Shahid Malik – leading international film producer

Renowned international film producer and Pakistani powerhouse, Shahid Malik’s illustrious career in media continues to go from strength to strength. His latest venture is a film called The Third Kiss: the untold story of Jesus with reality television star Peter Andre in the lead role as Jesus Christ. The film will focus on Jesus’ early life, before he assumed the mantle of prophethood. Shahid explains the background of this epic story, “The story is based in India where his uncle ran a spice trade between Palestine and India, that’s where he met Mary Magdalene. One day Jesus sees a building on fire on the coastline, it’s an orphanage and he rushes to save the orphans. This is where he performs his first miracle at the age of fourteen. He travels across India and is influenced by Buddhism. The film ends with his return to Palestine where he becomes a prophet.” The executive producer of Jesus the Jew is the famous British film producer Kent Walwin. Highly respected in India’s film fraternity, Shahid Malik has produced three Bollywood films: Shortkut starring Anil Kapoor, Kissan starring Sohail Khan and No Problem which also starred Anil Kapoor. Bollywood stars like Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty and Anil Kapoor are his close friends. Although Shahid Malik is very well established in the UK, he misses Pakistan deeply and feels a special affinity for Lahore where he spent his childhood. In fact the happiest time of his life was when he was in Lahore, “There was no terrorism, it was safe and happy,” recalls Shahid. “There is no place like Lahore in the world.” An ardent admirer of Tariq Ali, Shahid started his career in journalism writing for the PPP left wing newspaper, Musawat where he would earn Rs 550 per article, “I felt so rich!” he says. With a vast network of friends which includes Tony and Cherie Blair, Shahid continues to promote Pakistan as much as possible, in fact he wants to film Jesus the Jew along Pakistan’s coastline. On Pakistan’s elections, he is very positive about the newly elected government and has spent a lot of time with Nawaz Sharif and his family whom he admires greatly. Through his career success, Shahid is well connected with leading private equity companies and is always looking for an investment opportunity in Pakistan which could contribute to the country’s economic uplift.