''Project Peshawar'' is a 2017 Pakistani multilingual suspense

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

film. It incorporated

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

, and

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

. It was

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

's first internationally released film. ''Project Peshawar'' was particularly popular in global media because

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, the capital of the province, was the hub of militant activity for years. ''Project Peshawar'' is a blend of

eastern Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...

and

western culture Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...

s, highlighting the negative side of modern-day

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

. The film also highlights the importance and legacy of the city of Peshawar at national and international levels. ''Project Peshawar'' revived

Pashto cinema Pashto cinema (; ), refers to the Pashto-language film industry of Pakistani cinema based in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Origins Yousuf Khan Sher Bano was the first-ever Pashto film produced in Pakistan and released in thea ...

due to its production quality and talented cast members.

Plot

''Project Peshawar'' is based on a true story and revolves around a

British Pakistani British Pakistanis (; also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are Britons or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes people born in the UK who are of Pakistani descent, Pakis ...

who falls in love with a Peshawar-based woman on the internet, and travels back to Pakistan to realize that it was merely a trap to capture him. The story highlights the negative side of the modern-day social media boom, and is intended to raise awareness as to how some people use social media negatively.

Cast

* Shoaib Lodin * Navishta Sahar * Sally Ingry * Moez Mohmand * Mihela Bursc * Arbab Izhar Ahmad * James Ryan * Mustafa Khan * Mariyam *Dilawar Jan

Filming

Principal photography took place in the United Kingdom, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, with 70% of the production in Peshawar. The male lead of the film, Shoaib Lodin, who also acted as a consultant producer on the film, is an Afghan-Dutch citizen who left Peshawar in 1997. He is a graduate of the

Film and Television Institute of India The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) is a film institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. ...

Release

''Project Peshawar'' was released on 20 August 2017 in Peshawar, premiering at Nishtar Hall. The premiere was sponsored by Jeans Films and the Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was later shown at film festivals in the United States, Canada and the Netherlands.

Critical reception

Film-maker Irshu Bangash told''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Lakson Group'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the '' Intern ...

'' that people from the local entertainment industry were trying to

sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...

the film, claiming that it portrays the city negatively and "promotes western values" instead of local cultural values. Bangash shared how they decided to do a film about social media and how it's misused. "We see it all around us. Even Mashal Khan's case was elevated due to social media and its power," he said. "It's funny because these are our seniors, yet a lot of inappropriate content has been released without any objections because of the lack of censor board in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa."

Official website

Soundtrack

Musicians involved in the production of the soundtrack include Fortitude,

Khumariyaan Khumariyaan (, ) is a band from Khyber Pakthunwka province of Pakistan that plays a blend of Pashto music and modern musical styles. The band has represented their Culture abroad in Ireland, United Kingdom, United States of America The U ...

, King Compass and the duo of Naseer & Shahab.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title 2017 films Films shot in Peshawar 2010s Urdu-language films Pashto-language films 2010s Dutch-language films 2010s English-language films Films shot in Amsterdam Films set in Peshawar Pakistani independent films Pakistani thriller films English-language Pakistani films 2017 independent films 2017 multilingual films Pakistani multilingual films Urdu-language Pakistani films English-language independent films