''Janaan'' (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Pashto Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani (). Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...

: جانان; ) is a 2016 Pakistani romantic comedy film directed by

Azfar Jafri Azfar Jafri ( ur, ) is a Pakistani film director, screenwriter, actor and VFX artist. He is best known for his Independent film ''Siyaah'' which earned him a critical recognition and accolades including a nomination of ARY Film Award for Best Di ...

, written by

Osman Khalid Butt Osman Khalid Butt ( ur, ; born 9 February 1986) is a Pakistani film, television and theatre actor, writer and choreographer. He is best known for his role as Wali Sohaib Khan in Diyar-E-Dil , Faaz Ibrahim in Chupke Chupke and Malik Shahzain in E ...

and co-produced by

Hareem Farooq Hareem Farooq ( ur, ; born 26 May 1992) is a Pakistani theatre, film and television actress and a film producer, known for her work in the serial ''Diyar-e-Dil'' and ''Pawnay 14 August''. She co-produced ''Janaan'' followed by her 2018 film '' ...

, Munir Hussain, Imran Raza Kazmi and Reham Khan, under production banners of IRK Films and ''Munir Hussain Films – UK''. The film stars Armeena Khan,

Bilal Ashraf Bilal Ashraf ( ur, ; born 10 October 1979) is a Pakistani film actor, producer and visual effects director. After studying visual effects from the Franklin Marshall College, he started his career as a visual effects director and then pursued his ...

and

Ali Rehman Khan Ali Rehman Khan ( ur, ) is a Pakistani actor who appears in Urdu films, television series and theater plays. Khan has won two Hum Awards and has been nominated twice at the Lux Style Awards for his acting prowess. Born and raised in Islamabad ...

in lead roles. The film was released in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

by ARY Films on 12 September 2016 ( Eid al-Adha).

B4U Films B4U is a television network focused on Bollywood based entertainment. The network operates the six channels B4U Music, B4U Movies, B4U Kadak, B4U Bhojpuri, B4U Aflam and B4U Plus which are at present available on more than 8 different satellit ...

distributed the film Internationally.

Plot

Meena ( Armeena Khan), a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

student living in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, travels to Swat, Pakistan for her cousin Palwasha's (

Hania Amir Hania Aamir (born 12 February 1997) is a Pakistani actress who appears in Urdu television and films. She made her acting debut with a Pakistani comedy film ''Janaan'' (2016) for which received a nomination in Lux Style Award for Best Supporting ...

) wedding. Her Canadian friends are worried that she may be married, too. She is met at the airport by the bride's adopted brother, Asafandyar (

), and taken back to the house, where festivities are taking a swing. Upon arrival, Palwasha explains to Meena about her meeting and subsequent engagement with her fiancé Samir, a Punjabi. Daniyal (

), Palwasha's cousin, attempts to impress Meena with some ill-advised stunts (including swallowing a lit cigarette), to Meena's disapproval and derision. The groom's family also arrive for the wedding. Meena breaks a tooth and while having the tooth fixed becomes intoxicated by the painkillers from the dentist- this leads to a chain of events which leads to Samir becoming uncomfortable, mistakenly thinking that Daniyal is attracted to him. Meanwhile, Meena develops a feeling for Asfandyar after seeing his kind nature, at the school where he works- a school funded by wealthy beneficiary Ikramullah. On the night of Palwasha's mehndi ceremony, Chotu (the driver) reveals to Asfandyar that he was abused by Ikramullah in his childhood and that Ikramullah is a child predator who has been abusing vulnerable children at the school. Upon Ikramullah's arrival at the ceremony, Asfandyar approaches him in anger and punches and slaps him, much to his family's chagrin. This leads to Daniyal's mother denouncing Asfandyar, claiming that his temperament is solely due to his being adopted. Asfandyar is greatly upset by this but is consoled by Daniyal, who tells him he thinks of him as his real older brother. Before learning about Ikramullah's true nature, Meena slaps Asfandyar out of anger and afterward regrets this action. Due to his family's disapproval of his earlier actions, Asfandyar refrains from telling the family of Ikramullah's child abuse and remains detached at the Nikkah ceremony. His father learns of what happened to Chotu and the younger students and decides to pursue a court case against Ikramullah with the help of the students' parents. Ikramullah threatens violence against the family if the charges are not dropped. Meanwhile, Samir and Asfandyar help Daniyal plan a proposal for Meena, a proposal that she rejects. Later that evening, the car that Palwasha and Meena are driving is stopped by Ikramullah's men. Asfandyar and Daniyal are also driving along this road and are injured in a struggle with Ikramullah's men. On the day of the wedding, Meena receives a full-time job offer from a Canadian middle school, starting from a month after the wedding. After a talk with Daniyal, Asfandyar realizes his feelings for Meena and goes to her room to talk to her where he finds the job offer and leaves, assuming she will leave after accepting the offer. After the wedding, Ikramullah's men arrive and shoot Chotu, killing him. Asfandyar follows them and finds that they have set the school on fire, in retaliation for Ikramullah's arrest earlier that night. Daniyal and Meena arrive as Asfandyar runs into the flames. A month later, Meena is seen teaching the children from the burnt school, which is seen being reconstructed. She and Daniyal then travel to a graveyard, where Asfandyar is visiting Chotu's grave, still blaming himself for his death. Asfandyar assumes Meena is planning to return to Canada, having accepted the job offer, but she tells him she wants to stay and help rebuild the school. She then proceeds to propose to Asfandyar. The three then begin to head home.

Cast

* Armeena Khan as Meena khan/Meena Asfandyar Khan *

as Asfandyar Asad Khan *

as Daniyal Khan *

Hania Aamir Hania Aamir (born 12 February 1997) is a Pakistani actress who appears in Urdu television and films. She made her acting debut with a Pakistani comedy film ''Janaan'' (2016) for which received a nomination in Lux Style Award for Best Supporting ...

as Palwasha Asad Khan/ Palwasha Samir *

Usman Mukhtar Usman Mukhtar ( ur, ) (born 27 July 1985) is a Pakistani actor, director, and cinematographer. Personal life Mukhtar was born in Rawalpindi on 27 July 1985, to actress Nasira, who has acted in 158 films and was known for her roles as a villain ...

as Samir *

Ajab Gul Ajab Gul (Pashto: عجب گل) is a Pakistani actor turned film director, producer and music director who has mostly worked in Pashto films. As well as working in Pakistani cinema he has worked in television and theater. Career Ajab Gul has star ...

as Asad Khan *

Mishi Khan Mishi Khan is a film and television actress and TV host. She is famous for starring as 'Uroosa' in PTV's Drama titled 'Aroosa' which was her debut serial. She then went on to star in numerous hit PTV dramas which have made her a household name. ...

as Shireen Gul *

Nayyer Ejaz Nayyar Ejaz (or Nayyar Ijaz) ( ur, نیر اعجاز) is a Pakistani film and television actor. Ejaz has been working in television industry since early 1990s. He is famous for his side roles (villain) ''Kali Das'' in the television serial ''Laag ...

as Ikramullah * Shafqat Khan as Khan Zaada * Saad Zia Abbasi as Chotu * Sabeena Farooq as Imaan (Palwasha's friend) * Fahad Ali Panni * Jalal Khan *Ahsan Farooq

Guest appearance

* Hareem Farooq * Osman Khalid Butt

Music

Production

Filming and casting

In May 2015, it was announced that a film named ''Janaan'' is in pre-production phase. In August, the cast and crew was revealed on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

by the producer.

Siyaah ''Siyaah'' ( ur, سیاہ, ''Black'') is a 2013 Pakistani horror thriller film directed by Azfar Jafri and written by Osman Khalid Butt. The film stars are Hareem Farooq, Qazi Jabbar, Mahnoor Usman and Ahmed Ali Akbar. The film is about the di ...

's team reunited in this film, with Imran Raza Kazmi returning as producer,

as director, and

as writer. An agreement was signed between the production team and ARY Films to distribute ''Janaan''. The first spell of shooting began from 21 August in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

and lasted till 5 September. The second spell started in

Swat In the United States, a SWAT team (special weapons and tactics, originally special weapons assault team) is a police tactical unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to ...

valley. The same month Usman Mukhtar and Hania Aamir were cast. ''Janaan'' entered the final phase of its production in mid-October after shooting in Islamabad and Swat.

Reham Khan Reham Nayyar Khan (Urdu/Pashto: ; born 3 April 1973) is a British-Pakistani journalist, author, and filmmaker from Baffa, Pakistan. She is a former wife of Imran Khan, who later became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018, The publication of ...

's departure from Pakistan after her divorce with

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

questioned the production status of the film but her co-producer

Imran Raza Kazmi Imran, also transliterated as Emran ( ar, عمران ''ʿImrān'') is an Arabic form of the Hebrew male name ʿAmram in the Middle East and other Muslim countries. The name Imran is found in the Quranic chapter called House of ʿImrān (''āl ʿI ...

stated "As the popular phrase goes: 'the show must go on' and putting all and any speculation to rest, I would like to say that this news will not affect the film in any manner whatsoever."

, Jalal Khan and

were revealed as cast with their character names on 7 November. Three new artists appeared in ''Janaan'' for the first time: Hania Aamir, Usman Mukhtar and Saad Zia Abbasi.

Marketing

Film's first look poster featuring Armeena Khan,

and

was revealed online while Teaser Trailer on 18 March 2016. Janaan is the first Pakistani film whose teaser was shown on UK TV broadcasting channel

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

2 during the World T20 Cup match between

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

on 19 March 2016. Further the teaser was played on Shreya Ghoshal Concerts in UK. The film's theatrical trailer was released on 1 July 2016 on Fahad Mustafa's

Jeeto Pakistan ''Jeeto Pakistan'' ( ur, ; ) is a Pakistani game show, hosted by actor Fahad Mustafa on ARY Digital. The show was launched on 18 May 2014. It has been called the "biggest game show" of Pakistan. Jeeto Pakistan's participants are selected rando ...

show. The trailer was appreciated by critics and film is expected to be a successful endeavor to promote Pashtun culture. The trailer is expected to be played on all Arjit Singh's concerts in UK after its release.

Release

The film was distributed by B4U Films in 17 countries. ARY Films distributed it in

. The film was released in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

on 8 September 2016, and was shown on limited screens the next day in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

, New Zealand, South Africa,

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

, and Singapore. The film was released in Pakistan on 12 September ( Eid al-Adha), and in India on 16 September.

Box office

The film grossed Rs 300 million ($3 million) worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Pakistani film of 2016. It grossed at least Rs 175 million () in Pakistan and Rs 110 million () overseas. In the United Kingdom, the film grossed () in 2016, making it the year's seventh highest-grossing non-English and non-

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

in the UK. The UK accounted for about half of the film's overseas gross.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{ARY Films 2010s Urdu-language films Pakistani multilingual films Pakistani romantic comedy films 2016 films 2016 romantic comedy films Films scored by Armaan Malik Films scored by Salim–Sulaiman Pashto-language films Films shot in Islamabad Films shot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Films directed by Azfar Jafri 2016 multilingual films