By now, Reema Khan’s new film, Love Mein Ghum, has taken over everything. From cinema screens to TV to a glamourous video that has taken over music channels, it’s everywhere. Whether the film fares well at the box office will be determined by the coming days and weeks ahead. But what’s different about this film though is its title song. If nothing else, the video has made the movie noticeable. It stands out from the crop of most local films.

Directed by ace music video man Saqib Malik, and sung by Ali Zafar, the video features some of Lollywood’s biggest stars like Meera, Nadeem, Javed Sheikh, as well as TV stars such as Humayun Saeed, Adnan Siddiqui, Maria Wasti, Mohib Mirza, Aaminah Sheikh and fashion icons such as Deepak Perwani, HSY, Tapu Javeri among many, many others grooving to the tune with the cast of the film.

Pulling off this video was surely not a small feat. But for its director Saqib Malik, the experience was, in one word, “fantastic”.

“I met up with Reema for a couple of Lux ad campaigns and I worked with her on the Ali Zafar video ‘Dekha’. When we were shooting that video, Reema was planning her film. She was just about to start but it was in the initial stages. And she told me ‘when I do a film, I really hope you’ll do a song for it’. I said okay. That was three years ago,” recalls Saqib as we discuss the glamourous music video that is ‘Love Mein ‘Ghum’.
Three years later, Reema stuck to her word and called on Saqib, he tells me.

“The film got stuck and then suddenly one day I got a call from Reema, This was around June. It was sudden and very quick but she said ‘karna hai’ and I was also keen to do it because one, I had already told her and two, I always wanted to do something for the big screen,” smiles Saqib.

Known mostly for his music videos – Rushk’s ‘Behti Naar’, Ali Azmat’s ‘Na Re Na’ and Fuzon’s ‘Khamaaj’ – Saqib took the opportunity to create something for the big screen when Reema came calling.
Reema and Saqib discussed what they would do together and that’s how the song developed from a number that would strictly feature film stars to a video that features stars from television and fashion as well.
“We planned on doing a song in which the entire film industry would make an appearance and it was going to be both a promo for the film and would also be a part of the film,” says Saqib and continues, “I said then that this idea has been done quite a number of times before so let’s try do it in a different way, meaning not only get the film industry but get fashion as well as the TV industry so that it becomes more comprehensive. Film industry was always going to be there.”

Now imagine the numbers of stars this video features and it screams logistical nightmare, not to forget the fact that this many stars under one roof for one singular project has never been done before. Award ceremonies don’t count. How difficult it must’ve been…

“It just came together beautifully,” confesses Saqib and adds, “For a number of reasons. Firstly, Reema was very clear about what she wanted; which stars she could easily get for this kind of song and dance scenario. Plus it’s a film song; it’s not a music video so it had to be larger than life, full of glam, celebrities full of glamour. The brief to me was ‘celebrities and glamour and dance’. These are the three things Reema wanted. Then we chose celebrities who we thought fit the bill.  So we talked to a lot of people and some did not agree. And then there were those who agreed and so we gave them the dates. And miraculously everything happened,” reveals Saqib.

Coordinating this many stars - surely it couldn’t be that simple?
“I was aided a lot in this by an agency, Citrus. They handle a lot of TV stars; they spoke to them. I’ve been in this industry for a long time. So I called up some people. And Reema called a lot of people like Resham, Meera and everyone came. People agreed primarily because this was something historical, nothing like this has ever happened before in Pakistan, so many celebrities together on one platform for a song or a video.”
But more than anything else, this appearance by the who’s who of fashion, film and TV was to support Pakistani cinema, Saqib tells me.

“You know you had Bol release, which is kind of an art film and there are typical Punjabi films releasing but after a long time a mainstream Urdu film was releasing.  And I was so surprised that everyone came and wanted to be a part of this to support Pakistani cinema.”
Of course not everyone agreed to be a part of the project.

“The film industry people like Meera or Resham, per se weren’t a part of the film but they came for Reema.  We did ask a lot of people. Nargis was on board but dropped out. [We also asked] Arbaaz Khan, Humaima Malick etc but by and large everyone agreed,” admits Saqib.

From nowhere was this an easy idea to execute. It required detailed planning. And Saqib was up to the challenge.

“We had to decide how we were going to shoot particular segments, which artists will be paired with whom, and we went off-schedule shooting till 5 a.m. in the morning.  But everyone was very cooperative, nobody charged a penny, everyone worked for free for this video and it was a fantastic experience,” says Saqib.
Being the director means being the visionary. Understanding the requirements of the video, Saqib got others involved.

“After Reema had spoken to me, I spoke to Nomi (Ansari). I needed to get this video styled really well because it was important. So Nomi came on board, he suggested and I agreed to get Sabs (Salon) on board.”
Once the planning was done, came the actual shoot.

“We planned things in advance. It was a three day shoot, four day actually. First day we shot the TV artists, second day we covered all the film artists and the third day was fashion with exterior cinema shots on the fourth day.”

Of course comparisons are inevitable. And in the case of ‘Love Mein Ghum’, it’s Shah Rukh Khan’s 2007 flick Om Shanti Om that has been drawing attention. The ‘07 flick featured a song, ‘Deewangi Deewangi’ with the who’s who of Indian cinema. With the release of ‘LMG’, there are many who have accused LMG of being heavily inspired by the OSO track.

“You can’t ignore Om Shanti Om because in Pakistan, everyone’s cinematic sensibility comes from Bollywood. So their point of reference is Indian cinema,” says Saqib and explains, “But the point is that this idea of putting a lot of celebrities together for one song is a very old idea. It’s been done in many, many Hollywood films back in the ‘30s and ‘40s in a lot of black and white films. It was done in a Pakistani film, Haseeno Ki Baraat and there was a big song in this film where the entire film industry of that era was present and this was 10 years before Om Shanti Om. Shah Rukh Khan didn’t come up with this idea.”
For Saqib, despite the challenges, this project was a dream come true.

“Love Mein Ghum was a dream come true for me, I’m not apologetic about it at all. I personally think the video is rocking. Its fun, it’s colourful, it’s glamourous and it’s positive. And at the same time a great experience for me cause I got to work with people that I’ve never worked with before. It was the first time I worked with Nadeem, the first time I worked with Javed Sheikh. I’ve never worked with Meera, Reema and Resham together. It was the first time I worked with Rambo and Sahiba. I got to work with Umar Sharif for the first time.

And all these people are so professional. It wasn’t just a great opportunity for me but for everyone involved. Resham hasn’t done a film in a couple of years; Umar Sharif hasn’t done a film in a decade. Javed Sheikh and Nadeem haven’t appeared together in a frame for 20 years; so there was also a lot of nostalgia on the sets. You had the young bunch who had never done a film before and were really excited like Ayesha Omar, Azfar, Aaminah and Mohib. And then you had names like Rambo and Umar Sharif who hadn’t come together in a really long time. So it was nostalgic and I’m very proud to have been a part of something like this,” he admits.
Like everything else, ‘Love Mein Ghum’ has its share of detractors. While some can’t get past comparing it to Om Shanti Om, others feel that director Saqib Malik featured his own friends in the video.

“I work with a lot of people from fashion. I’ve worked with most of the models. I have friends in the industry. And some did say that this video has your friends but that’s not the point. We got everyone who we thought fit the bill. Like Nomi, Deepak and HSY. I know HSY but he’s not a close friend of mine and it was a great opportunity to show them together. There are other good designers out there but we needed someone to carry off the sequence with glamour and they did. We had Neha, Mehreen Syed and Natty who came from Lahore because they wanted to be a part of a film song.

Similarly in television, there were some who I wanted like Imran Abbas. But I’m definitely happy that I had Humayun Saeed and Adnan Siddiqui because they are both iconic television stars. Then we had the younger bunch like Azfar and Noor, and Mohib and Aaminah,” explains Saqib.

Saqib understands the difference in cinema. While he worked terribly hard on making the best possible video of Love Mein Ghum, he has really good things to say about the other noticeable Pakistani film, namely Bol.
“Khuda Kay Liye completely changed what we believe is possible in Pakistan. Then came Bol, which completely shattered taboos, it touched on so many issues, maybe one too many but a courageous effort. Cinema is a subversive experience because you are at a mass gathering, it’s a communal experience, and it’s not like watching a drama in a comfortable surrounding so Bol is a very bold and brave film. I personally thought that the film really picks up in the second half when Iman Ali and Shafqat Cheema enter. It goes from being an issue-based film to a very well-dramatized film. It’s a fantastic effort,” he says.

As I’m about to leave, I ask Saqib what he expects from the film that is Love Mein Ghum.

“I haven’t seen it yet but it looks good. The music is good, casting is good and the film’s been shot at different locations so it’s promising to be a commercial entertainer,” concludes Saqib.

Photos by Shahbaz Shazi and Tapu Javeri
Fashion Director: Nomi Ansari
Hair and make-up: Sabs Salon
Reema’s hair and make up: Nabila’s