“I was dying with tension before the release. In fact, I was expecting a more extreme reaction and went on a vacation with family when the film was being released in Pakistan,” says the filmmaker in an e-mail interview, before his celebrated venture is released in India on April 4.

The journey across the border may have been delayed by two months, but Mansoor does not mind waiting. After being associated with the Pakistan television industry for over 25 years, and giving it popular soaps like Fifty Fifty, Ankahi and Sunehrey Din, Mansoor took an exit for films in 1999. He proclaimed himself as ‘ShoMan’, but had to wait till 2005 for the moment of reckoning, when a series of events inspired him to script Khuda Kay Liye.

Pakistani pop singer Junaid Jamshed’s denunciation of his band Vital Signs acted as the trigger, but Mansoor states that “the purpose of making the film was to project the tragedy of a liberal muslim”. He adds, “It depicts the anger I had been carrying about how wrongly our religion has been interpreted by clerics.”

Set in the post September 9/11 era, the film is about two brothers, who are pop musicians in Lahore. While one gets radicalised under the influence of extremists, the other travels to the USA and gets detained after the 9/11 terror attack. Running parallel is the narrative of Mary (Maryam), a British girl of Pakistani origin, who is brought to Pakistan by her father and married against her will.

The unconventional script, however, led to casting problems where several actors expressed reluctance to feature in the film. “Junaid Jamshad and Ali Zafar, who were doing the lead roles, left the film. It was difficult to find actors in the US too,” recalls Mansoor. Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah, meanwhile, was more receptive to play the cameo of Maulana Wali, a Muslim cleric. Says Mansoor, “He asked me for the script and three days later sent an SMS saying ‘I love it. I will do it but won’t take any money’.”