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Sadly, human beings are no strangers to bigotry and partisanship and over the years we have become inexplicably adept at evolving new and more extreme ways of directing our enmity. Our short but violent history on earth is rife with these spikes in unrest and Operation Clean-up (also known as Operation Blue Fox) in May of 1992 in Karachi, Pakistan which ravaged the city is vividly brought back into our consciences through filmmaker Ali Sohail Jaura’s Murder Tongue – stirring story of one nuclear family’s devastating loss and suffering during that unstable period. Jaura has managed to not only pinpoint the indiscriminate nature of the violence of this time and the pervading undercurrent of fear which rightly makes your blood run cold but also speaks to the wider contentious subject of identity politics which continues to divide us today.

Working incredibly closely with Screenwriter Ammar Zafar and ensuring their...

Stars: Abm Sumon, Frank Grillo, Matt Passmore, Michael Jai White, Niko Foster, Oleg Prudius, Kelly Greyson | Written by Asif Akbar, Nazim Ud Daula, Abdul Aziz | Directed by Asif Akbar

Mr-9: Do or Die is based on the first of a long-running series of mostly ghost-written novels chronicling the adventures of Masud Rana, Bangladesh’s answer to James Bond. Somewhat surprisingly given there are 500 or so novels in the franchise, this is only the second attempt at bringing them to the screen, the first being Masud Rana in 1974. Fifty years later, will the world be more receptive to the Bangladeshi Bond?

The film certainly starts on a familiar note with Rana running unnoticed across wide open lawns in broad daylight without being noticed. Despite his best efforts and his leaving a trail of bodies behind him, his target gets away and the two agents he was supposed to rescued are killed.

Exclusive: US-Bangladeshi action movie Mr-9: Do or Die, starring Abm Sumon, Michael Jai White and Frank Grillo, has been picked up by Quiver Distribution for a North American VOD/digital release this month.

After getting a limited theatrical run in the U.S., Canada and Bangladesh last August, the film will next be released in Russia through Kinologistika on May 2 and in Pakistan through Cine Entertainment on May 17.

Premiere Entertainment has also tied up deals with 101 Films in the UK, Premiere TV in Benelux, Spenzos in Greece, Flins in Spain, Movie Box in Turkey, Media Squad in Hungary/Poland/Romania, Golden Stay in China, Eagle Films in the Middle East, Blue Label in South Korea, CDC in Central and South America, and Rialto in Australia/New Zealand.

A sequel titled Mr-9: Sky Dancer is now being readied for a fall shoot with Bangladeshi actor Abm Sumon and Niko Foster confirmed to return.

Living in Pakistan, Abdul Aziz and Farah Naz dreamed of sending their eldest daughter to high school in America, in hopes she would matriculate at a U.S. college. In 2018, Sabika Sheikh was accepted as an exchange student at Santa Fe High School. In her first semester, she was killed in a school shooting.

On what would have been the week of their daughter’s 18th birthday, the Sheikhs sued the gunman’s parents, working with the litigation team at Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit that was less than five years old.

Exclusive: Premiere Entertainment has snapped up world rights to the action-thriller Mr-9: Do Or Die, starring Frank Grillo, Michael Jai White, and Abm Sumon.

Filmmaker Asif Akbar directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Nazim Ud Daula and Abdul Aziz. The film is based on the popular spy thriller novels by the late Bangladeshi writer Qazi Anwar Hussain. Hussain published 550 novels in the series, which was modeled after the James Bond series. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but we understand Sumon plays the lead character Masud Rana, a secret agent under the codename Mr-9 for the Bangladesh Counter Intelligence Agency.

Bangladesh-based Jaaz Multimedia, Al Bravo Films, and Chasing Butterflies Pictures have teamed up for the production in association with The Film Post. Executive producers are Niko Foster, Peter Nguyen and Phillip B. Goldfine. The pic is currently in post-production and was shot last summer across Las Vegas,...

Exclusive: Indian Two Time Grammy Award composer and environmentalist Ricky Kej has signed to compose the original music for American-Bangladeshi writer-director Asif Akbar’s spy action-thriller Mr-9 featuring Frank Grillo as a villain.

Based on the popular Masud Rana novels written by late novelist Qazi Anwar Hussain, top Bangladeshi actor Abm Sumon stars as secret agent Rana – code name Mr-9 – of the Bangladesh Counter Intelligence Agency. Grillo plays his evil nemesis, Roman Ross.

The film was shot over the summer in the U.S. and Bangladesh and is now in post-production.

“I take on very few motion pictures and I am very proud to be a part of Mr-9,” said Kej. “Asif has not only made a fantastic, edge-of-the-seat, action thriller with heart but also we finally have an international spy who looks like us… and is South Asian.”

North Carolina-born, Bangalore-raised Kej has distinguished himself on the international music...

Exclusive: Fortress star Kelly Greyson has joined the cast of Mr-9, the Frank Grillo-starring spy action-thriller adapted from the James Bond-influenced Masud Rana novels.

Greyson will play Gia, lead henchwoman and mistress of villain Roman Ross, who is being played by Captain America star Grillo.

Greyson has just starred in Fortress and Fortress 2 alongside the likes of Bruce Willis and Chad Michael Murray. Past credits include Mike Burns’ Out of Death, in which she also co-starred with Willis, Guy Pearce-starring action thriller Disturbing the Peace and Broken Memories.

Deadline revealed Mr-9 from writer-director Asif Akbar last month, with shooting kicking off in the U.S. and Bangladesh.

Adapted from the Rana novels written by late novelist Qazi Anwar Hussain, Grillo plays the nemesis of secret agent Rana — code name Mr-9 — of the Bangladesh Counter Intelligence Agency. Plot is mostly being kept under wraps.

The film is adapted...

Exclusive: Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight), Abm Sumon (Dhoka) and Matt Passmore (Jigsaw) are among cast joining Frank Grillo (Captain America) in Asif Akbar’s spy thriller Mr-9, which is now underway.

Grillo’s son Remy Grillo will make his acting feature debut on the project which is shooting in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Also starring will be Sakshi Pradhan (Poison), Niko Foster (Army Of One), Omi Vaidya (3 Idiots), Oleg Prudius (Wolf Warrior 2), Jackie Siegel (The Queen of Versailles), Anisur Rahman Milon (The Last Thakur) and Shahidul Alam Sachchu.

Writer-director Asif Akbar’s spy action-thriller is based on the popular Masud Rana novels written by late novelist Qazi Anwar Hussain. Plot details are being kept under wraps but we understand Grillo will play the nemesis of secret agent Rana — code name Mr-9 — of the Bangladesh Counter Intelligence Agency.

Bangladeshi actor Abm Sumon will be the...

Exclusive: Captain America, The Purge and Copshop star Frank Grillo is set to star in action movie Mr-9, which is shooting imminently in the U.S. and Bangladesh.

Writer-director Asif Akbar’s spy action-thriller is based on the popular Masud Rana novels written by late novelist Qazi Anwar Hussain. Plot details are being kept under wraps but we understand Grillo will play the nemesis of secret agent Rana — code name Mr-9 — of the Bangladesh Counter Intelligence Agency.

The film is adapted from the original first novel Masud Rana: Dhonghsho Pahar (Demolition Hill). Hussain published 550 novels published in the series, which is influenced by the James Bond franchise.

Bangladeshi production company Jaaz Multimedia, LA-based Al Bravo Films and Mr-9 Films have joined forces to get the film into production. Producers are Al Bravo, Hemdee Kiwanuka, Colin Bates, Akbar, Philip Tan and Abdul Aziz with executive producers Niko Foster, Peter Nguyen and Phillip B. Goldfine.