Superstars Land in Dubai

Eid is just around the corner, and with it comes Superstar, one of the most highly anticipated Pakistani films of the year. While there is time left before the movie’s release, stars Mahira Khan and Bilal Ashraf were joined by producer Momina Duraid and composer Azaan Sami Khan for a press event for the film at Vox Cinemas in Burjuman Mall.

At the panel, the trailer for the movie was screened, along with the three music videos that fans will have seen already. The team also debuted the track ‘Ghalat Fehmi’ exclusively for the press ahead of its Youtube launch.

There was plenty of talk about the movie. Bilal advised us to look forward to a movie that challenged societal norms and pushed the boundaries of expectations from Pakistani cinema, as well as inspiring the hidden artists of Pakistan, to let their own stars shine. Comparisons to last year’s Hollywood smash hit “A Star is Born” and Bollywood’s elder success “Aashiqui 2” were shot down, with a tip that the trailer doesn’t tell the whole story.

Azaan and Momina talked about Sunidhi Chauhan’s involvement in the soundtrack as a bridge between the film industries of India and Pakistan, tragically ripped apart by politics. And of course, all eyes were on Mahira, who held up Superstar as another product of a film industry that has been revived too many times and must now be kept alive. She talked about how her experiences in Bollywood informed her work in Pakistan. If you weren’t excited about Superstar already, the team would like you to know that it is time to start getting excited.

GLOSS was fortunate enough to score some time with the firebrand Mahira Khan and rising stars Bilal Ashraf and Azaan Sami, we got to speak with them about what Superstar is all about.

During the press conference, we talked a lot about the influence of Bollywood on Superstar, but I wanted to learn more about the influence of theatre on the film, particularly as far as the music is concerned.
A: When scoring the film and doing the background score, we wanted to create the theatre as a separate world, so musically, that part of the film is quite different from the rest. There were no specific influences for this film, but I’ve done a lot of theatre growing up, a lot of Shakespeare especially, and that would be influencing the music.

M: Three and a half years ago, before this movie getting made, I started going to NAPA, National Academy of Performing Arts, which was difficult because the kids there used to recognise me and I did it all on my own. It was worth it because I wanted to see how struggling actors are, what do they do, how are they feeling and what are they talking about when they say they can’t get a role. That was a very interesting learning experience for me. Superstar ended up being a return to the theatre, and we even had a teacher from NAPA on board.

B: Theater was extremely important to me because that’s where I learned the craft of acting. Performing in an open space with no cameras around really opens you up and it helped me and my acting. Working in the theatrical environment also helped me build chemistry with Mahira and helped us get comfortable as we read through the script.

In this film, Mahira and Bilal are portraying actors, while being actors in reality. How do you think your real-life experiences and your characters’ experiences connect?
B: There are similarities for sure, but the movie is more about just two people who happen to be actors, and it is very simple.

M: It’s about a girl who meets a boy, a straightforward romance story featuring two artists. The weird thing about being an artist is just that sometimes, your journey takes you somewhere else and then most of the people in your life can’t connect with that. So, you’re in love with someone and live a parallel life to that. That’s what is so interesting about Superstar.

At the start of the film, there’s a bit of a power imbalance between Bilal’s character and Mahira’s character, where the former is a successful actor and the latter is just getting her start. To what extent do these power dynamics affect real-life relationships and how much is that reflected in Superstar?
B: It is a bit of a Cinderella story.

M: It is a Cinderella story, and it does have a power dynamic. We are all driven by the more powerful one, at the end of the day. This story is more about these two people on a very weird point in their journeys. You ever meet someone and wish that you had met them before or after or at this point, but you just met them at this weird time? It’s more about that than just power dynamics.

Mahira, you have worked with Ehteshamuddin on TV, and now you’re working together on the big screen. How has the change of setting affected the two of you?
M: Not at all! Except for how it’s written. An actor plays things the way they are written. We talk about film actors and TV actors, and I find that ridiculous. Are you trying to tell me that Nicole Kidman, after doing Big Little Lies, is not going to shine on the big screen? Of course, she is! It’s just that Big Little Lies is written as a TV series, and her next film will be written as a film. It’s a difference in structure. In a drama, it’s like three monologues put into one, while in film, you have to convey all of the sentiment in two lines. Ehtesham and I have an interesting way of working. He just leaves me to my devices and we make it work.

Azaan, where do you think your influences for this score come from?
A: In my previous scores, I would say that there were influences from different places, but in this one, the script dictated what was required and beyond that, there was more of me in this soundtrack than anything else in particular. It was a very personal project for me.