Ali as Aman, Yami as Asha in an Indo-Pak love story 'Aman Ki Asha'

By Subhash K Jha

Ali Zafar of Chashme Buddoor and Yami Gautam from Vicky Donor will play a Pakistani boy and an Indian girl ready to break border barriers for love in A Film called Aman Ki Asha

Of course Ali plays Aman and Yami plays Asha. The film written by Neeraj Pandey is currently being directed by E Niwas under an air of supreme secrecy.

Pandey whose first film was a critical and commercial winner and was remade into three languages, has now scripted a remake of a 2004 Spanish film Seres Queridos (Only Human) a comic love story of a Jewish girl and Palestinian boy, which has been transposed by Pandey into an Indo-Pak setting.

Pandey's protagonists in the Hindi remake of Seres Queridos are an Indian girl named Asha and a Pakistani boy named Aman. Predictably the film is called Aman Ki Asha as it also conveys a deep-felt message on amity across the border.

Says a source, `Pandey feels strongly on the Indo-Pak issue. We've had earlier films showing a cross-border romance like Randhir Kapoor's Henna, J. P Dutta's Refugee and Yash Chopra's Veer-Zara. Pandey's film would be hilarious take on the issue without trivializing it. `

Interestingly Aman Ki Asha will star the real-life Pakistani star Ali Zafar opposite our own Vickey Donor actress Yami Gautam playing his Indian love-interest. Pandey whose Special Chabbis opens today won't direct this film. E Niwas will. Pandey will write and produce Aman Ki Asha.


While both Neeraj Pandey and Ali Zafar confirmed their participation in this project they declined from elaborate comment until the project is formally announced.

However one learns Aman Ki Asha will be released simultaneously in India and Pakistan at a time when there is a campaign in the Pakistani film industry to ban 90 percent of Indian films on the other side of the border.

Interestingly Neeraj Pandey's A Wednesday was not only remade into Tamil and Telugu it was also remade into the English language under the title A Common Man with Ben Kingsley and Ben Cross playing the roles originally played in Pandey's film by Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher.

`So in a way by adapting the topical humane story of a Spanish film into an Indian context Neeraj Pandey is only returning the compliment, ` says a source close to Pandey.