Lahore the Movie
By Farhan
While there have been many movies about India and Pakistan competing in sports, Lahore the movie is bound to make a name for itself as no movie has taken a sport as intense and as direct as Mixed Martial Arts. While the other movies showed both countries fighting through sports, this movie makes the fight the sport itself. The movie is a big budget high class extravaganza and has already managed to win many different awards in film festivals. It is earning lots of praise wherever it is being shown and the praise will continue when the movie is opened to the public on 19th March.
Mixed Martial Arts has exploded into the sports scene in the last decade. This is not an old sport but it has managed to rival boxing and wrestling because of its intensity and excitement. The sport now attracts millions of viewers. It has spawned a reality television series and a very successful video game series. MMA has been brought to the mainstream by UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). While UFC faced political backlash in the beginning after the creation of new stricter rules it has managed to win over millions of people and earn their respect. Mixed Martial Arts combines many different forms of fighting and combines them to make a spectacular fight.
After captivating audiences and creating respected fighters all over the world the sport is also starting to make ground in the subcontinent. Mixed Martial Arts are sure to be a hit here due to the sport’s unique combination of brutality and discipline. The sport will also be watched by everyone here due to the sporting rivalry between India and Pakistan and when these two countries enter the ring together. Pakistan will also see the opening of Shaheen MMA Academy at the same date as when this movie comes out. This movie will only further the penetration of this sport in this subcontinent. There are already underground and arranged Mixed Martial Arts being held in Pakistan in Lahore, Karachi and many other cities and they are getting more and more organized as time passes. The sport has already managed to garner thousands of fans on the internet. The audience is waiting for the sport to become professional and this will happen once more academies open up like Shaheen MMA academy. This movie will signal the start of MMA in India and Pakistan.
Pakistan and India have been great competitors in every sport. Whenever India and Pakistan meet for a match no matter what sport it is, the whole world hypes up for it and the people of both countries act like it is something more than a sport, even the most non patriotic people become patriotic for their country when these two nations fight for victory. Players of both nations talk about this hype all the time and sometimes these guys have to suffer if they are part of the losing team and if they walk home as a winner they are treated as heroes. Imagine this hype if the sport was an MMA match where it is about who is stronger, who is more hard to take those punches and kicks and still stand out there in the ring when the whole nation is watching them fight on their behalf, cheering for them, imagine the pressure when each punch is thrown.
Lahore the movie is expected to be one of the biggest upcoming movie as it is a creation of Warner Brothers Production Company. The film has been awarded with Best Film Award at the 42nd World fest, Houston International Film Festival, best Actor (Aanaahad) at Tenerife International Film Festival, UK, most Aspiring Film Maker (Sanjay Chauhan) at Filmmakers International Film Festival, UK, best actor (Aanaahad) at Salento International Film Festival, Italy and won 6 nominations at Asian Festival Of first films, Singapore. The main actors of the film are Farouque Shaikh, Nafisa Ali, Anaahad and Shraddha Das. It is directed by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and produced by Vivek Khatkar & J.S Rana. The movie will also be an honest portrayal of the sport as the director is a big MMA enthusiast. He chose to make a movie about India and Pakistan by using this sport instead of Cricket or Hockey because he knows this game inside out and wanted to make a movie about something he knew about.
Some great movies have been made about region of the world but the greatest are yet to come, this might be one of those movies wait till 19th March 2010 to find out.
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