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FINALLY! 2017 has been a pretty disappointing year so far, in terms of cinema. None of the films have been praise worthy (Balu Mahi was enjoyable but not a memorable or unique film.) Thankfully, there’s one film that’s about to change that: Chalay Thay Saath. We attended the trailer launch yesterday (yes that has now become a ‘thing’) and made some observations that we would like to share with our readers.

Firstly, the film has a fresh new cast that can ACT! How surprising and amazing is that! They are all new actors – well, new to the big screen. Syra Sheroz, Zhalay Sarhadi and Mansha Pasha are all making their film debuts with director Umer Adil’s film. The lead actor is Kent S. Leung, who’s from China. Then there are two more newcomers, Faris Khalid and Osama Tahir. The first thing we noticed while watching the trailer on a screen in Nueplex was this very basic requirement that films nowadays forget about. They pick up hot, famous actors who are popular on social media but forget to check whether they can act or not. Thankfully, the cast of Chalay Thay Saath boasts a list of strong, professional actors, who are also good looking (win win!)

 

Mansha Pasha, Zhalay Sarhadi, Osama Tahir, Syra Sharoz, Faris Khalid. Missing from this picture: Kent S. Leung

 

Secondly, the film screams Pakistani because of it’s setting. Chalay Thay Saath has been shot in Gilgit, Hunza, and also some parts of China. Not only do we get to see the cultural norms of Hunza and what life is like up in the mountains, but we also see some hints of Chinese culture. Music producer Abbas Ali Khan has done the score for the film, and spoke to us about the amalgamation of Pakistani and Chinese instruments that we’ll get to experience while watching the movie (But that makes for another story.)

Thirdly, everything about the film is visually appealing. Of course it helps that the film has been shot in one of the most beautiful locations of the WORLD, and has been done beautifully, making full use of drone cameras. But the cinematography is spot on, the wardrobe in the film is clean and simple, the film’s logo and artwork have been done by true professionals; even the giveaway goodies we got at the launch are fairly usable.

However, the most important thing is that while the film is a rom-com about friends and family and love (a topic that has been done to death in Pakistan) the story has intrigued us. Umer Adil informed us at the launch that the film took nearly two years to make, while the writer of the film Atiya Zaidi, shared that the film was rewritten at least 16 times before finally being shot.

Watch the trailer below and tell us if you agree:

 

Manal Faheem Khan

The author is Contributing Editor at Something Haute who has studied film and journalism from SZABIST. Will be found at the gym if not in the office.