Parey Hut Love Team Visits Dubai

Pakistan’s cinematic lineup for Eid al Adha 2019 is stacked, and a star-studded week in Dubai went on with a press event for Parey Hut Love, the latest film from seasoned director Asim Raza starring Shehryar Munawar and Maya Ali.

Hosted at the Headlines Café in Dubai, the director and his stars fielded questions from the media. Maya expressed pride in the ability of Pakistani cinema to thrive in a country facing economic issues that lock the industry out of the multimillion-dollar budgets that drive Hollywood and Bollywood, as well as the individuals that make the magic happen. She talked about how the film gave her an opportunity to tackle a story that would be hard to find in the drama business, her old stomping grounds.

Finally, any doubts about the movie were put firmly to rest. After all, Asim Raza’s talent speaks for itself, and he’s working with some of the best people in Pakistan’s film industry.

Parey Hut Love will make its way to theatres on the 8th of August. GLOSS was able to get a few minutes for a one on one with Asim Raza and the film’s leads.

Asim, did you already know who you will cast for the characters when writing the script?
AR: I like to go through the script two or three times first to get an idea of the characters. Once the character is defined in my head, I start looking into people who fit the character. Unless you know that the person you’re casting can do justice to the role, it’s the worst thing the director can do to himself. So for sure, I don’t know from before.

How are the characters like you or different from you?
SM: There’s a reason why Asim called my character ‘Shehryar’. You’ll find a lot of similarities in the issues I’ve faced in my life and my tendency to run away from my issues when I was younger – which I hope I don’t do anymore! I’ve learned to tackle that problem as I grow older, but I struggled a lot with my habit of sweeping issues under the rug, and I’ve also struggled a lot with ‘commitment-phobia.’

MA: I think there are some similarities between Maya and Saniya. All I’ll say is that Maya is a bit sensitive, while Saniya is very strong and mature, but I did feel that I was playing myself in the movie and that made the acting easier for me.

One thing you liked and disliked about filming Parey Hut Love?
SM: There were so many things I loved about filming Parey Hut Love, starting with the fact that I got to work with my favourite director again and I got to work with all these amazing people. My favourite thing, though, was that we were always on the road and we shot in six different locations, and so we were like a big family constantly travelling from location to location, from Kashmir to Istanbul, and staying at each location. The thing I liked least about filming was all the shooting at night. My cycle went off and I was craving the sun, this was something I would complain about a lot with Maya.

MA: I didn’t dislike anything about filming Parey Hut Love, and there was a lot I liked about the shoot. My favourite part was at Bhawalpur, where the whole Parey Hut Love family was for around 25 days. That was my favourite part.