A review on Pakistani Biographical Drama feature length film, Mah e Mir (2016). The Production House is Miraqsm Media while its Distributors are Eveready Pictures and Hum Films.
+ Crew
- Directed by Anjum Shahzad
- Written & Co-Directed by Sarmad Sehbai
- Director of Photography by Rana Kamran
- Edited by Khan Ehtesham & Ali Khan Waqas
- Produced by Sahir Rasheed, Khurram Rana & Badar Ikram
+ Note
Mah e Mir Asst. is based on the life of the famous poet Mir Taqi Mir. It is a story that follows the struggle of a contemporary poet and draws parallels with events in Mir’s life. Syed Jari Khushnood Naqvi, Danish Ali & Bazey Khan were behind the Production Design whereas the music is composed by Syed Shahi Hasan.
There are some cameos by NAPA, TV senior artist such as Akbar Aftab Ladhani, Adnan Anis and Akbar Islam.
This film was awarded the Best Narrative Film Award at the Guam International Film Festival in 2016. Mah e Mir also won two awards in the Best Film and Best Music categories at the Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival, which was held in Delhi in 2017. Pakistani Academy Selection Committee had sent an official submission of Mah e Mir for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.
+ Main Cast
- Fahad Mustafa as Jamal/Mir
- Iman Ali as Mahtab
- Sanam Saeed as Naina Kanwal
- Manzar Sehbai as Dr. Kaleem
- Huma Nawab as Kaleem’s ex-wife
- Alyy Khan as Nawab Sahab
- Paras Masroor as Jamal’s Friend
- Rashid Farooqui as Publisher
- Syed Fazal Hussain as Chotu
+ Plot
A modern day struggling poet, Jamal is having a rough patch in his life. Going through Mir Taqi Mir’s poems, Jamal imagines himself to be in his place at Lucknow; focusing on the trials and tribulations that Mir had once experienced.
+ High Points
i – We have strong star power main cast, such as Fahad Mustafa, Iman Ali, Sanam Saeed, Huma Nawab, Manzar Sehbai, Alyy Khan, Paras Masroor (Hum TV award-winning supporting actor from TV serial ‘Sang-e-Mar Mar’ [2017]), Rashid Farooqui & Syed Fazal Hussain (lead roles from ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ [2008]).
ii – Interesting props and sets used in its production design, mainly in the scenes of Jamal’s imagination.
iii – The costume designing as well as Makeup & Hair styling did a decent work in their respected fields, Iman Ali looks gorgeous on-screen … although, I must confess that I couldn’t digest Fahad’s ‘Haystack’ wig.
+ Low Points
i – This film is strictly for certain target audience only. If you are not part of that of it, then you would find very hard time to enjoy the film. For instance, this film is definitely ‘Not my cup of tea’.
ii – For starters, this film is very slow and … Zzz!
iii – I don’t know what to make of this film or having Fahad Mustafa in the lead role. Though it’s good that he took a very different role of his career, but was he really suitable for it? It’s not about his performance but to have him fit in this type of role. I believe the director should had switched this role with Paras’s, for him to do more justice with it.
iv – Even though I am a fan of Rana Sb’s work but it’s disappointing for me to say that the usage of lighting used in this film is way too bright than it should be. I don’t know what was going through his head, what was the reason behind too brightly lit sets in at least two-third of the film but I was surely left confused with his decision.
v – We have a couple of stereo type roles such as of Iman Ali and Alyy Khan. Its only slightly different role than the one Iman played in ‘Bol’ (2008) while Alyy Khan is a used to of playing ‘Nawab’ type of roles more frequently than we change our clothes on daily basis.
+ Overall
Despite its solid cast, Mah e Mir feels like a disorganized series of poems, rather than having an interesting narrative but falls flat for many.
Rate: 1.25 out of 5 stars
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