the first theatrical trailer of the movie was launched in january 2012 while the second in january 2013. one of the trailers was viewed more than 500,000 times the same month, making it one of the top five videos of youtube. "waar" was dubbed as the most anticipated film in the history of the pakistani cinema. when the film did not make it to screens in a considerable time after the release of trailers, the critics dubbed it as another project that will get shelved. shamoon abbasi, the main antagonist, cited the lack of resources for filming as one of the reasons for its delay.