In a treat for Gulzar fans, his unreleased film Libaas starring Naseeruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi, is likely to get a digital release by mid of this year.
Libaas, set for a commercial release in 1988, was produced by Vikas Mohan and according to the latest report filed by Deccan Chronicle, the film, after a long wait of almost three decades, will now be flagged on a digital platform by his sons, Amul and Anshul.
Amul was quoted in the report as saying,
“We are looking at both those avenues — commercial and digital. The digital space is extremely strong right now. The avenue seems great, specially for a film like Libaas which might not find a larger audiences it is played in theatres.”
The film couldn’t hit the theaters back then because of differences between the makers but was screened at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Bangalore in 1992 and then in Goa after a gap of 22 years in 2014.
Libaas is based on Gulzar’s own short story Seema from his Raavi Paar collection and it also features Raj Babbar, Sushma Seth, Utpal Dutt, Annu Kapoor and Savita Bajaj.
As a director, Gulzar began with Mere Apne in 1971 and later went on to direct classics such as Parichay, Aandhi, Mausam, Angoor, Ijaazat, Lekin… Maachis and Hu Tu Tu.