Biopic on Aitzaz Hassan to be released on 5th August

The film named ‘Salute’ has been directed by Shahzad Rafique, and pays tribute to the young man and those affected by the war on terrorism.  It stars Ajab Gul and Saima in the lead roles.

This was announced on the Facebook page of the film, which revolves around the true life of 17-year-old ninth grade student Aitzaz Hassan from Hangu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On 7th January 20014, Hassan was outside his school gate when he confronted a suicide bomber who was attempting to blow their school.  He lost his life but saved the lives of almost 2000 students.

He was hailed as a national hero for his actions and captured the hearts of people of Pakistan. He was conferred with the high civil award of Sitara-e-Shujaat (Star of Bravery) by the Government of Pakistan.

Director Shahzad Rafique said that it was emotionally challenging to make a biographical film on him and he would rather make a feature film.

” We had the responsibility of showing this journey its truest form and telling the world how our children are part of sacrifice for global peace,” he said.

He also said that they had aspired to shoot in tribal areas but were able to do due to the security situation and had rather chosen to shoot in Azad Kashmir.

In December 2015, they shot a film sequence in Lyari under the supervision of the Rangers. Later, they headed to Dubai to shoot some final scenes before the post-production was done by a studio in either Bangkok or United States.

The film was supposed to be released on 23rd March but was delayed due to unspecified reasons, and will now be released on 5th August.