‘Waar’ (to strike) is a Pakistani action film directed by Bilal Lashari, earlier it was reported that Tom Delmar who has worked as stunt director in a number of Hollywood movies would direct the film, later Lashari was chosen as the director who was already working with Rana on another project. ‘Waar’ is a Pakistani movie based on true event of Pakistan which mostly surrounds terrorism, politics and killing. The film also focuses on the situation of Pakistan after 9/11. From the direction, acting and casting everything is up to the mark, the film casts stars such as Shaan, Ayesha Khan, Shamoon Abbasi, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Ali Azmat and Meesha Shafi in leading roles. After Lashari’s direction the movie is not less than a Hollywood movie and it can easily be compared to that level.
The story is about Major Mujtaba (Shaan) who is a former army officer; he was good at his job but took an early retirement from the service. The story involves a counter-terrorism operation being conducted in the North western tribal region of Pakistan. Ehtesham (Hamza Ali Abbasi) leads and the whole mission and coordinated by an intelligence officer played by Ayesha Khan. Ehtesham and the intelligence officer come to know of a major terrorist attack that can only be countered with the help of Major Mujtaba. ‘Waar’ is high on Patriotism but the killing to blasts and the tears is something that we all witness and are getting very immune to it.
The movie is a tool to create awareness among the people, for insistence if someone is not aware of the violence happening around, ‘Waar’ would actually give the image of what is happening around and would leave the viewer in immense thoughts. The music, cinematography and overall treatment of the film made it a super hit, which is true. Regardless of the confusing story and violence, rest everything was above the level of Pakistani movies that was ever watched before in Lollywood. Bilal Lashari who has been praised for his master work nationally and internationally, from the cinematography to the climax of Ehtesham it would leave you in tears to watch how it was directed; it was a true patriotic scene!
‘Waar’ did extremely well at the box office and was ruling over the screens in cinemas but that is only because of the direction and the essence of Patriotism found all over. In short watch the movie for the love of Pakistan but ignore all the violence and above all the for the acting, direction and cinematography. Technically speaking, Waar is far better than previously release Pakistani movie this may be due to the fact that the movie is funded by Pakistan Army. This movie has given opportunity to lot of talent young actors too showcased their acting skills on such a large screen.
The film was well-received and went on to become the highest grossing Pakistani movie of all time. It was distributed by ARY Films and Mindworks Media.
Production
The film’s title ‘Waar’ is an Urdu language word meaning “to strike” ‘Waar’ is primarily an English language film with some dialogues in Urdu. According to the producer Hassan Waqas Rana they considered dubbing the movie in Urdu but dropped the idea as it compromised the lead role played by Shaan Shahid. It is reported to include four hundred visual effects. The film that took three years to complete is Bilal Lashari’s debut as a director, who earlier has directed music videos and assisted Shoaib Mansoor in ‘Khuda Kay Liye’. Ali Azmat and Meesha Shafi both of whom are known for singing are making their acting debut in the film.
‘Waar’ has been shot at various locations in and outside of Pakistan, from the beautiful hills of Islamabad to the second best tourist destination in Pakistan. Most of the scenes and script are based around locations in Islamabad some parts of the film have also been shot in Istanbul, Turkey. As reported earlier, the soundtrack of this one of it’s kind film has been done by Qayaas. The presence of Qayaas in the film makes the project sound even more interesting.
The estimated film budget is $2,000,000 (PKR 170M or 17 Crores). The film was produced by one of the major film studios in America, Warner Bros. It was first screened at some major international film festivals and after its successful screening at the festivals, it was released worldwide. The film is described as Pakistan’s biggest budgeted movie, costing USD $ 2 million and is predicted to be distributed in almost 25 countries across the globe.
Pakistani bilingual film ‘Waar’ has created a record by earning Rs.40 million in three days during Eid festival. The Shaan starrer action-thriller is said to have the highest box office collection till date. Last year the movie was released in the cinemas for Eid and it was jam pack and this year also after a year the people still watch it with enthusiasm on Television.
Considering ‘Waar’ as the most anticipated movie in the history of Pakistan based on true life events and experiences of people and the nation. ‘Waar’ broke the record of Indian movie ‘Chennai Express’ which released at the same time made the box office record of Rs 9 million on the first day of an exhibition earlier in the year.
Casting
Waar (to strike) is an action/thriller and drama film, written by Hassan Waqas Rana and stars Pakistan’s finest actors, Shaan Shahid and Shamoon Abbasi, otherwise the rest of the cast are brand new actors. Originally Ali Azmat’s and Ayesha Khan’s roles were limited to guest appearance that were later expanded to full roles. Hamza Ali Abbasi who intended to work as assistant director on the film was starred as an actor.
Shaan’s acting was commendable of maintaining the Major Mujtaba’s serious attitude it actually made us hate him that how sternly he is killing everyone. Ayesha Khan and Meesha Shafi will leave you in shocks for dialogue delivery with the accents; they were perfect for the roles. As Ayesha was the firm coordinator while Meesha was playing the negative role whereas she spiced it up with her tremendous looks. Hamza Ali Abbasi stole the show, he was natural and he managed to drag the attention towards him, he gave all the viewers the feeling of true patriotism and that was the real message of the movie.
Shamoon Abbasi was the terrorist in the movie and he made us abhorrence the character due to his negative role and his acting. After watching the movie one will feel proud of their very own movie that too at such a high level but the only thing which was the story would have been better.