The Reluctant Fundamentalist Red Carpet Premiere

Organised by Bilal Mukhtar,The Reluctant Fundamentalist red carpet premiere was attended by our favourite people at Cinestar in Lahore today. The event had live singing (qawalli),a paan station and waiters serving kebabs, yes kebabs. The festive ambience complete with fairy lights was very Lahori (and almost like being transported to a desi mehndi) as most of the movie is based in Lahore. Very original! We couldn’t wait to the see how the brilliant Mira Nair brought Mohsin Hamid’s acclaimed book to life. With a superb script and a fabulous cast the movie lived up to all the hype. The touching story about a Pakistani’s (Changez played by Riz Ahmed) experiences in the US after 9/11 which affect his relationship with his love interest (Erica played by Kate Hudson), work and the American dream transported us back to that time and got us very emotional. Some scenes and words were censored for Pakistan and that was quite annoying but the acting and dialogue were brilliant.

Meesha Shafi was loveable in her debut role as Changez’s sister and also contributed to the soundtrack with ‘Bijli Aaye Ya Na Aaye’.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Ali Sethi in the movie. He is definitely a natural and also contributed to the soundtrack with ‘Dil Jalaane Ki Baat’ Click here. Atif Aslam’s track ‘Mori Araj Suno’ and Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammed’s ’Kangna’ made the soundtrack even more solid. Thank you Mohsin Hamid for writing the book and contributing to the script. We were so proud to see all our Pakistani talent on the big screen today!