Khel Khel Mein (transl. All in the game) is a 2021 Pakistani historical drama film directed and written by Nabeel Qureshi and produced by Fizza Ali Meerza. It stars Bilal Abbas Khan and Sajal Aly.[1][2] The story of the movie is related to the Liberation War of Bangladesh, the country which was formerly known as East Pakistan.[3][4][5] The film was theatrically released on 19 November 2021.[6] The film revolves around a drama club in a university taking its production based on 1971 war event to a drama festival in Dhaka.
Khel Khel Mein | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Urdu | کھیل کھیل میں |
Directed by | Nabeel Qureshi |
Written by | Nabeel Qureshi Fizza Ali Meerza |
Produced by | Fizza Ali Meerza |
Starring | Bilal Abbas Khan Sajal Aly |
Music by | Shuja Haider Asrar Shah Majid Raza |
Production company | Filmwala Pictures |
Distributed by | ARY Films Eveready Pictures |
Release date |
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Country | Pakistan |
Language | Urdu |
Box office | Rs 6.00 crore (US$400,000) |
Khel Khel Mein revolves around the ever growing myths, mystery and mistrust after the Surrender of Pakistan. The film is a projection of the existing mindset and curiosity around the subject, which is interestingly knit into a journey of students exploring the history and making history by doing not the so obvious and expected. Instead following the path of mutual respect, love and peace for all.[7]
Additionally, Ali Zafar makes a cameo appearance in the film.[9]
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Nayi Soch" | Khawaja Danish | Shuja Haider | Shuja Haider, Jabar Abbas, Nida Hussain, Fabiha Hashmi, Maria, Panah, Shehryar, Safeer | 2:05 |
2. | "Zid Pe Ara" | Khawaja Danish | Shani Arshad | Shani Arshad | 2:05 |
3. | "Hum Laye Hain Toofan Se" | Fayyaz Hashmi | Asrar | Asrar | 2:38 |
Total length: | 6:48 |
The teaser of the film was released on 30 October 2021.[10] The teaser received mixed reviews due to the resemblance of the storyline with Bollywood's 2006 coming-of-age drama Rang De Basanti.[11] The official trailer was released on 8 November 2021. The film was theatrically released nationwide on 19 November 2021 and was the first film to be released in the country after the COVID-19 lockdown.[12]
The film collected a total of PKR 25 million worldwide in its first week of release and a total of PKR 60 million in its entire theatrical run. It was the first film to push open the local cinema market after COVID-19 lockdown.[13]
On 26 February 2021, Sajal Aly and Bilal Abbas Khan shared on their social media handles that they were leading actors in the film.[14][15] Besides, Aly and Khan Sheheryar Munawar joined the cast for an extended cameo appearance.[16] The cast also includes veterans such as Samina Ahmed, Manzar Sehbai (who played the older version of Munawar), Marina Khan, Javed Sheikh and Farhan Ally Agha.[17] Qureshi revelaed about the genre of the film that it will be a historical/ drama, much different to his previous films.[18] On 11 July 2021, Qureshi shared on his social media handle that shooting of film has been completed and it has taken 50 days to complete.[19]