CELEBERITY BIOGRAPHY: '' WAAR '' has become one of the most eagerly awaited films of this year.

Waar (to strike) is an action/thriller and drama film, written by Hassan Waqas Rana and stars Pakistan’s finest actors, Shaan Shahid and Shamoon Abbasi, otherwise the rest of the cast are brand new actors. The storyline has been inspired by the war on terror in Pakistan and its effects on the world but with a very stylised interpretation of it. There have been many Hollywood movies which have dealt with the same issue including Syriana (2005) and A Mighty Heart (2007), but most of them failed to portray the situation properly except for Syriana which received generally positive reviews.

“Waar” is all set to be the visual treat and take Pakistani Cinema to a global level. The expectations are huge from this star featured blockbuster that includes Shaan, Ali Azmat, Meesha Shafi, Ayesha Khan, Shamoon Abbasi and Hamza Abbasi. With the debut of Ali Azmat, Meesha Shafi, Hamza Abbasi and Ayesha Khan on the big screen the story of Waar is inspired by the true events that presently have been happening in Pakistan. Earlier in 2010, we reported that Hollywood producers are auditioning for film actors in Islamabad for a high-profile Hollywood/Lollywood collaborative project. The director of the project, Bilal Lashari has shot his first full-length feature film called Waar, in collaboration with ISPR. The film has been produced by MindWorks Media with Hunt Lowry, producer of “Donnie Darko” and Warner Bros.’s smash hit “A Walk to Remember” and numerous other well known films.

The film is said to base on true events of terrorism in Pakistan and their after effects on the world. A host of Hollywood movies have also tried to portray the war on terrorism including “Syriana” and “A mighty heart” but most of the movies did not live to fans expectations and failed to portray the situation properly.

Famous music videos director, Bilal Lashari, has now stepped in to the business portraying the war situation in the country with his innovative style in his debut movie backed by Warner Bros.

It is expected that the movie could prove out to bring revival to Pakistani cinema after the success of Shoaib Mansoor’s “Bol” earlier this year.

Lashari, who is famous for directing iconic music videos for Mekaal Hasan band, Entity Paradigm, Atif Aslam and Overload, has turned into a film director hoping to bring a change and revival to the Pakistani cinema.

“Waar” is an action packed thriller, starring Pakistan legendary actor Shan along with Shamoon Abbassi, who had started her Lollywood career with Faysal Bukhari’s “Bhai Log”.

Rest of the cast are new comers while reports in media suggest Pakistani TV actress Ayesha Khan, Pakistani sensational singers, Ali Azmat and Meesha Shafi all have a major role to play in the upcoming movie.

What makes the project more interesting is the fact that its soundtrack has been done by Pakistani teen heart-throb band “Qayaas”.

“Hopefully this film will be out by the end of this year. I can’t give out the release date right now but it’s going to be something that’s very exciting and again it’s going to play an important part in reviving Pakistani cinema.

We’re trying to make a film that is of international standards.” Lashari was quoted as saying.

The English-language film (Waar) has been shot at various locations in and outside of Pakistan, from the beautiful hills of Islamabad to the second best tourist destination in Pakistan, Lahore to the fascinating valley of Swat (the Switzerland of Pakistan) in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, where a major military operation was launched two years ago. But most of the scenes and script are based around locations in Islamabad. Some parts of the film have also been shot in Istanbul, Turkey.

The soundtrack of the film has been done by Qayaas, a Pakistani band. According to Khurram Waqar, the lead guitarist of Qayaas, “Inquilaab”, “Khayaal” and “Pal” are all part of the soundtrack. The presence of Qayaas in the film makes the project sound even more interesting.

Shamoon Abbasi who will be seen playing the negative role in the film, in one of his latest interviews revealed that director Bilal Lashari is actually in process of casting a French actress named Sarah Desage to play the lead role in his film Waar, but she has not been finalised yet and talks are still underway..

In 2008, Lashari won ‘Best Music Video Director’ at the Lux Style Awards and ‘Best Pop Video’ at the MTV Pakistan Music Video Awards for “Sajni”. He has also directed the popular video “Chal Bulleya” for Meekal Hassan Band.

Lashari also worked as assistant director for Shoaib Mansoor during the filming of Khuda Kay Liye.

Waar will be first screened at some international film festivals where World’s most popular celebrities will also be among attendees. After its successful screening at the festivals, the movie will be released worldwide by American Film Company Warner Bros. According to IMDB, the expected Film Budget is $2,000,000 (PKR 170M or 17 Crores).

The film being produced by one of the major film studios in America, Warner Bros, will be first screened at some major international film festivals and after its successful screening at the festivals, it will be released worldwide.Mindworks Media‘s Dr. Hassan is ramping up several other film projects and has big plans of restarting the film scene in Pakistan.