Peace, not pieces for me: Shahvar Ali Khan Piyali Dasgupta

Exactly after two years, Lahore - based advertising professional-turned-musician from Pakistan, Shahvar Ali Khan, is visiting India again. He lands in Delhi today and has finally got the permission to shoot his music video on peace - "No Saazish No Jung" - in India, after struggling with it for two long years. He now plans to shoot the video in Mumbai and Bangalore, but before that he will be staying in the capital for a few days to meet his close friends and relatives.

Before leaving for India, Shahvar told us on the phone, "I will be visiting India soon to shoot the music video. I will begin the shoot in cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. I will be in India for almost a month to shoot and produce the "No Saazish No Jung" music video." He added, "The music video will be directed by Tharaq Andrews and produced by Lisa D'Costa from Nirvana Films. Well known cinematographer Ravi Chandran will shoot the music video. Fihlal we plan to shoot the song in Bangalore and Mumbai."

During his last visit to Delhi in 2009, Shahvar had told us that he was eager to shoot the video for the song in Mumbai. In an exclusive interview to DT in the same year, he had shared, "It will be an India-Pakistan peace initiative, and that's why I'm more keen on doing the video in Mumbai. During my visit I met several Indian directors and I am also looking for sponsors and TV channels to back the video so that it can be ready for release by the time Pakistan and India celebrate their Independence days - on August 14 and 15 respectively." Unfortunately, there were visa issues and his music video shoot had been kept on hold since then. However, Shahvar didn't lose hope and after waiting for two long years, he finally got the permission to shoot the video in India.

In the peace anthem song, Shahvar has used the voices of Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Benazir Bhutto and Barack Obama. He explained, "The song begins with my own voice-over in which I recite, 'I want peace, not pieces'. The main focus of the song is that there should be peace within and peace without." He sang a few lines from the song, "Mullaeya na kar tung, oo guraya na kar tung, mainu rahen dae malang, main nach nach kai ladniyae jang de nal jang" (Don't bother me mullahs, don't bother me foreigners, let me remain a free spirit, I will dance away and fight your war)."

Talking about the recent serial blasts that shook Mumbai, Shahvar said, "It's overall very sad. How does the taste, smell and colour of blood differ from Mumbai to Karachi? I was just inquisitive - 'Khoon apna ho ya paraya ho, nasle Adam ka khoon hai aakhir'."


Friday, July 22, 2011

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