Na Maloom Afraad (lit. Unidentified People), is a 2014 Pakistani action comedy film co-written and directed by Nabeel Qureshi in his directorial debut. It stars Javed Sheikh, Fahad Mustafa, Mohsin Abbas Haider with supporting cast of Urwa Hocane, Kubra Khan and Salman Shahid. The story follows Shakeel (Sheikh), Farhaan (Mustafa) and Moon (Haider), three poor struggling individuals who chase every possible means of becoming rich, all getting into trouble as they struggle to fulfill their desires and ambitions through questionably moral ways.
Most of the Na Maloom Afrad shots were filmed in real locations of Saddar Town, maintaining the authenticity of scenes and staying true to actual content; many elements of post-production required consideration before principal photography. The script was written years before the shooting, the cast went through meticulous rehearsals, and it became one of the few films that are developed completely in Pakistan. The film was shot in Karachi during January 2014 with a budget of jointly franchised by Hum Films, Filmwala Pictures and Eveready Pictures. It premiered the following year in November where it closed the South Asian International Film Festival 2014.
Na Maloom Afraad had a wide theatrical release in Pakistan on 6 October 2014 at Eid al-adha, followed by a release in UK on 22 May 2015 which has grossed worldwide. The film garnered wide critical praise. At 3rd Hum Awards film was awarded Hum Honorary Special Recognition Award to Nabeel and Fizza. The film became the most nominated film of the Lux's 14th annual awards ceremony in the film section with a total of seven nominations in four categories, ultimately winning Best Film for Fizza, Best Director for Nabeel and Best Actor for Javed.
It became first Pakistani film since 2007 to make the milestone of longest running film for 165 days (22 weeks) breaking the record of Waar who previously held for 163 days. A sequel titled Na Maloom Afraad 2 was released on 2 September 2017 which collected at the box office and became the second highest-grossing film of 2017.
Plot
Farhan (Fahad Mustafa), is a sales representative at IFU life insurance company in Karachi and is fired after he fails to materialize any deal in a year. Moon (Mohsin Abbas Haider), who hails from Punjab (Faisalabad), has a dream of going to Dubai, but ends up coming to Karachi while his family continues to believe he is living in Dubai. And Shakeel bhai (Javed Shaikh), an honest man who works as a government servant and owner of homemade pickle business 'Shama Achar' is under pressure to get his younger sister Naina (Urwa Hocane) married, but can't due to financial constraints. Farhan is a paying-guest of Shakeel and is in love with his sister.
Moon becomes the new tenant of Shakeel, after getting kicked out by his landlady (Shehnaz Pervaiz) for not paying rent on time. Jobless, Farhan and Moon come up with a plan to take a life insurance to open an account in a bank and then burn it in Karachi strike, posing as 'Na Maloom Afraad', so that they claim desired amount of money in the claim from insurance company. Meanwhile, a proposal comes for Naina and they ask for a car as dowry; devastated with his situation Shakeel goes to break his fixed deposit, but realizes that he had already withdrawn it in 1998 for his mother's (Zaheen Tahira) operation. Thinking of mortgaging his home, it's revealed to Shakeel that the government has given them a one-month notice for leaving their houses due to bridge construction over the area. With all these difficulties, Shakeel tries to commit suicide but is saved by the police. Both Moon and Farhan reveal their plan to Shakeel, of which first he refused to part of, but due to his problems he reluctantly agrees. Farhan goes to Gogi (Salman Shahid) a local mobster, to borrow money for their plan. Gogi gives him three lacs, which Farhan agrees to return with interest of six lacs. Shakeel and Farhan, posing as husband and wife, open an account with the bank and they get robbed. Moon falls in love with the bank worker Hina (Kubra Khan).