Zill-e-Shah

Zill-e-Shah
Directed by	Shaan Shahid Nadeem Hassan
Produced by	Fayyaz Khan Sheikh Zia
Written by	Muhammad Pervez Kaleem
Starring	Shaan Shahid Saima Noor Bukhari Mustafa Qureshi Shafqat Cheema Nayyar Ejaz
Music by	Zulfiqar Ali M. Arshad
Cinematography	Akif Malik
Edited by	Mateen Quddus
Release date	5 October 2008 (2008-10-05)
Running time	189 Mins
Country	Pakistan
Language	Punjabi

Zill-e-Shah is a Pakistani Punjabi-language film and is the sequel to another Punjabi film from 2006, Majajan.^[1]

Plot

Kulsoom (Noor) is engaged to Sarwar Shah (Babar Butt), but she is deeply in love with Zill-e-Shah (Shan), whom she knows from childhood. So Kulsoom's marriage is sealed, but in an encounter Zill-e-Shah kills Sarwar, therefore he is sent to Jail for his murder.

Then an unfortunate incident occurs, when Kulsoom marries Abid Shah (Shafqat Cheema), the elder brother of Sarwar. Noor is in discomfort, but so is Zill-e-Shah, as he gives up his life of luxury, and goes in the realm of dancing girls and becomes an alcoholic. Soon he meets Sitara (Saima) a dancer, who he falls in love with.

Cast

Film release

Zill-e-Shah became the first film in the history of Lollywood to be re-released in cinema houses across the country, within only a few weeks of it completing its first run at the box-office. The film's (re)release date, 13 February, pitted it against the Indian film Billu, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta.

Producer Fayyaz planned an international premiere for the film. "We're releasing the film in UK on March 6, with six prints. Before that, we're going to have a grand premiere in Manchester for which we'll be flying our lead actors with us."

The excited producer also spoke of a Dubai release sometime later. Plans were underway for Zill-e-Shah's premiere in Indian Punjab too, but Fayyaz said, it might have to wait.

Production

Made on a budget of around two crore rupees, Zill-e-Shah attracted much popular attention because of its print ads but also due to its promotional videos that ran on the various local TV channels.^[3] The producer said: "The entire post-production work of Zill e Shah was done in Mumbai's famous Adlabs. It happens to be one of the world's most expensive production houses. Whoever had a chance to watch the rushes simply loved the film. I was hoping for a grand premiere in India, but I don't know if that will be possible now, given the current political situation between the two countries."

References