''Na Maloom Afraad'' (lit. ''Unidentified People''), is a 2014 Pakistani

action comedy film Action comedy is a genre that combines aspects of action and comedy. The genre is most prevalent in film with action comedy films, though several TV series fit this genre. Film The action comedy film is a film genre that combines aspects of acti ...

co-written and directed by Nabeel Qureshi in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. It stars

Javed Sheikh Jawed Sheikh (also spelled Javaid and Javed; born 8 October 1954) is a Pakistani actor, film director and producer who works in Lollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for working in the Hindi films '' Om Shanti Om'', '' My Name Is Anthony G ...

Fahad Mustafa Fahad Salahuddin ( ur, فہد صلاح الدین) commonly known as Fahad Mustafa ( ur, فہد مصطفٰی, label=none), is a Pakistani film and television actor and producer who is best known for hosting ''Jeeto Pakistan'', a game show that ...

Mohsin Abbas Haider Mohsin Abbas Haider ( ur, ) is a Pakistani actor, singer, writer and television presenter. He is the recipient of a Lux Style Award from five nominations. Haider is best known for his acting roles in the successful films ''Na Maloom Afraad'' ( ...

with supporting cast of

Urwa Hocane UrwaTul Wusqua Hussain, better known by her stage name Urwa Hocane (born 2 July 1991) is a Pakistani actress, model and VJ (media personality), media personality. She made her acting debut with ''Khushboo Ka Ghar'' as Rukhsana in 2012. Hocane is ...

, Kubra Khan and

Salman Shahid Salman Shahid ( ur, ) is a Pakistani film, theatre, television and voice actor. The son of producer Saleem Shahid and veteran actress Khursheed Shahid, he has worked in Lollywood, Bollywood as well as in theatre and television.Saddar Town Saddar Town ( sd, صدر ٽائون; ur, ), lies in the central part of the city that formed much of the historic colonial core of Karachi. Saddar Town was formed in 2001 as part of The Local Government Ordinance 2001, and was subdivided into ...

, maintaining the authenticity of scenes and staying true to actual content; many elements of post-production required consideration before principal photography. The script was written years before the shooting, the cast went through meticulous rehearsals, and it became the one of few films that is developed completely in Pakistan. The film was shot in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

during January 2014 with a budget of jointly franchised by

Hum Films Hum Films is a film production and distribution company based in Karachi, Pakistan, working under the Hum Network Limited. It was launched in September 2014, with setting a film '' Na Maloom Afraad'' to release domestically on 5 October 2014. ...

, Filmwala Pictures and Eveready Pictures. It premiered the following year in November where it closed the South Asian International Film Festival 2014. ''Na Maloom Afraad'' had a wide theatrical release in Pakistan on 6 October 2014 at

Eid al-adha Eid al-Adha () is the second and the larger of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam (the other being Eid al-Fitr). It honours the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to Allah's com ...

, followed by a release in UK on 22 May 2015 which has grossed worldwide. The film garnered wide critical praise. At 3rd Hum Awards film was awarded Hum Honorary Special Recognition Award to Nabeel and Fizza. The film became the most nominated film of the Lux's 14th annual awards ceremony in film section with total of seven nominations in four categories, ultimately winning Best Film for Fizza, Best Director for Nabeel and Best Actor for Javed. It became first Pakistani film since 2007 to make a milestone of longest running film for 165 days (22 weeks) breaking the record of '' Waar'' who previously held for 163 days. A sequel titled

Na Maloom Afraad 2 ''Na Maloom Afraad 2'' is a 2017 Pakistani action comedy film, co-written and directed by Nabeel Qureshi and produced by Fizza Ali Meerza and Mehdi Ali. It is a sequel to '' Na Maloom Afraad'' (2014). The film stars Fahad Mustafa, Javed Sheikh, ...

was released on 2 September 2017 which collected at the box office and became the second highest-grossing film of 2017.

Plot

Farhan (

), is a sales representative at IFU life insurance company in Karachi and is fired after he fails to materialize any deal in a year. Moon (

), who hails from Punjab (Faisalabad), has a dream of going to Dubai, but ends up coming to Karachi while his family continues to believe he is living in Dubai. And Shakeel bhai (

Javed Shaikh Jawed Sheikh (also spelled Javaid and Javed; born 8 October 1954) is a Pakistani actor, film director and producer who works in Lollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for working in the Hindi films ''Om Shanti Om'', '' My Name Is Anthony Gon ...

), an honest man who works as a government servant and owner of homemade pickle business 'Shama Achar' is under pressure to get his younger sister Naina (

) married, but can't due to financial constraints. Farhan is a paying-guest of Shakeel and is in love with his sister. Moon becomes the new tenant of Shakeel, after getting kicked out by his landlady (

Shehnaz Pervaiz Shehnaz Pervaiz is a Pakistani actress. She played Khajista Jahan in ''Quddusi Sahab Ki Bewah'' from the first episode. She is also famous for playing Reshma in '' Joru Ka Ghulam'', Shamim in ''Love In Gulshan-e-Bihar'', Rehana in '' Mitthu Aur ...

) for not paying rent on time. Jobless, Farhan and Moon come up with a plan to take a life insurance to open an account in a bank and then burn it in Karachi strike, posing as 'Na Maloom Afraad', so that they claim desired amount of money in the claim from insurance company. Meanwhile, a proposal comes for Naina and they ask for a car as dowry; devastated with his situation Shakeel goes to break his fixed deposit, but realizes that he had already withdrawn it in 1998 for his mother's (

Zaheen Tahira Zaheen Tahira (1931 – 9 July 2019) was a Pakistani film and television actress, producer and director. She also worked for Radio Pakistan and on stage. Early life She was born in 1931 in Lucknow, India (according to some sources, she was ...

) operation. Thinking of mortgaging his home, it's revealed to Shakeel that the government has given them a one-month notice for leaving their houses due to bridge construction over the area. With all these difficulties, Shakeel tries to commit suicide but is saved by the police. Both Moon and Farhan reveal their plan to Shakeel, of which first he refused to part of, but due to his problems he reluctantly agrees. Farhan goes to Gogi (

Salman Shahid Salman Shahid ( ur, ) is a Pakistani film, theatre, television and voice actor. The son of producer Saleem Shahid and veteran actress Khursheed Shahid, he has worked in Lollywood, Bollywood as well as in theatre and television.Kubra Khan). All disguise themselves as a rich people and then get an insurance policy to own a fake claim. Moon, who has also borrowed money from Gogi earlier for going to Dubai, is running from him due to the drugs he saw in a doll which he gave him to transfer to another mobster in Dubai. After Jumma prayer, all three get jammed in a strike and try to burn the bank but are caught on camera and merely escape from police. Looking at every plan going wrong, Shakeel borrows money from Gogi by giving his house on mortgage. Gogi reaches them and asks Moon for the drugs. Unable to get them, he gives them one week to give him a crore. All blame each other for their situation. Shakeel gets unconscious and on the way to the hospital they get stuck in the strike, however later it is revealed that it was a part of plan so they get escape from strikers. They provoke strikers to burn the bank but only then they get to know that bank is empty. Later an IFU insurance inspector Samuel (

Nayyar 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 ...

) came to give them claim of thirty lacs, and warns them that he knows about what they did. They go to Gogi to offer him thirty lacs and ask him for time, but then get into a fight with Dubai mobster and Gogi. Both of them get killed and all of three come home shocked. They find a phone ringing in a suitcase containing money and jewellery. It is then revealed that Hina robbed the bank before the strike for them. With the money, all gets settled; Shakeel buys a new home and standardises his pickle business, Farhan happily marries Naina and Moon fulfils his dream of going to Dubai.

Cast

as Farhan Ahmed *

Jawed Sheikh Jawed Sheikh (also spelled Javaid and Javed; born 8 October 1954) is a Pakistani actor, film director and producer who works in Lollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for working in the Hindi films ''Om Shanti Om'', '' My Name Is Anthony Go ...

as Shakeel Ansari *

as Moon *

as Naina * Kubra Khan as Hina *

Salman Shahid Salman Shahid ( ur, ) is a Pakistani film, theatre, television and voice actor. The son of producer Saleem Shahid and veteran actress Khursheed Shahid, he has worked in Lollywood, Bollywood as well as in theatre and television.Nayyar 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 Samuel (Special appearance) *

Amanullah Khan Ghazi Amanullah Khan ( Pashto and Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 25 April 1960) was the sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emir and after 1926 as King, until his abdication in 1929. After the end of the Third Anglo-Afghan War in August 1 ...

as Moon's uncle (Special Appearance) *

Mehwish Hayat Mehwish Hayat (born 6 January 1988) is an Pakistani actress who primarily works in Urdu films and former television. She made her debut in film with comedy ''Jawani Phir Nahi Ani'' (2015) and later went on to '' Actor in Law'' (2016). Hayat i ...

as call girl as known as Billi (Special Appearance) *

as Shakeel's Mother (Cameo) *

as Landlady * Ali Rizvi as Tea Owner *

Paras Masroor Paras Masroor is a Pakistani theatre and television actor. Starting his career as a theatre actor, he moved on to television. He has played the role of Torah Khan in Momina Duraid's '' Sang-e-Mar Mar'' (2016) for which he received Hum Award for Be ...

as News Reporter

Production

Development

In 2012, director of telefilms at a comedy-show '' Banana News Network'' Nabeel Qureshi had an idea of making a film with the producer and screenwriter Fizza Ali Meerza who was Qureshi's friend and colleague at

National Academy of Performing Arts The National Academy of Performing Arts ( ur, ; abbreviated as NAPA) is a performing arts school located at Hindu Gymkhana in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. NAPA was established in 2005 as an institution to conserve and teach performing arts and ...

before dropping out. According to directors account the idea originates in a casual conversation with Fizza about banks, lockers and their insurance which ends up with the final name of 'Na Maloom Afraad', the director said, "within the next 24 hours, we had our story." In 2013 before Ramadan, Nabeel and Fizza co-write the film. Fizza and her brother financed the film with the initial budget of under the banners of their own production company Filmwala Pictures. To maintain the budget of film producer wanted to make a film in Canon EOS 5D without taking extra technicalities in shooting. But however the final budget of film was closed around , becoming one of the biggest-budgeted films made in Pakistan. In early 2014, Hum TV came on board as media partner and by mid of year Eveready Pictures was in final negotiation for the Pakistan distribution rights. Award-winning cinematographer Rana Kamran (who previously work with Fizza on a film '' Armaan'') was announced the director of the photography of the film.

Casting

In 2013, after the finishing work on script Nabeel and Fizza themselves choose the cast.

was the first person who was offered for the role of Shakeel Bhai, director recounts that "we had late

Moeen Akhtar Moin Akhter (also: "معین اختر" Moin Akhtar), (24 December 1950 – 22 April 2011) was a Pakistani television, film and stage artist, humorist, comedian, impersonator, host, writer, singer, director and producer who rose to fame in the ...

in our mind but after he passed away we for looked for the next best person and Jawed Sheikh came to mind". After reading the script sheikh accepted to do the film. For the role of Farhan, television actor

came on board marking his debut in the field, director said, "It was hard to convince him to do a film because he had rejected many offers but thankfully, he liked the story and agreed." Finally for the third main lead role of Moon was given to

, who was a long time friend and colleague of director from ''Banana News Network'', Nabeel emphasize that "Mohsin and I go a long way back and I always had him in mind for the role of Moon; there was no other person approached for the role." Mohsin also mark his debut as a film actor. Television actor Saleem Mairaj was offered a role of Abd-ul-Qadir a drug addict, for which he was reluctant at first but after briefing, he accepts the role and veteran PTV actor

confirmed to play the role of insurance company agent Samuel. Irfan Motiwala and Masood Khan confirmed to play the roles of henchmen Polka and Jango respectively.

Waseem Abbas Waseem Abbas ( ur, وسِیم عبّاس) is a Pakistani television, film actor and director. He is known for his roles in television dramas for PTV and other networks, including '' Samundar'', ''Raat'', '' Ashiyana'', '' Family Front'', '' Lan ...

was offered the role of Gogi a local mobster and a drug dealer, but he refused to do a small role. Director then approached

Salman Shahid Salman Shahid ( ur, ) is a Pakistani film, theatre, television and voice actor. The son of producer Saleem Shahid and veteran actress Khursheed Shahid, he has worked in Lollywood, Bollywood as well as in theatre and television. Ambar Wajid was selected to play the role of Shama as Shakeel's wife. Kubra Khan joined the cast to play the role of Hina, a bank work and love interest of Moon. Kubra marked her acting debut from the film, who previously worked on commercials. Television actress

was selected to play the role of Naina, who in film is the sister of Shakeel and loves Farhan. Hoccane also marked her film debut from ''Na Maloon Afraad''. Actress

Meera Meera, better known as Mirabai and venerated as Sant Meerabai, was a 16th-century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition. Mirabai was born into a Rathore ...

was selected to play the role of Billi in the early stages of film, when only Sheikh was confirmed for the cast. But she refused to do the role due to her skin disease at that time, later

came on board to do the role. A special character of stray Dog was added, who was specially trained for the film by stunt director Mehboob Shah. In addition to the cast well known television starlets Shehnaz Pervez, Zaheen Tara, Ali Rizvi and Paras Masroor also plays minor roles as a landlady of Moon, mother of Shakeel, tea restaurant owner and as crime show host respectively.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in January 2014 in

. Filming took place around

Saddar Town Saddar Town ( sd, صدر ٽائون; ur, ), lies in the central part of the city that formed much of the historic colonial core of Karachi. Saddar Town was formed in 2001 as part of The Local Government Ordinance 2001, and was subdivided into ...

. The Saddar scenes involve an actual strike in a town; the production had to close the town for shooting; tyres and three to five cars were placed the night before the shooting to burn, in order to make scene like a strike. This was the first time in Pakistan a shooting for film took place on such a level. Filming continued till June and completed in early July. Post-production and editing were completed between July and early August. It became the first Pakistani film to be shot and released in the same year, and the second Pakistani film which was shot completely on the

Arri Alexa XT The Arri Alexa (stylised as ΛLEXΛ) is a Digital cinematography, digital motion picture camera system developed by Arri. First introduced in April 2010, the camera was Arri's first major transition into digital cinematography after previous ef ...

digital cameras A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...

with

anamorphic lens Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. It also refers to the projection format in which a distorte ...

es after ''

Jalaibee ''Jalaibee'' ( ur, ; meaning ''twist'') is a 2015 Pakistani caper action thriller film directed and written by Yasir Jaswal, produced by Eman Syed. Jalaibee is a joint production of ARY Films & Redrum Films in association with Sermad Films and ...

''.

Music

The music album was released on 5 September 2014 in a press conference held at

Pearl Continental Pakistan Services Limited, doing business as Pearl-Continental Hotels & Resorts (also abbreviated to PC Hotels), is the largest chain of five-star hotels in Pakistan with properties in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gwadar, Bhurban, Muz ...

Hotel,

where the film's star cast along with production team was present. Lyrics are penned by

Sabir Zafar Sabir may refer to: People Peoples and language * Sabir people, 5th–7th century nomadic people who lived in the north of the Caucasus * Sabir language, or Mediterranean Lingua Franca, a pidgin language People with the name * Salimallah Sabir (bo ...

consisting of nine tracks, with

Shani Shani ( sa, शनि, ), or Shanaishchara ( sa, शनैश्चर, ), refers to the divine personification of the planet Saturn in Hinduism, and is one of the nine heavenly objects (Navagraha) in Hindu astrology. Shani is also a male Hind ...

& Kami composing seven and Vicky Haider & Naqash Haider with one track. Film's lead actor

also wrote and sung one track ''Sapno Ki Mala'', which was the impromptu addition to film album. The film promotion started on 13 September, with release of its first video promo of song ''Darbaar''. The item song of film ''Billi'' is filmed on

and is sung by Saima Iqbal while it is written by Fizza Ali Meerza and Nabeel Qureshi.

Track listing

Release

The theatrical trailer was released on 27 June 2014 on social media and later on television. was announced at a press conference held in

that the film will be distributed by ''

'' and ''Eveready Pictures'' in cinemas across Pakistan on Eid ul-Adha 2014 At box office film competed

Shaan Shahid Armaghan Shahid PP ( ur, ; born 27 April 1971), better known by his stage names Shaan Shahid ( ur, ) or Shaan, is a Pakistani actor, producer, model, writer and director. Shaan has established himself as one of the most popular leading acto ...

’s '' Operation 021'' and

Hrithik Roshan Hrithik Roshan (; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He has portrayed a variety of characters and is known for his dancing skills. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including six ...

’s ''Bang Bang'' on their release in Eid days. On 23 November 2014 Na Maloom Afraad had its

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

premiere at South Asian International Film Festival. The film released on limited screens in

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

on 22 May and in

U.A.E. 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 3 September 2015. The satellite rights if of the movie were syndicated between HUM TV & Sony Max Int .The film had its t.v premiere on Hum TV as an Eid special on 19 July 2015. The film was released in DVD on 13 August 2015. The film has been made streaming available on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

Box office

''Na Maloom Afraad'' opened on approx 78 screens, the lowest on Eid among other two releases ''O21'' and ''Bang Bang'' on day one but picked heavily since and collected over first 3 Days of Eid which was slightly more than ''Bang bang'' but quite below ''O21''. It collected on first day of release, competing ''O21'' at box office it crossed the figure of on 9th day of release leaving all competitors behind and became the super hit of the time. Move held extremely well and went on to collect massive over Eid Week from Monday to Sunday. Movie sustained supremely over the Weekdays and added another over the Weekdays to take 11 days extended week one to which is 2nd biggest of 2014 after ''

Kick A kick is a physical Strike (attack), strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee (strike), ...

'' and 4th biggest of all time after ''

Dhoom 3 ''Dhoom 3'' () is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Aditya Chopra, who co-wrote the story. It stars Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Katrina Kaif, Uday Chopra, Jack ...

'', '' Waar'' and ''

'' on their release in Pakistan. Movie continued its stable run in second weekend and collected which was even more than last weekend taking grand total to . Film showed steady performance in 3rd weekdays as well and despite facing off with '' Happy New Year'', collected on 3rd weekend. The film collected Rs 12.20 crores in Pakistan and Rs 1.80 crores in overseas for a worldwide total of Rs 140 crores.

Reception

Critical response

The film got overall positive critical reviews, The film premiered on 29 September 2014 during a press event in

Atrium Cinemas Atrium Cinemas is a movie theater and first Digital 3D Multi-Screen Cinema Complex in Pakistan inside Atrium Mall Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a popul ...

. Film's lead cast along with film director and producer attended the screening event. Several journalists were also present to cover the story. Rafay Mahmood of ''

The Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English language, English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the ''Daily Express (Urdu newspaper), Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliat ...

'' rated the movie 4/5 and wrote "Na Maloom Afraad is a smartly-crafted film, which guarantees a ''paisa-vasool'' (money earning) experience. From the item number to the one-liners, every scene has a purpose and reveals something about the ongoing social circus in the country." Samra Muslim of ''Sunday'' wrote "Na Maloom Afraad is an out-and-out entertainer, which due to the catchy promos, strong word of mouth and excited audiences, all which will surely have the producers laughing all the way to the bank. Just what the Pakistani film industry needs!" Maliha Rehman of '' DAWN.com'' rated 4.5/5 and –wrote "It’s an all-out, tongue-in-cheek, cleverly-crafted entertainer that leaves you pining for more movies of the same variety."

Accolades

In Online winning race, It collected 2,736 votes at Tribune's Film Awards 2014, winning in most of categories both by critics and readers.

Sequel

In an interview with ''

'', film producer commented about sequel as, "We don't know if it's going to be a proper sequel or a spiritual successor through which we'll tell a different story this time." However, its filming took place in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

between February and May 2017. The film released on Eid al-Adha in September 2017. Fahad Mustafa, Javed Sheikh, Mohsin Abbas Haider and Urwa Hocane returned to the sequel, joined by new members

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 ...

and

Marina Khan ''Marina Khan'' (born 26 December 1962) is a Pakistani television and film actress, director and a producer. She was one of the most popular actresses of the 1980s and 1990s. Her television shows include '' Tanhaiyan'' (1986), '' Dhoop Kinare ...

; latter made her film debut.

References

External links

* * {{Na Maloom Afraad series 2014 films 2010s thriller films 2010s Urdu-language films Films shot in Karachi Pakistani comedy thriller films Films scored by Sajjad Ali 2010s crime comedy films 2014 directorial debut films 2014 comedy films