The Hindu: May 13, 2010

Karachi is not known for its love of movies. Even KARA, the much appreciated film festival in select quarters, does not always make headlines. So it was a pleasant surprise when one found that the city had adopted not one but a couple of icons from the film world. The newspapers gave them ample space, the local people wondered aloud about their fate. One icon is our own Katrina Kaif. You can barely walk the streets of Karachi without her face peering from the glass panels of a men's parlour, a bride's mehndi centre, a sari shop, and lo, even a salwar-kameez shop. That not many can recall the beauty dressed in such attire back home matters little. For Karachiites, Katrina is one of them! A thing of beauty is a joy for all!

Now, the locals have just found another love: “Virsa”, a Punjabi film that is the first Indo-Pak joint venture with actors and crew from both the countries. Shot in Australia, like many Punjabi films, its posters could be seen at music parlours as well as cinema halls in the city. And its press conference in Lahore generated such hysteria that journalists from Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta, etc. wanted phone interviews with Kanwaljeet, the seasoned Indian actor who came down from Bollywood to address the local press in Pakistan. The newspapers splashed him all across. Something that left the seasoned actor, more used to low profile ways, gushing, “It was a great experience. My father studied in Lahore. I wanted to be there again. I wanted to see an opera and just wanted to see how Pakistan had changed since my last visit way back in 1987.”

As for the film, he raved, “The film has been shot in a neutral venue, but whether in Pakistan or elsewhere, we encountered no problems of visa, etc. I ate with them, learnt from them, drank with them! The fact that ‘Virsa' is an Indo-Pak film added a different feeling to the shooting. On top of it, the role I have done here is different from the usual good guy roles I am offered in Punjabi films. Here my role has negative shades. It is about the people who leave the subcontinent for the First World. They often want to go up and ahead in life without caring too much for scruples.”

The film, which opened with over 60 prints across India, Pakistan, Australia and the U.K., etc., is the brainchild of Dr. Amanullah, a cancer specialist based in Dallas where he runs three hospitals. “Dr. Sahab once told me that there is nothing called Indo-Pak problem abroad. It is always Indo-Pak amity, it is always a joint venture. So, he thought why not have a film on the same lines,” reveals Kanwaljeet, adding that initially the different producers, including Jawad Ahmed, got together for the collaborative exercise. Incidentally, the film is said to be local across the border, as more Pakistani money has been pumped in. “Virsa” has the likes of Kanwaljeet, Gulshan Grover and Mehreen Raheel besides Arya Babbar, Raj Babbar's son who made his debut with “Ab Ke Baras” some eight years ago. Soon, he was forgotten by Hindi cinema until Madhur Bhandarkar brought him out of exile with “Jail”. Here in “Virsa”, he plays the lead, something he initially found difficult to believe.

“When Pankaj Batra, the director, approached me for the role, I wondered, why me? I had not done any solo hero roles in recent times. I wondered if I could carry a film on my shoulders and would anybody be interested in seeing me! I have managed to get noticed in films like ‘Jail' and got some good films like ‘Tees Maar Khan' in the kitty, but solo hero was not something I was prepared for. Once he narrated the story and told me it was a Punjabi film, I was thrilled. It was a moment of nostalgia for me, as my father too had been a successful Punjabi hero before ‘Insaaf Ka Tarazu' happened.” Today his caller tune is a Rahat Fateh Ali Khan song, “Main tenu samjhawa”, a soulful chartbuster from the film.

Some nostalgia, some first moves. Yes, “Virsa” is that kind of film. Even as Kanwaljeet was busy addressing the local media in Lahore, Arya was promoting the film in Punjab this side. Having gone to Australia earlier, he was doing the rounds in Amritsar and other surrounding towns, soaking in the nostalgia of his ancestral land. Says Arya, “When Kanwaljeet and other members of the cast were in Lahore, I was in the Indian Punjab promoting the film!” Pray, what is the difference between our Punjab and that of Pakistan?

Bound by culture

“Well, none. It is the same. The culture is the same. The food and even the abuses are the same. I firmly believe when people eat the same food, hurl the same abuses, they are the same. There is no greater unifying factor than these two.” But then there is “Virsa” which also brings on board Pakistani talent like the redoubtable Jawad Ahmed and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. After the premiere, people in Lahore were seen hailing the film for taking a step towards Indo-Pak amity. “I am flattered to hear that. But anything that brings these two nations together needs to be explored,” says Arya. Adds the film's Pakistan distributor, “We have got an overwhelming response in Lahore. There have been enquiries from places like Karachi where Punjabi films are not as popular.”

Indeed, the city often in news for the wrong reasons might just be turning a new leaf. “Did they like my work in Karachi,” asks Arya, a shade nervous. Well, the world is doing it.