Parwaaz Hai Junoon

The film shifts back and forth between two narratives. First a young woman Sania (Hania Amir) can be seen sitting by the mountainsides of outer Islamabad in Pakistan. While enjoying several cups of tea, she looks up at the sky and stares in awe of a PAF (Pakistan Air Force) jet flying overby. In the next scene 3 enemy Mirage-2000's "from the Eastern sector" have infiltrated Pakistani airspace and 2 PAF JF-17's, piloted by Hamza Haider Ali (Hamza Ali Abbasi) and Nadir Kirmani (Shaz Khan) are scrambled to intercept them. After an intense aerial dogfight, Hamza shoots down one Mirage-2000 with a missile and tries to shoot down the second one with guns which end up jamming. Instead of following orders to retreat from the scene, he stays in the confrontation despite his weapons not functioning and provides cover for his wingman and best friend Nadir to shoot down the second jet with a missile. The third intruder retreats from the battle and Hamza and Nadir return home victorious. Hamza is however reprimanded by his commanding officer for taking such a dangerous risk during the battle with malfunctioning weapons but Hamza mentions how we was mirroring Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafique's similar circumstances during the 1965 India-Pakistan war which led to his martyrdom.

A group of young hopefuls who all want to become PAF Fighter Pilots are then shown travelling towards the PAF academy. These hopefuls include the bold but arrogant Saad Khan (Ahad Raza Mir), shy and hardworking Rashid Minhas Yousufzai (Sikander Vincent Khan Yousafzai), goofy Zaid Ali (Shafaat Ali), Shamir Hamid and female cadets Sania and Ujala. Sania is questioned by the selection committee (who are very hesitant to select her because of her barely meeting the physical height requirements despite her superior academics) as to why she wants to become a PAF fighter pilot despite having grown up in the United States since the age of 10 and having a foreign passport and education. She replies with the fact of her undying love for her home country and wanting to serve in the armed forces. All the candidates are then approved and selected for the GD fighter pilot training selection program. The new PAF trainees then undergo a tough physical and mental training routine by their superiors, often with hilarious outcomes. Over the course of the training Saad makes fun of Sania and the other female cadets and ridicules the fact of females trying to become fighter pilots, much to Sania's annoyance.

The film then shifts to Hamza preparing Nadir for his wedding to Fiza, who happens to be Sania's cousin. At the wedding Hamza meets Sania for the first time and is instantly smitten by her. He tries to court her and after some playful back and forth they soon start seeing each other and fall in love. Going on motorcycle trips and having several cups of tea by the mountainside becomes a regular activity for them. Hamza explains to Sania how he loves being a fighter pilot for Pakistan just like his dad was and Sania teases him to whether he would choose her or continue being a fighter pilot if he had to make a choice between the two. He gets hurt and offended even though she was only joking as he explains how he holds both things dear. She accepts this fact and becomes fully supportive of his career. After a rise in terrorist attacks by Taliban militants in the urban areas of Pakistan, the Pakistani Forces resolve to fight and rid the country of these militants once and for all, and Hamza and Nadir are chosen to fly on several bombing missions against them. Fiza who is now pregnant is worried for Nadir's safety, who reassures her that he will be fine. Sania is also worried for Hamza who reassures her that he will either return successful or as a "shaheed" (martyr) in which case he will live forever in the spiritual sense. When Sania's mother finds out about her relationship with Hamza, she is angered and forbids her to marry him on the grounds that Sania's father was a pilot as well who had died in a plane crash when Sania was a child and left Sania's mother as a young widow. She doesn't want Sania to go through the same thing and is very dismissive of Hamza when she meets him. However Hamza impresses Sania's mother with his patriotism and loyalty to making the citizens of Pakistan safe and his genuine love for Sania, after which she blesses their union. Hamza and Nadir then lead a formation of F-16's and carry out a successful strike against several senior Taliban militant leaders, some of whom were directly involved with the APS school massacre. Hamza takes out their compound with bombs while Nadir takes out a convoy using AGM's (Air to Ground Missiles).

Back at the PAF academy, Saad performs well in flight training, but his weaknesses are exposed as a group leader when he is made leader of the cadets during a training expedition on the snowy slopes of Pakistan. Sania and Rashid then excel him in all other training courses and exercises after which he gets increasingly jealous of them both, especially after the other cadets make fun of him and when he starts to see Sania becoming good friends with Rashid. Zaid fails his flying course and decides to no longer continue. He then decides to leave the Airforce. When he nearly goes out off the door his friends, Saad and Rashid cry and then Zaid also becomes emotional. The scene then jumps to Sania coming close to failing as she has trouble with close formation flying. She gets very depressed, stating that she will be crushed if she does not become a fighter pilot. Even though Saad still continues to makes fun of her and the female cadets for joining the PAF, he affectionately gives her advice and tips on how to do well in close formation flying. Sania then passes and is elated but becomes even more elated when she learns that Rashid is being considered for the PAF's highest award for the cadets, the Sword of Honor. Saad becomes enraged at Rashid's success and Sania's happiness for him and lashes out verbally at Rashid after which Sania tells him off in front of everybody, humiliating him.

The scene then jumps to Hamza's parents informing him that they have gotten him engaged to a daughter of his father's close friend, after which he angrily informs them of marriage plans and love for Sania. While his mother is understanding, his father angrily refuses this union on the grounds that he has already promised his friend this marriage proposal and makes Hamza choose between Sania and his wishes. After Hamza chooses Sania, his father disowns him and refuses to speak with him ever again leaving Hamza very saddened. Later a convoy of Pakistani soldiers comes under attack by Taliban militants and gun mounted vehicles during a patrol, and Hamza and Nadir are scrambled to aid the soldiers under attack. Because the attack is happening near heavy civilian areas, Hamza deduces a plan to carry out a dangerous low altitude strike instead of dropping bombs from high a high altitude in order to minimize casualties, thus exposing himself to much anti-aircraft fire. Hamza and Nadir successfully destroy all the Taliban attackers and vehicles, however one militant is able to fire a MANPAD surface to air missile at Hamza's F-16 which sustains heavy damage forcing him to eject. Because of the low altitude, Hamza's parachute doesn't deploy properly and Hamza is critically injured but still continues to fight off militants with his pistol. An army helicopter is able to rescue him and kill the remaining militants and carry Hamza to a hospital but unfortunately his injuries are too severe and he instructs the staff to call Sania for him. After he tells her what happened she is devastated and heart broken but he tells her that since he will be a shaheed he will live forever in spirit and will always be with Sania in whatever she does in her life and that he loves her. He then succumbs to his injuries and embraces martyrdom.

Hamza's father is dismissive of his son's heroics as he believes he purposely chose to carry his mission out with such dangerous tactics because he was a coward and wanted to die instead living and facing the fact that he had shamed his father. But after meeting Sania at his grave she tells him how in that last phone conversation Hamza spoke lovingly about his father and how he wanted to make him proud. Hamza's father then comes to terms with this fact and is remorseful and becomes proud of his martyred son and accepts Sania as a daughter in spirit as well. It is here where it becomes apparent that it wasn't just Sania's patriotism that caused her to become a PAF fighter pilot, but that her whole journey and relationship with Hamza was a big factor as well, and that she wanted to live through him with his dream.

Back in the present a frustrated Saad is pacing about in the gym when he is confronted by Rashid as to why Saad feels anger to him even though Rashid has no ill-feelings towards Saad. Saad cannot contain his anger anymore and knocks down Rashid challenging him to a fight, but he then sees a photo that drops out of Rashid's notebook. It is a picture of a village girl named Sherbatgul, and Saad finds out that she is Rashid's fiancée whom Rashid loves and has every intention of marrying. Saad becomes embarrassed and realizes that he was jealous of Rashid for nothing as he had wrongly feared that Rashid was after Sania. He sincerely apologizes to Rashid and begs for his forgiveness. Rashid then laughs and is amused at the fact that the source of all of Saad's angst and frustration throughout all this time was his hidden love for Sania. During a dinner for the cadets, Rashid teasingly prods to Sania that Saad has something to tell her. Saad begins by apologizing for his behavior and attitude to Sania and when he tries to tell her how he feels about her, Sania becomes embarrassed when she realizes what he is trying to say and tries to act dismissive to him but Saad is left amused and hopeful. At the graduation ceremony all the cadets pass and finally become fighter pilots and Sania receives the award for being the top academic performer, Saad receives the award for best aviator and Rashid as expected receives the Sword of Honor. All the PAF seniors are in attendance along with a promoted and decorated Nadir who is with his wife and his newborn son, who he has named Hamza after his old best friend.

The film then concludes with the same scenes from the beginning showing Sania still coming to the mountainside time to time enjoying several cups of tea by herself, remembering her time with Hamza and coming to full peace of having achieved both his and her dreams. A final scene shows Saad and Sania, now flying the JF-17's, exiting their planes after landing. Sania then sees a vision of Hamza's spirit, smiling at her and then saluting her. Sania and Saad then walking side by side and sharing a laugh and smile, hinting at a possible romance between the two in the future.

• Hamza Ali Abbasi as Sq/Ldr Hamza Ali Haider
• Hania Amir as Flying officer Sania Taimoor
• Ahad Raza Mir as Flying officer Saad Khan
• Shaz Khan as Sq/Ldr Nadir Kirmani
• Kubra Khan as Fizza Nadir Kirmani
• Shafaat Ali as Aviation Cadet Zaid Ali
• Sikandar Vincent Khan as Flying officer Rashid Minhas Yousafzai
• Rachel Viccaji as Flying officer Ujala
• Mustafa Changezi as Flying officer Rashid
• Sabeena Syed as Diya
• Alamdar Khan as Adil
• Adnan Jaffar as OC Flying Taimoor
• Arslan Asad Butt as Air Force student

Two separate teasers of the film was released, first teaser, featuring Hamza Ali Abbasi and Shaz Khan was released on 19 April 2018,[18] while the second teaser featuring Ahad Raza Mir and Hania Amir was released on 23 April 2018.[19] The trailer of the film was released on 6 July 2018.[20] Initially, the film was set to release on Eid al-Fitr 2018, but due to the limited screens available, it was postponed until Eid al-Adha 2018.[21] After the delay, the film was released on Eid al-Adha worldwide, 22 August 2018.[1][2] It had a premiere event in London on same day,[22] after previous premieres were cancelled due to some issues with Central Board of Film Censors.[23][24] It is the second Pakistani film after Parchi which is screened in Saudi Arabia and the first in China after forty years.[25]

• List of Pakistani films of 2018
• Aircraft in fiction

• Parwaaz Hai Junoon at IMDb
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