A vision was anticipated a year ago and came to life when Dr. Junaid Ali Shah- the owner of Shah Films and A.O Hospital joined hands with Dr. Kashif Ali Ansari- father to Ansari Films and an international medicine specialist.
The vision was to clarify the misconception of Islam and to show the world how to live peacefully in harmony and co-exist.
In affiliation with Emre Konuk- founder and producer/director of AKLI films, Ansari and Shah’s production presents the biggest collaboration between Pakistan and Turkey ‘Sultan Selahaddin Eyyubi’.
The main objective behind this project was to remodel the thought process of our youth so they may recognize the true heroes of history and to bring them out of the fiction world.
This project is the first-ever alliance between Pakistan and Turkey which will help promote the showbiz industry of Pakistan and expose our talent on the international platform.
This project aims to learn from each other and import the skills defined by the Turkish drama and film industry that has taken many leaps and bounds in this field in the recent past.
Selahaddin Eyyubi aims to be the biggest co-production between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the republic of turkey for which almost 240 acres of land is procured in Istanbul where the construction of saladin replica city where replicas such as Jerusalem badged sets of various cities in Syria Egypt and where eyyubi was born- Tilkrit, Kurdistan.
18th October, the delegation from turkey landed in Islamabad Jinnah international airport to begin auditions for the drama series in Lahore and the city of lights Karachi.
The delegation included Emre Konuk himself. After the arrival of the AKLI team in Islamabad, a visit to the Faisal mosque followed by a meeting with the Turkish ambassador was conducted after which on the 19th of October the team travelled by road from Islamabad to Lahore via Motorway.
After the arrival at Nishat Hotel Lahore, the PakTurk team conducted a meeting with government dignitaries at airforce club Gulberg 3 followed by dinner.
20th October, Dr Kashif Ali Ansari, Dr Junaid Ali Shah and Emre Konek left for a meeting with the prime minister to officially announce the Pak-Turk collaboration.
Meanwhile back in Lahore the auditions officially begin and contestants begin pouring into the Nishat hotel to showcase their acting skills in front of the judges, Berna Kurekci and Ahmet Faruk.
From 10 am onwards till 6 pm people from all sectors of life and age groups came to audition.
Big names from the Pakistan showbiz industry as well as common people came to audition in hopes they would get their chance to win the golden ticket and proceed onto the next stage of this ground breaking project.
As the audition came to an end 20 lucky contestants were given the golden ticket to proceed onto the next step.
After Lahore’s successful auditions, Karachi was the next spot. After lunch at the governor house and a meeting with Faisal Jawed a member of the senate of Pakistan the team left for its flight from Lahore to Karachi. 22nd October, Karachi auditions begin at Dr Junaid Ali shah’s residence in DHA. Contestants began lining up outside the audition venue.
While the auditions were in the process a meeting the governor of Sindh took place to discuss the ongoing project. Here, 20 lucky contestants who showcased their acting skills were chosen by the judges as winners of the golden ticket.
The auditions continued onto the next day where 10 more contestants were chosen to be a part of the final shortlist.
As the auditions came to an end, a grand reception was held for our esteemed counterparts.
