayat, Sarwat Gillani, Sohai Ali Abro, Ayesha Khan and Saeed, among others and is slated for an Eid ul Azha release.
