Actresses Ayesha Omar and Dananeer have clarified that their movie “Mera Lyari” was not a response to the Bollywood movie, Dhurandhar.
Calling the Bollywood movie “fake”, Ayesha said that the movie was shot before Dhurandhar was released.
She said Karachi is her city and called the portrayal of Lyari in Ranveer Singh’s movie fake and fabricated.
“When I watched Dhurandhar, I was very disappointed and thought to myself that this is not my Lyari,” she said.
Addressing comments that suggest Mera Lyari is a response to Dhurandhar, Dananeer said, “It’s a disservice to boil this movie down to a response to another film. The core and crux of this movie is so special.”
“There are so many themes that we have explored in this film. We have explored Lyari, football culture, female football culture, women in sports, South Asian women in sports,” she elaborated.
The actor also noted that the film’s layered storytelling should not be viewed from a single angle: “There are so many layers in this story, so to see it from this angle, I think, will be a disservice.” Dananeer added, “We should see this film through a bird’s-eye view and keep all the themes in mind.”
She concluded by saying, “It’s a beautiful film. It was a beautiful image of Lyari, all the women we have shown, and what we have seen over there. You will have to see it in the film.”
Mera Lyari tells the story of two young women determined to pursue their football dreams in a challenging environment.
The cast includes Ayesha Omar, Dananeer Mobeen, Samiya Mumtaz, Nayyar Ejaz, Paras Masroor, Adnan Shah Tipu and Shoaib Hassan, with model Trinette Lucas making her silver screen debut.
The sports drama recently debuted at the UK Asian Film Festival on May 2 at the British Film Institute (BFI) in London, before its release in Pakistan.
