Hamza Ali Abbasi only objected to women in bikinis; he's like family to me: Humayun Saeed

Jawani Phir Nahi Ani has everyone waiting with baited breaths. For one, the cast of the film features alluring Pakistani female superstars (the likes of Ayesha Khan, Mehwish Hayat, Sohai Ali Abro and Sarwat Gilani) and plenty of good-looking guys such as Hamza Ali Abbasi, Humayun Saeed and Vasay Chaudhry. The burly Ahmed Ali Butt, it seems like always, has been tasked in the film to make us laugh ourselves silly.

The cast of JPNA had arrived at New York Coffee last night, to have a meet-up with bloggers and reveal details about the project. Humayun Saeed, Sarwat Gilani, Ayesha Khan and Ahmed Ali Butt all looked excited and happy at the meet and greet. Whilst Ayesha Khan and Ahmed Ali butt were having a generous serving of burgers and beverages, Humayun Saeed shared his experiences and expectations from Jawani Phir Nahi Ani.

“We had a ball doing the film and had the time of our lives,” exclaimed an ecstatic Humayun Saeed. “We just went in there and had fun. I shared an amazing rapport with my cast members and loved working with them.”

Humayun Saeed was forthright when I asked him about the various songs and the dances that followed with them.

“Dancing for Jawani Phir Nahi Ani was extremely difficult,” he said. “It was extremely difficult for all of us to dance, I’m excluding the ladies here. All of us male actors are not dancers so yeah, we did have our work cut out for us. You’d be surprised to know that Ahmed Butt was the best dancer among us!”

In order to pull off the difficult dance steps, Humayun revealed that an Indian choreographer had been hired to prep the actors. Upon being questioned regarding Hamza Ali Abbasi’s reservations, this is what Humayun said:-

“I wouldn’t call them reservations, he just had a point of view I’d say,” he said. “His take on the whole issue was that we shouldn’t highlight or show women in bikinis. In the songs as well as the trailer, he was always like ‘Yar ye kyun include kiya?’, but I was adamant.”

Humayun said that his movies and films had nothing in them that he’d consider hiding.

“My films are an open book, I don’t hide anything. There are bikini wearing women on the beach, because we were showing Thailand. In actuality, there are women in Thailand that wear bikinis at beaches. If we’re shooting the scene there. might as well show what’s real. You’ll notice the women in bikinis if you’re mentality is like that. Otherwise, we just showed a scene at the beach.”

Working for director Nadeem Baig had been a pleasure, according to the suave actor.

“Nadeem Baig is a very professional director, also someone with whom I share an excellent equation,” he explained. “He has done mostly serious stuff, such as Pyaray Afzal, which went on to become a monster hit. This time it was comedy and yes, I think he did a marvelous job.”

The message he had for the public was simple. “I wouldn’t tell people to go out and support our films, because that is what they are doing. The public is already supporting our films and movies. I’d like to tell them to be entertained thoroughly, since I think that is exactly what Jawani Phir Nahi Ani will do. Every five minutes, there’s one scene which will make you laugh yourself silly. We’ve seen it countless times and we still laugh at it.”

According to Humayun Saeed, his co-star Sarwat Gilani would outshine all other characters from the movie. And here’s why.

“Sarwat was pregnant during the entire duration of our shoot, still she completed the movie. She just had her baby recently,” revealed Humayun Saeed. “I think she will be the standout character from the film. Ayesha Khan also has an interesting character, she plays a really stern wife.”

Actress Sarwat Gilani also spoke on the occasion and shared her experience.

“My experience working for Jawani Phir Nahi Ani was amazing,” said Sarwat. “I have been in this industry and acting for the last ten years. It was truly amazing.”

Sarwat did not give away much of the movie. “It’s a larger than life film,” she said. “I hope such type of films are made in Pakistan in the future as well. There are so many wonderful stars in the movie , I hope we all get to collaborate in the future as well.”

” I have great expectations from the movie. I won’t tell people to appreciate the movie, since that is their decision to make. But I will ask them to come out and support our film.”

Before the night was over, the crew all huddled together with more than a dozen people, bloggers mostly, huddled for a selfie (followed up also by a velfie as well) and screamed Jawani Phir Nahi Ani at the top of their lungs.