December seems to be a wonderful month for all cinema lovers. This year, December is all set to see not one, not two but three major Pakistani films releasing in cinemas and all three with a genre of their own. While we await the release of the intense Arth and the comic Chupan Chupai, we all can not put behind the upcoming musical Rangreza which showcases Urwa Hocane, Gohar Rasheed and Bilal Ashraf in an intense avatar. The film looks like one of its kind to come out of Pakistani cinema after its revival and from the teasers and trailers brought our way, we for one are highly anticipating Rangreza.
Amidst busy round of promotions and talking about the roles and films, HIP hooked up with Bilal Ashraf, the rockstar Ali Zain for Rangreza and decided to ask him what the film and his character was all about. And amongst a lot of fun moments, here’s what Bilal shared with us.
Talking to HIP about why he chose Rangreza, Bilal had nothing but praise for the film, “The reason I chose Rangreza, you’ll get to know on the 21st of December. But I’d like to say that this one it is a beautiful, magical, musical love story and complete family entertainer. In Rangreza, we have action, romance and drama and the music is simply amazing. We have some amazing performances. If you recall, the last muscial to come out in Pakistan was Sargam and now we have Rangreza complete with flavors of love. It’s a very pure film and you’d definitely enjoy it,” shared an excited Bilal.
Bilal indulges that it had been a delight for him to work in a film like Rangreza. He recalls how difficult yet rewarding the experience has been for him and how it has matured him as an actor. “Playing a singer was very difficult and I thought a lot about it. I had to learn to play the guitar so that I’d know what I was doing. My producer was very supportive. It took me time, about 6-8 months while I practiced on the guitar. I must have watched about 7 to 8 thousand videos on YouTube. I found my inspiration in Junaid Jamshed as well. I want to dedicate my performance to Junaid Jamshed because he was a true legend and I really got inspiration from our own pop rock artist Junaid Jamshed. Rangreza was an absolutely wonderful but a pretty intense and amazing journey,” adds the Janaan star.
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Adding further about the performance he had to deliver amongst a crowd of 2000 people, Ashraf says, “I’ll never forget that particular performance. Its easy imagining 2000 people but when you’re in front of them, there is your real test. I did that and I’ll never forget the experience.”
From the looks of the film and the bonding during promotions, it seems Bilal Ashraf had a great time with his lead Urwa and Gohar Rasheed during the film. On how his experience has been working with the duo and the entire Rangreza team in general, Bilal shares very positive memories. He mentions Urwa as a perfectionist while Gohar he says is “my bro”.
Bilal’s Rangreza and Shaan Shahid’s Arth both hit cinema screens on the 21st of December. Shaan Shahid is Pakistan’s star. He’s been in the game since forever. Isn’t Bilal nervous if the films are releasing together? Which one film does he believe will have more pull?
“I would say go watch both movies for Pakistani cinema. But if you’re a music enthusiast and you’d want something different Rangreza is your go-to. The content is very different for both the movies Arth has a mature love story and Rangreza is a very innocent, very pure love story. In fact Rangreza is such a movie that you can sit and watch with your family; be it your mother, father or even your grandparents. The song where Gohar dances with 200 transgenders is pure entertainment. No skin show, yet highly engaging. Rangreza is a 100% Pakistani film, its shot in Karachi, its post-production happened in Pakistan and everything else related to the film has been done here. So promote Pakistani, because we believed if we can help our people with work, why should we go abroad, so watch Rangreza for the love of Pakistan,” shared an enthusiastic Bilal.
