Category: Feature Length Films

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on Joyland (2022)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Pakistani feature length film, Joyland (2022). The controversial feature length debut is written and directed by Saim Sadiq. The film stars Ali Junejo, Rasti Farooq, Alina Khan, Sarwat Gilani, and Salmaan Peerzada. The film centers around the Rana family as the head of the family yearns for the birth of another boy from his son, Haider. Joyland is distributed by Film Constellation.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Saim Sadiq
  • Written by Saim Sadiq and Maggie Briggs
  • Cinematography by Joe Saade
  • Edited by Saim Sadiq and Jasmin Tenucci
  • Music by Abdullah Siddiqui
  • Produced by Apoorva Guru Charan, Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, Sabiha Sumar and Lauren Mann

+ Note

Due to its thematic elements of a married man falling in love with a transgender woman, the film Joyland has received massive criticism from religious groups within Pakistan (believing it was against “Pakistani and Islamic values”). But on the other end of the spectrum, the film has met with critical success and has been screened in film festivals around the world. Even with immense pressure from the religious groups, the film was eventually released in some parts of Pakistan (while heavily edited due to its content). Joyland was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and was short listed for Academy Awards for ‘Best Foreign Film’ but did not make the final five at the end.

 + Main Cast

  1. Ali Junejo as Haider
  2. Rasti Farooq as Mumtaz
  3. Alina Khan as Biba
  4. Sarwat Gilani as Nucchi
  5. Salmaan Peerzada as Rana Amanullah
  6. Sohail Sameer as Saleem
  7. Sania Saeed as Fayyaz

+ Plot

In the inner depths of Lahore, lives the Rana family where the father  (Salmaan Peerzada) wants his son Haider (Ali Junejo) to provide him a grandson. But with his marriage falling apart, Haider meets a transgender dancer Biba (Alina Khan) and against all odds, falls in love.

+ High Points

i – With all the hype and controversies surrounding the film, Joyland is indeed one of the best Independent films Pakistan has ever produced. The film explores the underbelly of our society as it casts a light onto individuals who apparently “do not exist” or are not worthy of being Pakistani. Joyland is a quintessential character exploration drama where our protagonist Haider is being forced to abide with the patriarchy of his father and his forefathers; he must produce a son in order to keep his family lineage going. But Haider, on the other hand, is a gentle soul who lacks the courage to stand up to his father and break the patriarchal shackles once and for all. He is afraid as we all are in our society. Afraid to stand up for one’s self. Afraid to speak out against a blatant lie. Afraid to be just ourselves. With its subject matter, Joyland undoubtedly divides its audience to the core but it also accomplished work of art by being an essential introspective of our Pakistani society.

ii – The film has a talented cast of actors. The chemistry between the onscreen married couple; Haider and Mumtaz (played excellently by Rasti Farooq) brings a sense of dread and remorse to its viewers. Haider is incapable of giving her the love and attention that she deserves. Like many Pakistanis, he is forced to live the life that fate dictates him.

Whenever the actors share a scene together, Rasti and Ali bring out the best in each other. They laugh, make fun of each other but at the same time, cannot convey the claustrophobic sense of dread that is killing them from the inside. And that, in its own way, is poetic to the landscape of cinema.

iii – The chemistry between Bibi and Haider on the other hand is vastly different. Here, Haider finally has the chance to break away from the ever watchful eye of his father and become an individual that he did not even dared in his wildest dreams. But ever the pessimist, Haider’s joke of the mosquito and chicken falling in love and eventually dying of each other’s diseases set up the tone to the life Haider is accustomed to. He knows pursuing Biba is off limits and won’t end well for either of them.

Alina Khan as Biba is abrasive but honest in her performance. To implement one’s real life experiences of being a Transgender in a conservative society like Pakistan is never an easy task but Alina gives a fantastic performance as the dream girl for Haider. The woman who can force out the hidden rebellion out of him. Joyland thrives the most when both such contrasting chemistries play on screen and make the viewers understand just a little better where Haider comes from.  

 iv – The film is shot in an aspect ratio of 4:3 (which is more of an “equal box screen size”) and it plays an essential role for the film. The aspect ratio gives the cinematographer Joe Saade ample chance to create claustrophobic images which heightens the sense of unease and angst. Our characters at times want to break through the limited space of the frame, leap out of the screen and run towards a better, carefree future. Throughout the film, we get to witness numerous close ups of individual character heads as they feel trapped inside the images, yearning to escape. The director Saim Sadiq made an excellent decision with the aspect ratio which certainly paid off for the film.

 v – There are some mesmerizing imagery in the film which bring a sense of fever dream at times. The scene where Biba and Haider share a drink in a room lit by the neon lights from the exterior was executed with perfection. Moving pictures are always visual narratives first and Saim Sadiq has a keen eye in presenting that without relying too much on spoken dialogues. The tone and the atmosphere that the film creates speaks volumes about our characters and what dystopian atmosphere they are forced to grow up in.

 vi – But all is not doom and gloom. The actual “Joyland” scene of the film is the only time where we saw our characters (just for a brief period of time) forget their troubles, their hardships, their pessimistic futures disappear just so they can enjoy this one moment in time together. On the surface level, this scene might seem inconsequential but it was essential to the overall narrative of the film.

+ Low Points

Major SPOILERS ahead. If you would like to avoid it, please skip to Overall section:

i – Joyland unfortunately suffers from a shift of narrative half way through the film which did not work. The first half of the film focuses on Haider, his struggles with the expectations from the family, his forbidden romance with Biba and coming to terms with his sexuality. The second half focuses on Mumtaz, her need of attention from her husband, the unexpected pregnancy and the eventual suicide. I am not entirely sure why the narrative of the film was constructed in such a way as it would leave many viewers perplexed as to who the main character of the film is. The first half is about the forbidden love of Haider and the second half is the consequences on his wife because of it? Would she have committed suicide regardless of Haider’s affair? On one hand, the film wants us to root for Haider to embrace his sexuality but later on, the character of Biba and the love affair is completely ignored as the film decides to focus on Mumtaz who inadvertently becomes the main character of the film.

It’s great that the film shows the consequences of the decisions that our protagonist makes onto the supporting characters but by completely shifting the focus of our main character creates such a divide and leaves the viewers with a lingering thought of what they were supposed to take out from all this?

ii – The whole father’s love affair with the neighbor felt unnecessary and a distraction to the film’s main narrative. Yes, it showed that even hardliners of the family also do not like the patriarchal system that they have been brought up in but the whole scene felt like an afterthought to the main premise of the film.

+ Overall

Abrasive, cruel and an honest case study of our society, Joyland is a film that dawns a new light onto Pakistani cinema. An essential watch.

Rate: out of 5 stars 

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on The Legend of Maula Jatt (2022)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Pakistani feature length film, The Legend of Maula Jatt (2022). The feature length epic is written and directed by Bilal Lashari. The film is an adaptation of a 1979 Punjabi cult classic ‘Maula Jatt’ starring the legendary Sultan Rahi. The film stars Fawad Khan as the protagonist with Hamza Ali Abbasi, Humaima Malik, Faris Shafi and Mahira Khan. The Legend of Maula Jatt is produced by Encyclomedia, Lashari Films and is distributed by AAA Motion Pictures, Geo Films and Mandiwala Entertainment.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Bilal Lashari
  • Written by Nasir Adeeb and Bilal Lashari
  • Cinematography by Bilal Lashari
  • Edited by Bilal Lashari
  • Music by Sarmad Ghafoor
  • Produced by Ammara Hikmat and Asad Jamil Khan 
  • Production by Encyclomedia and Lashari Films

+ Note

The development of a new adaptation of the Punjabi cult classic started around 2013 by the director Bilal Lashari and later on, Ammara Hikmat and Asad Jamil Khan came onboard as producers for the film.  In an effort to make the film grasped firmly into the roots of the original, Nasir Adeeb (the screenwriter of the original) was hired to co-write the script. With a hefty budget of PKR 45 crore, the adaptation was initially supposed to be released around 2018/19 but due to various copyright lawsuits and the pandemic, was pushed further back. The film was finally released on 13th October 2022 and quickly became the highest grossing Pakistani film of all time.

 + Main Cast

  1. Fawad Khan as Maula Jatt
  2. Rehan Fareed Hiraj as Young Maula
  3. Hamza Ali Abbasi as Noori Natt
  4. Mahira Khan as Mukhoo Jattni
  5. Humaima Malik as Daaro Nattni
  6. Gohar Rasheed as Maakha Natt
  7. Faris Shafi as Mooda
  8. Shafqat Cheema as Jeeva Natt
  9. Saima Baloch as Rajjo
  10. Nayyer Ejaz as Jagoo Natt
  11. Ali Azmat as Gogi

+ Plot

Born out of a tragic past, Maula Jatt grows up to take revenge against the Noori Natt clan and fights for the justice of his people.

+ High Points

i – So I just would like to get this out of the way, The Legend of Maula Jatt exceeded my expectations. Not only did Bilal Lashari create an engaging, three hour long Punjabi epic with fast paced action and breathtaking visuals but it also did not forget its humble roots of our low budget Punjabi cinema. From the interesting cast of characters to the final epic battle between Maula Jatt and Noori Natt, the film will undoubtedly keep you entertained throughout its runtime. Bilal Lashari and his crew have done a marvelous job in bringing Maula Jatt to mainstream pop culture without desecrating its source material. The film rapidly became the highest grossing Pakistani film of all time and with its continuous legal troubles behind the scenes, it was well worth the wait.

ii – Bilal Lashari is undoubtedly the genius behind the film. With just his second directorial film, Lashari is also credited as the writer, cinematographer and editor of the film. This is truly a herculean effort from the filmmaker who was hellbent on bringing Maula Jatt to the big screen once again and should rightfully be applauded for all his hard work. Since it was a singular vision in a lot of aspects, it is difficult for me to distinguish each individual aspect apart. The masterful cinematography truly complimented the emotional turmoil of the character, accompanied by numerous match cut edits, making the transition brilliant from one scene to the next. The Legend of Maula Jatt could truly be Bilal Lashari’s magnum opus.

 iii – The best decision that Bilal Lashrai ever made was that he recruited Nasir Adeeb to co-write the script with him. Adeeb served as the screenwriter of  the original Maula Jatt (1979) and dialogues have been written with uttermost perfection for each and every character. Never did any set of dialogue felt out of place or unnecessary to the story but in fact, some comedic ones also left me chuckling under my breath. Apart from Lashari, Nasir Adeeb has had a major role to play in the success of this film.

 iv – As far as the performances go, I have no complaints. The theatrical, exaggerated performance of each actor complimented the essence of the source material with its core. It is one of the few instances where the film required exaggerated expressions and played quite well in creating a unique world of love, murder and vengeance. Fawad Khan, Maria Khan, Gohar Rasheed; everyone played their roles brilliantly.  But all in all, it was Hamza Ali Abbasi’s Noori Natt who stole the show for me. His tragic past, deranged concept of justice and unfiltered violence made him such a unique figure in the history of Pakistani cinema. 

 

v – Some audience members might have been turned off by the gratuitous violence in the film but it is an essential part of the saga. Bilal Lashrai smarty utilized such horrific imagery in order to heighten the atmosphere of the film. Maula Jatt grows up in a world of injustice and he is not afraid to use his Ghandasa in order to fight for his people. Frankly, I would have been very disappointed if they didn’t abrasively use violence in the film.

 vi – Thankfully, the film is devoid of any song and dance numbers… except for this one instance.The ‘Chann Pichay’ was a wonderful melody that was strategically placed right in the middle of the film. It was as some might say “The calm before the storm”.

 vii – The music by Sarmad Ghafoor and sound mixing did a stupendous job in bringing Maula Jatt to life. From the galloping of the horses to the verbal defiance of Maula Jatt, each scene was made engaging through its wonderful music composition and brilliant sound mixing.

viii – Now this is how you pay an homage to the source material! None of the famous dialogues of Noori Natt or Maula Jatt were misused or felt out of place in order to nudge the viewers into loving the film. All the callbacks of scenes, dialogues and violence were appropriately used to pay homage but at the end, have an identity of its own.

+ Low Points

i – The three hour runtime was never an issue for me but lack of quieter scenes unfortunately were. By the end of the film, the gratuitous violent imagery did become tad overbearing and one would imagine a couple of more character building scenes here and there might have helped the film in the long run. Such as… 

ii – Mahira Khan as Mukhoo Jattni. Her character sadly feels shortchanged as she never developed beyond the characteristic that she loves Maula more than anything. Great but what is Mukhoo herself as a person? A few more scenes could have been utilized in developing her character, her back story, what role does she play in the story apart from being our main protagonist’s love interest.

iii – This is of course, a nitpick from my side but Fawad Khan is too handsome to play the role of Maula Jatt. His performance in the role was great but visually, his movie star looks hindered my attention towards believing in him as the vengeful protagonist. Before the original 1979 film, Sultan Rahi was never perceived as a star. He always played the role of an extra in numerous films, mainly because he looked like any other person you would meet on the street. Similarly, Maula Jatt represents the common man, anyone of us can take the mantle of him. Fawad Khan’s visual appearance never went beyond ‘a movie star playing a character on screen’. 

+ Overall

Brilliant storytelling, great performances and direction, The Legend of Maula Jatt might just be one of the best Pakistani films ever made.

Rate: out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on American Superhero film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). The film is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four films and is directed by Sam Raimi. Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as the mystic doctor of magic accompanied by Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch, Xochitl Gomez , Benedict Wong and Rachel McAdams. The film is a continuation of the saga from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is now in cinemas.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Sam Raimi
  • Screenplay by Michael Waldron
  • Cinematography by John Mathieson
  • Music by Danny Elfman
  • Edited by Bob Murawski and Tia Nolan
  • Production by Marvel Studios
  • Distributed by Walt Disney Studios and Motion Pictures 

+ Note

Scott Derrickson, the director of the first film, was originally going to direct the sequel also but due to creative differences with the executives of Marvel Studios, he decided to step down. Enter; Sam Raimi. Ever since Spider-man 3 (2007), Raimi had not gone back to directing superhero films until he was approached by Marvel Studios to direct the sequel to Doctor Strange. Due to Raimi’s creative style of filmmaking, it was promised that the sequel would contain elements of which Raimi is revered for such as comedic gore and violence, pushing the boundaries of a PG-13 rated film. The film was also promised to be much more visually complex and creative than any other Marvel film before.

Now that Sam Raimi was set to direct, he also brought in his long time collaborator Danny Elfman to produce music for the film. Due to the pandemic, the film’s release was shifted to next year, 2022. The film is currently in cinemas with mostly positive reviews from critics and moviegoers alike. 

+ Main Cast

  1. Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange
  2. Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch
  3. Chiwetel Ejiofor as Karl Mordo
  4. Benedict Wong as Wong
  5. Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez
  6. Michael Stuhlbarg as Nicodemus West
  7. Rachel McAdams as Christine Palmer

+ Plot

The sequel to the first Doctor Strange film takes place directly after the WandaVision (2021) show from Disney+. The mystic doctor dreams of himself and this unknown girl who can open portals to other dimensions. After meeting the same girl in the real world, Strange quickly realizes that the dreams were in part of a multi dimensional reality that is being threatened by a mysterious evil being who is in search of this girl’s portal wielding abilities. Meanwhile Doctor Strange visits Wanda to uncover the mystery of the Multiverse. And what follows, is what the Doctor perhaps never ordered…

+ High Points

i – The film is a fun watch throughout its runtime. With Sam Raimi back in his superhero gig, his knack for fast paced storytelling combined with dark humor and lively characters is what makes the sequel of Doctor Strange standout from the rest of the MCU films. And an unusual antagonist of the film was incredibly refreshing in my book. Even with inevitable studio mandates, this is undeniably a Sam Raimi film filled with glorious, unapologetic tongue in cheek gore and violence. And I can very well imagine this will not be everyone’s cup of tea. Those who are content with the so-called “Marvel formula” will be perplexed and disappointed but honestly, MCU definitely needs more experimentation like this film or the deeply disturbing Moon Knight series on Disney+. I had a blast watching this film and with its recent box office success, I hope the MCU execs give more leverage to film directors with a clear vision. In short; less of Ant-Man and more of Doctor Strange 2.

ii – Sam Raimi, oh how I miss thee! Whether you enjoy his work or not, you cannot deny the energy and dedication that he brings to every one of his films (yes, even Spider-man 3!). As mentioned above, this film has all the Sam Raimi tropes you can think of; cheesy one liners, homage to his earlier Evil Dead series, extras who can’t act, Bruce Campbell cameo, the works. Doctor Strange in MoM is far from being Superhero film masterpiece like The Dark Knight (2008) or The Avengers (2012), but it brings a lot of energy and a sense of excitement to each and every scene. From framing, camera movement, editing or music, the director utilizes each and every aspect of its craft to elevate the capacity of filmmaking to its potential. There were numerous scenes where I went “Huh, I’ve never seen that happen in a Marvel film before..” and not since Avengers: Infinity War (2018) did I have that feeling for a MCU film.

 MoM also has a mad third act which made me enjoy the film even more. And above everything else, MoM has what the first Doctor Strange couldn’t; a sense of personality. 

iii – There are many out there who protest that this film should have been called ‘Wanda in the Multiverse of Madness’ and they are half right cause Elizabeth Olsen just stole the show away from Cumberbatch with her performance. Thrusted into a role she is not used to playing, Olsen did a great job in diving into her character’s tortured persona and bring out the pain and suffering through her acting chops. But needless to say Benedict Cumberbatch as the mystic Doctor Strange and Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez played their part in investing the viewer into the world of Doctor Strange.

iv – For the most part, MoM is a self-contained story and is not too busy paying homages or building up sequels. There are obviously some fan service cameos in the film from the characters even casual audiences can recognize but it was never egregious or out of place to the context of the film.  

v – In most cases, Dr Strange 2 can easily be described as a horror film with a cheeky sense of humor. And I am genuinely surprised that with a PG-13 rating, how Marvel managed to get away with most of its gory horror scenes. This will inevitably drive away younger audiences or in cases, will make them sleep with the night light on but if you know Sam Raimi and his previous works, you should have expected it by now. Personally, I found it thoroughly entertaining. 

vi – The score by the legendary Danny Elfman was fantastic and a massive contributing factor to the enjoyment of the film. Elfman was obviously hired due to the insistence of Raimi since they had worked together on the Spider-man trilogy.

+ Low Points

i – Doctor Strange in MoM has certain problems, mainly in the storytelling department. The pacing and flow of the narrative is not as smooth as Raimi’s previous films and feels disjointed at times, especially in the final act. Now, did it break my sense of enjoyment? Heck no but I can imagine for some, this could prove to be an issue. 

ii – With a title like ‘… in the Multiverse of Madness’, one cannot help but wonder if there could have been more ‘Madness’ added into the mix? With the premise of Multiverse, I wish we could have seen more parallel universes and different timelines with different Earths and so on. 

iii –  Even though the final act was a lot of fun to experience, the resolution did seem very ordinary and was disappointing to say the least. With all its issues, the first Doctor Strange (2017) did have an unusual resolution to a world threatening problem. If you know the premise, you know how the antagonist will be defeated.

iv – The film relies heavily on the ending to the Disney+ TV series, WandaVision (2021) and that’s not a great way to bring in new viewers. Those who are not aware of the TV series will be left confused as to what is actually going on. Make films more accessible or at least a narrative recap to the reference. The film’s plot kicks off with basically no prior explanations or recaps and hope that you are up to speed with everything Marvel. This could be one of the bigger contributing factors as to why some audience members will feel a bit lost throughout the film.

+ Overall

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is not a perfect film by any means but it easily covers its flaws with fun, fast paced actions, tongue in cheek horror and a personality all of its own.

Rate : out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on The Batman (2022)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Hollywood feature length film, The Batman (2022). The film is directed by Matt Reeves and is yet another reboot of the Batman franchise. The film is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

+ Crew I

  • Directed by Matt Reeves
  • Cinematography by Greig Fraser
  • Written by Matt Reeves and Peter Craig
  • Edited by William Hoy and Tyler Nelson
  • Music by Michael Giacchino
  • Produced by Dylan Clark and Matt Reeves

+ Crew II (Production Houses)

  • DC Films
  • 6th & Idaho
  • Dylan Clark Productions

+ Note

Since Zack Synder’s DCEU was received with mixed reviews from the fans and critics, the solo Batman film starring Ben Affleck was ultimately abandoned until further notice. The production kept getting delayed but Warner Bros. had settled on Matt Reeves to direct as early as 2017. Since Ben Affleck was preoccupied with his Alcohol Abuse issue, Matt Reeves presented his first draft of the script to the executives at Warner. Upon receiving the copy himself, It was reported that Affleck was not happy with the direction that Reeves wanted to go into and was vastly different from what DCEU Batman was originally intended to be. Eventually Warner Bros decided to go with the Reeves’ version and Ben Affleck was eventually dropped from the project with several actors being casted for role of the caped crusader. Since Reeves’ version was a take on a younger, less experienced Batman, the director and studio ultimately went with Robert Pattinson as the new dark knight. 

The film was intentionally more dark and gritty than any of the previous iterations this time around, serving as a Murder mystery/ thriller and heavily influenced by David Fincher’s previous works like Se7en (1995) and Zodiac (2008). Due to the Pandemic, the production kept getting delayed, including Robert Pattinson testing positive during production which made the release being shifted to March 2022 instead.

The Batman was eventually released on 4th March 2022 with positive critical and commercial reviews.

+ Main Cast

  1. Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne / Batman
  2. Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman
  3. Paul Dano as Edward Nashton / Riddler
  4. Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon
  5. John Turturro as Carmine Falcone
  6. Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson
  7. Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth
  8. Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot / Penguin

+ Plot

Ever since the death of Thomas Wayne, the city of Gotham is in complete ruins. Corruption, street crime is rampant. The only hope this city has is in a vigilante by the name of The Batman. 

But there has been recently some retribution to all the lies that were being fed to the public by corrupt politicians across the city. A mysterious serial killer is making an example out of these representatives of the highest order through brutal violence and sadistic practices. Someone by the name of the Riddler. Will Batman be able to solve this mystery and become the savior of Gotham City in the process?

+ High Points

i – As a comic book fan, I always craved for a representation of Batman which had its own distinctive visual style but also paid homage to its source material and finally, fans like me can rejoice with this latest iteration of the dark knight. The Batman is the best, most comic accurate representation of the Caped Crusader on the Silver screen. The visuals are dark and broody, the shadows blend in seamlessly with the neon red backdrop, the city’s corruption and violence looks beyond repair and the only savior that they have is a vigilante who dresses as a bat and fights crime with the help of his detective skills. The film is an acute mixture of noir and grotesque murder mystery spliced in with occasional body horror images. The writer/ director Matt Reeves seems very well rehearsed as to what makes Batman appealing to its fans and core audience and does whatever it can not to stray away from that formula that has always worked in its source material. The film is nearly 3 hours long but due to some fantastic writing and engaging set pieces, it never felt dull even for a moment’s time. And as eloquently as Martin Scorsese might put it; The Batman is a heart pounding, thrilling amusement park ‘house of Spooky Horror’ ride from start to finish! 

ii – One of the most unique appeals of this iteration is of course Batman aka Bruce Wayne himself. This time Robert Pattinson (famous for his glittering vampire franchise ‘Twilight’) takes the reins of the dark vigilante who speaks less and investigates crime scenes more with his natural detective skills. Even the very few lines of levity come off with a sour taste of dark humor around it (which, of course I loved!). According to the film, Batman has only been cruising the streets of Gotham for two years so he is far from being the grizzled, experienced Batman that we have seen him in other iterations on screen. Which is why this version of Batman has a very distinctive character arc of learning the best possible way he could protect the city built by his father. The costume also plays a massive role in depicting the amateur years of the dark knight with layers of leather and bullet proof vests, making it combat heavy and practical instead of the stiff, visually pleasing costume of the Tim Burton era that we first introduced to. Yes, it is entirely debatable how this movie ranks with Christopher Nolan’s masterpiece The Dark Knight (2008) but as far as Batman goes on the big screen, this is the best version yet!

iii – And of course, no protagonist is complete without the wealth of side characters that accompany him throughout the film. And suffice to say, they all are unique and show stoppers in their own way, particularly Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman was outstanding as a mysterious femme fatale to the Bat. With the film nearly 3 hours long, Kravitz gets a ton of screen to play off Batman’s narrow perception towards criminals in his home city and does her part to gain his trust in their fight against the mysterious terrorist criminal mastermind. And that being of course, Paul Dano as the Riddler. 

His portrayal is vastly different from the comics, depicting him as a frustrated, ultra right wing, reddit blogger who promises to cleanse the Gotham City of “Liars” once and for all through gruesome violence against all the corrupt key representatives of the city. Admitteldy, Dano was the perfect casting for this role with his deceivingly innocent visage, sadistic crimes and childlike riddles accompanying it. Other villains in the rogue gallery include Colin Farrell as the Penguin (who is as over the top as his heavy makeup) and Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon (not yet Commissioner) who has a naive but honest take on the crime ridden world that he lives in. And last but not least, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone was menacing but much grounded than any of the other villains brought some grittiness and a clear indication as to who really pulls the strings behind the scenes.

All in all, the supporting cast goes brilliantly with the film, making most scenes memorable in their own unique way.

iv – Greig Fraser serves as the cinematographer for the film and by God, are the visuals impressive to stare at! The film at times feels claustrophobic due to its tight framing, focusing in and out from the foreground to the back, revealing information without unnecessary exposition. The color palette that Fraser uses is strictly limited, giving it a ‘noir, graphic novel’ touch to it. It was almost as if each frame was colored by a comic book colorist in post production. Although this technique might bother some, for me it worked absolutely to perfection, making it the most stylized visuals in a superhero film in a long time.

v – Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack from the film is utterly fantastic. As Batman approaches his enemies, the music transitions from distant and looming to stark and pounding, with each footstep spells as the ticking time bomb for the criminals of Gotham city. There is also some licensed soundtrack being used throughout its runtime, including Kurt Cobain’s Something in the Way. Even though the three core elements of every scene are the writing, visuals and performances, the music also plays a massive role in bringing the ‘impending doom’ to light.  

vi – While having only seen the film once, there are already some memorable scenes that shook me out of my seat, namely the Police station escape and the car chase scene. When it comes to unforgettable set pieces, Matt Reeves nearly knocked it out of the park.

vii – Although this has not to do with the content of the film, can we admire the brilliant print promotion of the film, namely the red and black poster? Fantastic, minimal art work.

+ Low Points

i – Although the film is fantastic in almost every conceivable way, there are some flaws that hinder its way in reaching its true potential. And one such hindrance can be directed towards the pacing of the film. Now, without any sense of exaggeration, the story is conveyed with a break neck speed (which is completely earned) but there were a couple of scenes that needed a breather in between, namely after the escape from the police station scene. The film did also lack at least one or two character building moments that would have made the narrative flow ever so slightly better and in the process, the suspense heavy scene even more impactful. I wish there could have been at least one or two more scenes of Bruce and Alfred interacting with one another, exploring the father/ son relationship that they share.

ii – Even though Kravitz as Catwoman is splendid in her own right, the romance between her and Batman felt clunky and at odds with one another. There was not enough romantic tension between them and I am not even sure why Bruce Wayne would fall for her of all people. But since the source material has a romantic relationship between them, so should the film I suppose. And I also felt that some of the comedic puns felt flat in the screen time they shared with jokes like ‘What? Do you live in a cave or something?’.

iii – The final Arkham Asylum scene (which I cannot elaborate more upon due to spoilers) felt very tacked on and unnecessary. Undoubtedly, this was perhaps a studio mandate in order to tease the audience for the future coming films but I sincerely hope that they do not follow in that direction as Batman has a wealth of villains who still have not made their debut onto the silver screen.

iv – Perhaps a fairly odd complaint but due to the dark visuals of the film, we hardly get to see any of the Batman gadgets that the caped crusader is known for. Because of the long dark shadows throughout its runtime, the suit, the batmobile, the bat cave get no wide angle shots to awe and admire at. In fact, I hardly even remember what they actually looked like!

+ Overall

From its visual and storytelling perspective, The Batman is an outstanding work of Art. And it stands tall as being one of the best superhero films ever made.

Rate: out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on The Suicide Squad (2021)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on American Superhero film, The Suicide Squad (2021). The film is considered a “soft reboot/ sequel” to the 2016 film Suicide Squad and is directed by James Gunn. The film includes a stacked cast of actors including Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman and Sylvester Stallone. The Suicide Squad is part of the DCEU and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

+ Crew

  • Directed by James Gunn
  • Written by James Gunn
  • Cinematography by Henry Braham
  • Music by John Murphy
  • Edited by Fred Raskin and Christian Wagner
  • Production by DC Films, Atlas Entertainment and The Safran Company
  • Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

+ Note

After the surprise success of James Gunn’s film for MCU Guardians Of The Galaxy in 2014, Warner Bros. and DCEU introduced their own band of misfits known as the Suicide Squad and David Ayer was set to direct the film. Suicide Squad (2016) was unfortunately met with mostly negative reviews from the critics and fans as the film failed to encapsulate the fun and excitement of what made GOTG such a fun experience to watch. Many sources indicate that it was due Warner Bros.’ constant meddling, reshoots and re-edits of the film that sabotaged David Ayer’s original vision of the film. In order to rectify their mistake, Warner Bros. decided to approach the man himself, James Gunn to handle the “soft reboot/ sequel” to Suicide Squad, giving him virtually full creative control on the project. The director (this time around) optied for a hard R rating on the film with full of violence, gore and dark humor. Considering James Gunn’s previous cult classics like Slither (2006) and Super (2010) , he seemed very familiar with the genre.

Some actors (who already had a fan following) retained their roles from the first film, including Margot Robbie as the maniacal Harley Quinn and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. But it also introduced strange, disposable D-List Superheroes/villains from DC Comics like Polka-Dot Man, Peacemaker and King Shark. The film was released in cinemas on July 30, 2021 and has met with praise from the critics and fans alike.

+ Main Cast

  1. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
  2. Idris Elba as Robert DuBois / Bloodsport
  3. John Cena as Christopher Smith / Peacemaker
  4. Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag
  5. Sylvester Stallone as the voice of Nanaue / King Shark
  6. Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
  7. David Dastmalchian as Abner Krill / Polka-Dot Man
  8. Daniela Melchior as Cleo Cazo / Ratcatcher 2
  9. Michael Rooker as Brian Durlin / Savant
  10. Jai Courtney as George “Digger” Harkness / Captain Boomerang
  11. Peter Capaldi as Gaius Grieves / The Thinker
  12. Alice Braga as Sol Soria
  13. Pete Davidson as Richard “Dick” Hertz / Blackguard

+ Plot

The American government needs a team to counter their foreign enemies. A team of super powered individuals who are instantly disposable and never to be mentioned again. Enter: The Suicide Squad! Lead by Amanda Waller and includes loveable characters like the psychopath Harley Quinn, the redeemable Bloodsport, the patriot Peacemaker and many other losers. Can the team band together and fight an adversary which threatens humanity’s very existence on planet Earth?

+ High Points

i – James Gunn knows how to make a fun premise. Judging by his filmography, he is very familiar with dark humor and cartoonishly absurd gore and violence in his films. Unlike the disaster that was Suicide Squad (2016), THE Suicide Squad (2021) is hilarious, quince inducing and exciting from the start to finish. The characters are likable, the action is fast paced, the pacing is never stagnated, The Suicide Squad knows its absurd premise and runs away with it. It’s an acquired taste (most certainly) and will not be everyone’s cup of tea but then again, it never needs to be.

ii – The main cast of characters are all fun to watch. Harley Quinn (this time around) is much better handled, her psychotic character is better explored as compared to being an “eye candy” for the fan boys to slobber over. Also new characters such as Bloodsport (Idris Elba) is a much better fit to the film as compared to Will Smith, John Cena is great as Peacemaker and minor characters like Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man and Sylvester Stallone as King Shark also tend to grow on you throughout the film’s runtime. What made Guardians Of The Galaxy a likeable bunch was due to their offbeat characterizations and even though The Suicide Squad is way more darker, it still manages to find a place in your heart to root for at the end.

iii – Although the film is not as funny as James Gunn’s previous works (I’ll get to that later in the Low Points section), The Suicide Squad is still a blast to watch. Not all jokes land but the ones that do land will have you laugh out loud. Most of the gags poke fun at how absurd the whole concept of being a “superhero/ villain” is and how utterly disposable some of them are! You have absurd powers like throwing deadly Polka Dots at someone or having detachable arms or being an anthropomorphic Shark or a Weasel or… the list just goes on. It’s obvious that James Gunn just loves the absurdity of the D-List characters in Superhero comics and just wants to have a laugh at their expense!

iv – The R rating works perfectly for the film. The Suicide Squad would’ve never been half as enjoyable if not for its foul language, dark humor and brain exploding, blood splattering hardcore violence. The first film really suffered for not having a R rating and felt muted from the themes that the film could’ve explored. Even though I am an advocate that not all films need to be R rated, some films definitely need it to explore their true potential. And films like Deadpool (2016), Logan (2017) and The Suicide Squad thrive in entertainment because of that.

v – Some scenes like Harley Quinn’s escape sequence and the invasion of the Rebel Camp are incredibly well shot and directed. James Gunn and Henry Braham did an outstanding job in delivering those scenes with flair and excitement without overstaying their welcome. The camerawork was controlled but never stagnating, the timing of the humor was great and the film can become instantly memorable because of them. While Phase 4 Marvel films are becoming more and more stale and generic, The Suicide Squad injects some life onto the superhero films and how creative they can be.

vi – Even though the film’s pacing is not a complete smooth sail from start to finish, the Third Act could possibly be one of the most memorable fight scenes in recent memory. I will not spoil what it is but let’s just say it fully embraced the absurdity of the world of Superheroes.

+ Low Points

i – Not everything is perfect about the film, namely the humor. While some jokes landed well, others did feel a bit tiresome. The film does at times push the supposed “nudging” to the audience a bit too far. The Suicide Squad is not as funny as his previous Guardians Of The Galaxy films where I felt we genuinely loved each and every character in the group. Whereas with The Suicide Squad, (due to the character’s disposable nature) you can’t really fall in love with them because they are essentially murderers. While The Suicide Squad is a fun film to watch, there is a lack in emotional investment that the audience could potentially feel for our protagonists as compared to GOTG.

ii – Peter Capaldi as Gaius Grieves / The Thinker was unfortunately not a villain you could wholeheartedly hate upon. His character and motivations were not sufficiently built upon for us to despise him. And because of that, the rooting for the Suicide Squad to succeed seems a bit timid. The film needed a strong antagonist for our team to fight against and no matter how deplorable our “heroes” are, the film needed an even bigger baddy to counter against. There are other “villains” that are introduced later in the film but by that time, it was a tad bit too late.

iii –  As I mentioned earlier, there is a bit too much “winking” at the audience as if to say “Can you believe how crazy this all is??”. Some jokes perhaps should have been left on the cutting room floor but I suppose that is the risk a work of Art has when the creator is in (almost) full control of his project.

+ Overall

The Suicide Squad is a blast to watch from start to finish. And even though it will not serve as everyone’s cup of tea, it’s entertaining to see some life and creativity injected into the superhero genre once again.

Rate : out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on Jinnah (1998)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Pakistani Historical Biopic film, Jinnah (1998) starring Sir Christopher Lee as Jinnah. The film is co-written by Akbar S Ahmed and directed by Jamil Dehlavi. Jinnah was released in cinemas in 1998 and was distributed by Dehlavi Films Productions.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Jamil Dehlavi
  • Written by Akbar S Ahmed and Jamil Dehlavi
  • Cinematography by Nicholas D. Knowland
  • Edited by Robert M. Reitano and Paul Hodgson
  • Music by Nigel Clarke and Michael Csányi-Wills
  • Produced by Jamil Dehlavi

+ Note

The “never released” Jinnah film from 1983

After the release of Richard Attenborough’s Biopic on Mahatma Gandhi in 1982, the Pakistani government of Zia-ul-Haq was appalled by the abhorrent depiction of Mohammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) in the film as a stubborn, heartless monster who was hell bent on dividing India. In retaliation, the government of Zia-ul-Haq announced their very first film on the founder of Pakistan. According to Mushtaq Gazdar’s detailed book Pakistani Cinema 1947-1997, the film was to be named Stand Up From the Dust (in reference to the story where Jinnah saw school boys playing marbles on a dusty road and urged them to get up from the dust make something useful of themselves). Funded directly by the Pakistani government at the time, they micromanaged every aspect of the script, spending millions of rupees on the expenses of the crew and production.

According to Gazdar, the film was just an alibi to “legitimize” the government of Zia-ul-Haq as the true “Islamic State” vision of Pakistan, just as Jinnah would have intended. Apparently the film was somehow completed and privately screened for Zia-ul-Haq. Upon the film’s conclusion, Zia admitted: “Very good effort… but the film lacks in feeling…”. Since the production of the film was found unsatisfactory, Stand Up From the Dust was shelved in the vaults of the Pakistani government, never to be released for the general public.

Another attempt at the film

With the advent of Pakistan’s 50th Anniversary, Akbar S Ahmed (writer and Scholar) wanted to fulfill his personal wish of completing a film on the founder of Pakistan. With the Pakistani Independent Director Jamil Dehlavi onboard, the government of PPP Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistani Army acknowledged to help finance the film. But as the pre-production started, the PPP government was toppled and Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N came into power. The film project was immediately disapproved by the government and were threatened to shut down the production altogether. It felt like Akbar S Ahmed’s dream of working on a film about Jinnah would not be brought to fruition once again. But with the help and support of the Pak Army, Jamil Dehlavi and many others, the film went ahead with its Pre-production. 

After searching high and low for lead actor to play the Quaid, from Daniel Day Lewis to Jeremy Irons to local Pakistani actors, the producers of the film finally settled on a British veteran actor Christopher Lee who was at the time known for playing the role of Dracula in the 1970s and a James Bond villain in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). The casting was immediately followed with backlash from many Pakistani publications who claimed that the film producers tried to equate the leader of Pakistan to a “blood sucking vampire”. Nonetheless, the film went into production and was scheduled for 11 weeks of shoot in Karachi, Lahore and London. According to Akbar S Ahmed, numerous funds promised by the government never materialized.

Despite resistance from the PML-N government and several news outlets (mainly Imran Aslam, the editor of The News) hell-bent on destroying any credibility of the film, Jinnah finally made it to the theaters in 1998. Upon release, the film was met with very positive reviews from critics and the general public. 

Controversies and legal battles surrounding Jinnah

Unfortunately, the controversies surrounding the film grew as a legal battle ensued between the writer and the director regarding the rights of the film. Around the same time, another new controversy surfaced that it was in fact Farrukh Dhondy who ghost wrote the script to the film. His work was kept secret due to the fact that Farrukh was an Indian born. 

Even after almost 25 years since its release, the film is still shrouded in controversies and never received a proper foreign market distribution. 

 + Main Cast

  1. Christopher Lee as Mohammad Ali Jinnah
  2. Shashi Kapoor as Narrator
  3. James Fox as Lord Louis Mountbatten
  4. Maria Aitken as Edwina Mountbatten
  5. Richard Lintern as Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Younger)
  6. Shireen Shah as Fatima Jinnah
  7. Indira Varma as Rattanbai (‘Ruttie’) Jinnah
  8. Robert Ashby as Jawaharlal Nehru
  9. Sam Dastor as Mahatma Gandhi
  10. Shakeel as Liaquat Ali Khan

+ Plot

As Jinnah (Christopher Lee) stands at the gates of Afterlife, he is greeted by the “Narrator” (Shashi Kapoor) who recalls Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s life as a lawyer, husband, father, politician and of course, the leader of the Nation called Pakistan. 

+ High Points

i – Looking back at this film once again (23 years since its release), this is arguably the best rendition of Mohammad Ali Jinnah that could have ever been approved by the Pakistani government and the censor board. The writers of the film, Akbar S Ahmed, Jamil Dehlavi (and ghost writer Farrukh Dhondy) have done a magnificent job in presenting the Quaid, with all his integrity, all his strength and ambitions and most importantly, with all his flaws. Although his political goals were never to be compromised, Jinnah perhaps could not devote the time that he could have to his family. He was perhaps not the greatest husband or father to his child but that was the price Jinnah had to pay if that meant that the muslims of India would finally have their own separate homeland. 

Biographical films are meant to be case studies of famous figures of our history. Legends that inspire us to fulfill our ambitions in life, no matter what the cost. Jinnah was not a “mahatma”, he was a man who learned with time why he believed that the muslims of India will never be free unless they have their own separate homeland. The film Jinnah does a splendid job in portraying him with all his ambitions and flaws as a political leader, a husband and a father.

ii – While Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982) was a straightforward Biopic, Akbar S Ahmed and Dehlavi strived for something different. The script gave Jinnah a chance to witness (in third person) his own political career and personal life. That for me, is a vastly more creative way of tackling the story of Independence. The Indian Independence movement is intricate and layered with many sides and opinions. The Congress Party had one for a united India whereas Jinnah had one (later on) for a separate Muslim Homeland. This “meta” introspective was a brilliant move by the director of the film Dehlavi and the film brings a whole new perspective on the partition once again. Was it inevitable? Could Muslims have coexisted in a united India? Was it Jinnah’s political ambition or conviction that drove him towards the Independence movement? While there will never be concrete answers, there will always be varying opinions from the audience of the film.

iii – As the narrative of the film is never linear, we get to go on a journey with the Quaid himself as he takes us through his younger days as a lawyer, a newly wedded Husband, loss of his loved one and eventually, striving for the birth of Pakistan. The pacing of the film works seamlessly, bringing a sense of awe and fascination towards the subject once again. I must admit, I am absolutely flabbergasted how the financiers of the film gave Jamil Dehlavi the freedom to convey a non-linear story to its audience. Perhaps this still might not be the film that Jamil intended but the film Jinnah can never be accused of taking a “safe” approach in its storytelling.

iv – The casting of Christopher Lee as Jinnah. Regardless of him having a striking resemblance to the leader of the Nation, Lee was mostly known for playing low life, villainous characters in commercial or low budget films. Jinnah was his chance to prove that he in fact did possess the talent needed to rightfully portray such a larger than life political figure and he did not disappoint. Lee’s dedication and conviction to the role is admirable. From his stern yet accurate dialogue delivery to his stature on the podium as he delivers speeches to the masses all across the country, Christopher Lee did justice to the Quaid-e-Azam and is certainly one of his most iconic roles of his career.

v – Due to Christopher Lee’s astounding performance, Richard Lintern as the younger Jinnah never gets the proper recognition that he deserves. His naive but determined outlook towards Sub continent politics is stupendously portrayed by the young actor. His convincing performance in the film is one of the main reasons why Jinnah works so well as a non linear biopic. Richard Lintern had some essential, emotional scenes to pull off in order for the narrative to blend into the older Jinnah and suffice to say, he did a fine job.

vi – The opening scene contains some splendid editing where the last dying breaths of Jinnah are transitioned into the opening of the library of “Afterlife”. It’s a perfect way to invite viewers to join Jinnah into his epic journey towards his own previous life. Also the scene where the young and the old Jinnah coincide one another was a stroke of genius. It was a pivotal moment in Jinnah’s life where his resistance to embrace Gandhi’s non-violent movement would lead to more chaos and separation between the Hindus and Muslims of India.

vii – The supporting cast also plays its part well. Indira Varma as Ruttie brings out the softer side of Jinnah. A woman who he was in love with but did not dare to comprise his political ambitions in return for that family life. 

viii – With the modest budget of just over $ 2 million, Dehlavi and team did a wonderful job of bringing authenticity to the film. The set design, the early 20th century cars, costumes bring the era of British Colonialism alive in moving images. A lot of credit should go to Nicholas D. Knowland’s cinematography. The slight overexposed film footage makes the images illusive, a past that can never be recreated, only re-imagined.

 + Low Points

i – Although I have praised Akbar S Ahmed and Jamil Dehlavi in their depiction of Jinnah as a leader of the nation and his private life, there is still a subject perhaps left virtually untouched; Jinnah’s relationship to his religion. By many accounts (prior to his goals later in life), Islam never played a massive part in his life. He preferred speaking English, wore three piece suits, smoked a cigar and dined as a proper British would do. Although Jinnah fought for muslim identity in the Subcontinent, how did he viewed his own identity? Unlike Gandhi (who wore his Hindu heratige on his sleeve), Jinnah had a more subtle relationship with his muslim background. It would have been fascinating to have explored that on screen but unfortunately, would never get past the Pakistan censorship board (and ultimately, hurting sentiments of the public along the way).

ii – The “Trial” scene at the end does feel a bit tacked on to the overall narrative. Perhaps this was the only moment I felt that the “meta” commentary went a bit too far for its own good. The information revolves around the injustices the Pakistani government had to face after its Independence and regardless what side you take, subtlety was most probably lost in that scene. I realise that Jinnah’s journey throughout his own life needed to reach its end destination but perhaps there could have been a better way to conclude the film. 

iii – While Gandhi’s portrayal is more sympathetic and understandable, Nehru (on the other hand) is depicted as a conniving, devious politician who solely had lust for power to become the first Prime Minister of India. One too many scenes were focused on his affair with Lady Mountbatten which (understably) had an unfair advantage in judgment of the division of India. Even though it’s nowhere near as bad as Jinnah’s portrayal in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi (1982), a better understanding of Nehru the politician could have served this film well.

+ Overall

With inventive storytelling and brilliant performances by the main cast, Jinnah is by far one of the greatest Pakistani films ever made.

Rate: out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on Black Widow (2021)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on American Superhero film, Black Widow (2021). The film is the first of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four films and is directed by Cate Shortland. Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Black Widow and the list of cast includes Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz and Ray Winstone. The film is a continuation of the saga from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is now in cinemas and Disney Plus streaming service.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Cate Shortland
  • Screenplay by Eric Pearson
  • Story by Jac Schaeffer and Ned Benson
  • Cinematography by Gabriel Beristain
  • Music by Lorne Balfe
  • Edited by Leigh Folsom Boyd and Matthew Schmidt
  • Production by Marvel Studios
  • Distributed by Walt Disney Studios and Motion Pictures 

+ Note

The character of Black Widow as the ex-Russian spy first made her appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Iron Man 2 (2009). Since then, she had made dozens of appearances all across the three phases of the MCU and in turn, grew in popularity amongst the fans. A standalone Black Widow film was always on the cards for Kevin Feige (Marvel Studios President) but due to big event shattering films like Avenger: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019), the filming got delayed till the end of the Phase Three. 

After hinting at it through numerous films, Black Widow was set to reveal the origin story of the character and how she became a super spy, entangled in the world of espionage. The main list of characters included Natasha Romanoff’s estranged family of misfits. Black Widow was to be released in the Summer of 2020 but due to the pandemic, the film kept getting delayed till it was finally released in the summer of 2021. As of July 23, 2021, Black Widow has grossed $146.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $132 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $278.7 million.

+ Main Cast

  1. Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
  2. Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova / Black Widow
  3. David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian
  4. O-T Fagbenle as Rick Mason
  5. Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster
  6. William Hurt as Thaddeus Ross
  7. Ray Winstone as Dreykov
  8. Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff / Black Widow

+ Plot

The events of Black Widow take place after Captain America: Civil War (2016) where she serves as a fugitive from the Sokovia Accords. Due to political conspiracy and espionage, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) ends up confronting her dark past as a spy and mending broken relationships with her “parents” and sister. In the quest of searching for the truth, Natasha comes across a mysterious “Red Room” and the potential mastermind behind the Superspy program.

+ High Points

i – The main cast of characters of Black Widow have great chemistry with one another. The exposition/ quieter moments of the film reveal the depth of personality each of the characters pertain within themselves. The screenplay gives vital time develop each of the estranged relationship in the dysfunctional “Romanoff” family and by the far the best thing going about the film.

ii – Speaking of estranged relationships, Florence Pugh as Natasha’s Superspy sister is wonderful casting and an assent to the Black Widow saga. The banter with Scarlett Johansson and her performance walks the fine line of cynicism and comedy with rewarding results. Pugh’s dialogue delivery and subtle gestures play a key role in cementing her as one of the quintessential non-superhero characters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.   

iii – And of course, a shoutout also goes to David Harbour as the bumbling “Red Guardian” who’s tall tales of fighting Captain America never cease to amaze his listeners. If not written correctly, the character could’ve ended up being a liability to the film but it is Harbour’s comedic timing and emotions that make him hilarious but loveable at the same time. 

iv – The dark opening sequence of the film was admittedly fantastic and unique from the rest of the Marvel films. It was unapologetically tragic and disturbing to say the least but unfortunately for the film, the originality ended right after the opening scene and the film devolved back into pointless action sequences.

+ Low Points

i – So I guess we should address the elephant in the room; why now? Why did Kevin Feige feel that the audience needs a Black Widow film when she already died in the previous Avengers film? Black Widow is admittedly a competent Superhero film but what purpose does it serve in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? The film feels 3 or 4 years too late and it shows. The biggest issue with Black Widow is that regardless if you love the film or not, it is inconsequential and therefore, lacks the stakes of engaging its audience. 

ii – Like Captain Marvel (2019), Black Widow feels dull and a mediocre product of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The plot and action sequences seem like nothing that we already haven’t seen time and time again. The big baddy Dreykov kidnapping and brainwashing solely female subjects is never justified. There seems to be a clear distinction between the dialogue heavy scenes to the mind numbing action sequences. Apparently, the film’s creative team was already working on the action scenes of the film long before they even approached the director of the film! And the results are clear as day. Black Widow doesn’t feel like a coherent film or a vision of a sole filmmaker but rather just some interesting character developing moments, followed by bland CGI explosions. 

iii –  While watching the film, the question that always popped in my head was; is Black Widow invulnerable to pain? As far as I know, Natasha was never injected with the Super serum, how (for the love of God) can she jump 100 feet down on the ground, take a massive beating to the face and still walk away scratchless? I understand that suspension of disbelief is a common trait one must have while watching a superhero film but this was just plain ridiculous and numerous times took me out of the film.

iv – Normally, I do not compare the source material to the film adaptation but Taskmaster was such a major disappointment in the film. The cunning copycat of the comics has so much devious personality that could have served the cinematic counterpart quite well but unfortunately, Taskmaster in MCU is just another bland, generic villain in the film that Black Widow must overcome. I cannot talk much about the character due to spoilers but whatever emotions the film was trying to bring to its audiences, it sadly did not work.

v – Ray Winstone as the big baddy also never lived up to its true evil potential. He was evil for the sake of being evil. No real motivations or character development, Dreykov had the depth of a James Bond villain from the 1960s.

vi – There was a cute subplot with the Red Guardian who claimed to have fought Captain America and then… nothing. There was no pay off to the story. Again, so much potential but none of the creativeness to bring it all together with the main plot of the film.

vii – Even though the family interaction scenes were the best part of the film, the third act of the film was entirely forgettable, CGI nonsense that betrayed the very core of an espionage film. Instead of constructing something unique, the creative team opted for yet another “world threatening, ships in the sky exploding” conclusion that will challenge to keep the audience’s attention span till the end of the film.

+ Overall

Black Widow is a perfectly serviceable but bland Marvel film that never lived up to the character’s potential. MCU needs to be a lot more creative if they don’t want to lose their core audience with the upcoming phase four films.

Rate : 2.0 out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on Sarkata Insaan (1994)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Pakistani Sci-Fi Horror film, Sarkata Insaan (1994) which stars Babra Sharif, Ghulam Mohiuddin and Qavi Khan in lead roles. The film is directed by Saeed Rizvi and is distributed by Al. Farooq Movies.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Saeed Rizvi
  • Written by Rashid Sajid and Iqbal Rizvi
  • Cinematography by Saeed Rizvi
  • Edited by M. Aqeel
  • Visual Effects by Saeed Rizvi
  • Music by Kamal Ahmed
  • Produced by Saeed Rizvi

+ Note

During Zia ul Haq’s rule and thereafter, Pakistani Film Industry fell from grace and was merely producing subpar films which made the cinema attendance drop by significant percentage, cripping the industry further. Fortunately, this also paved the way for local filmmakers to experiment with genres and techniques that Pakistani moviegoers were not aware of. 

In 1988, after watching Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Saeed Rizvi (the director) was also inspired to make a film with similar visual technique, integrating live action with hand drawn animation. This first led to making the low key Pakistani Sci-Fi film Shani (1989) which also starred Babra Sharif. In 1990, Saeed Rizvi declared his next project to be Sci-Fi Horror film Sarkata Insaan. 

The film was set to be released in 1991, with promotional ADs running on local television, proclaiming Sarkata Insaan to be the “first ever Pakistani Horror Film” (even though that statement is false as the ‘first Pak Horror film’ title is held by the Zinda Laash in 1967). Due to numerous delays, the film was eventually released in 1994.

 + Main Cast

  1. Babra Sharif
  2. Ghulam Mohiuddin 
  3. Izhar Qazi
  4. Sapna
  5. Asif Khan
  6. Saeed Khan Rangeela

+ Plot

An Evil Scientist and his henchmen dig up a grave of an unknown deceased man in order to steal his head for an illegal experiment. The severed head is then used to revive a dead body of an ex crime lord who then goes on a murderous spree, proclaimed by many as the ‘Beheaded Man’. 

+ High Points

i – As a kid growing up in early 90s Karachi, I remember viewing the promotional Ads of Sarkata Insaan numerous times on National Television. The shot of the gate opening by itself with luminous lighting, dark shadows and there, stood the headless man with an axe in one hand and his head in the other. It was such a great visual for a gorey low budget horror film! After watching the film now almost 30 years later, the visual still looks great and undoubtedly the highlight of the film. While the other special effects are hokey and laughable, the visual props of the “Headless body” are excellent. 

ii – After reading up on Saeed Rizvi and his struggles to make a film for the Pakistani Industry in a completely alienated genre like Horror or Sci-Fi, I do sympathize and respect his struggle to realize his vision onto the silver screen. Filmmaking is a very unforgiving Art if you lack funds and support but Saeed Rizvi managed to pull off his vision and make the film that he wanted to. And that is in itself, quite an accomplishment!

iii – The premise of the film is quite interesting and could’ve made for an excellent low budget Horror film! The head of an honest cop fused with the body of a criminal lord! How great of a concept is that? 

iv – In a low budget campy way, the scene (later on in the film) with the headless man in the doorway and the head itself crawling towards the bed was excellently done. It’s one of the very few scenes where the special effects fit perfectly into the film. 

 + Low Points

i – I was fully ready to embrace the film as a low budget campy Horror classic but Sarkata Insaan failed to live up to that expectations by a mile! This film is just plain bad. If you grew up in the 1990s, you could watch it for nostalgic reasons but apart from that, the film is terrible and senseless for all the wrong reasons.

ii – In the 1970s and 80s, numerous emerging talents in Hollywood took up the mantle of creating Horror films on shoestring budgets. Directors such as Sam Raimi, John Carpenter and even later on, Peter Jackson used lack of funds as an advantage to elevate their films into campy Horror genre. So I completely understand if Saeed Rizvi was working on nickels and dimes to make his vision but with talent and intelligence, that could have very well have been masked with numerous filmmaking techniques. Not only that but there also seems to be a lack of attention to minor details. For example, why is there no visible line around the “Headless Man’s” neck whenever he fuses his head onto the body? Its small details like this that make the film rewarding to watch.

Saeed Rizvi and team should’ve been creative about handling complicated Special Effects scenes rather than just having some of the most horrendous, terrible and comical sequences that fails the film in every aspect.

iii – Bad Special Effects can be forgiven due to budgetary reasons but bad screenwriting unfortunately cannot. The script is beyond absurd! Nothing makes sense. The film has no idea what it wants to be; a Sci-Fi, a comedy, action or just a campy horror film? And then, there are the obvious questions;  If the headless body can function on its own, why does it need the head? Since the head is good but the body is bad, why is there not a constant struggle between them? Should’ve been such an interesting concept to explore!

But no, they had to make numerous “comedy” scenes for Rangeela and dance numbers destroy any pacing or plot development that the script was creating. Were these scenes mandated by the financiers or were they part of Saeed Rizvi’s vision? One will never know.

iv – Another baffling decision I feel from the creative side was the lack of any devotion to the Police officer’s past life. As a viewer, it was hard to empathise with him when he was trying to remember his “humanity” as we virtually know nothing about him. Only the fact that he was killed in the line of duty and he had a mother and a sister. And that sadly not enough.

A perfect example could be Robocop (1987) where the audience is first introduced to the character’s family life, gets brutally injured by the band of criminals, is then transformed into Robocop (and in the process, loses his humanity) and then the rest of the film is him trying to remember what it was like to be human.

Character development is extremely important if you want to have a strong payoff at the end.

v – Speaking of dance numbers, the infamous ‘Babra Sharif dancing with Ninja Turtle and Pink Panther’ scene. Good God, what is that? Who in their right mind thought that this scene fits into a Sci Fi Horror film?? The animation is beyond terrible, nothing makes sense, Copyright infringement be damned, this whole scene feels like a fever dream! But in a guilty pleasure way, I’m so glad that this exists…

vi – Sarkata Insaan was shot in 4:3 aspect ratio with some of the worst film material I’ve ever seen! Every scene is over exposed, the film feels cheap and disposable. Although its not too bad during night scenes but the day scenes, it’s just awful to watch.

vii – The performances from all actors are over the top and campy (which is really not a complaint from me!) but in regards to the plot, mostly all the characters are pretty useless. It’s fun whenever the headless man is onscreen but the filler, exposition scenes with forgettable characters can easily be skipped.

viii – I’ve always been totally against unnecessarily integrating religious or ultra nationalistic elements into fictional stories and Sarkata Insaan is no expectation. For such a ludicrous plot, it ends up making a mockery of both of these elements.

ix – Coming in at 148 min runtime, the film is waaay too long for such a premise. It should not have been more than 90 minutes as the rest is just nonsense “comedy” scenes or musical numbers which should not have a place in a campy horror film! 

+ Overall

I really wanted to recommend Sarkata Insaan as an entertaining campy horror film but unfortunately in its entirety, the film is not worth anyone’s time. You would be better off watching selected clips off it on Youtube.

Rate: 1.75 out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on Mortal Kombat (2021)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Hollywood feature length film, Mortal Kombat (2021). The film is based on a famous 90s video fighting game with the same name and is directed by the debutant Simon McQuoid. The film is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and is available in selected cinemas and HBO Max streaming service.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Simon McQuoid
  • Cinematography by Germain McMicking
  • Edited by Dan Lebental and Scott Gray
  • Screenplay by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham
  • Music by Benjamin Wallfisch
  • Produced by James Wan, Todd Garner, Simon McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh

+ Note

After the disastrous Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), the third film in the franchise was left in hiatus for decades before being finally decided to be rebooted for the younger audience. But due to the violent nature of the source material, several significant changes were to be made namely the hard ‘R’ rating. Unlike the first Mortal Kombat film, this allowed the creative team to freely depict the horrendous yet glorious fatalities directly from the video games. The film was also going to explore certain personal rivalries namely the Scorpion/ Sub-Zero story arc. Another major change that the reboot intended was to introduce a completely new character to the franchise by the name of Cole Young, serving as the main protagonist of the film.

On its opening weekend, Mortal Kombat grossed a worldwide total of $57.5 million, easily recovering its $ 55 million budget. The critical and commercial response has been mixed. Some praise it for being faithful to the source material while others felt it failed to live up as a coherent, entertaining film. Nevertheless, plans on releasing future sequels are now in the cards for the Mortal Kombat franchise.

+ Main Cast

  1. Lewis Tan as Cole Young
  2. Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade
  3. Josh Lawson as Kano
  4. Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden
  5. Mehcad Brooks as Jax
  6. Ludi Lin as Liu Kang
  7. Chin Han as Shang Tsung
  8. Joe Taslim as Bi-Han / Sub-Zero
  9. Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion
  10. Max Huang as Kung Lao
  11. Sisi Stringer as Mileena

+ Plot

Mortal Kombat is a tournament held amongst mortals and beyond in order to maintain balance among the many realms of the universe. Due to his dragon birthmark, Cole Young (Lewis Tan) is a wanted man as he might be the gateway for Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), Lord of Thunder and protector of Earth Realm, to save the planet from the wrath of Shang Tsung (Chin Han). Can Cole and the chosen fighters of Earth Realm protect and defeat the Outworld forces once and for all?

+ High Points

i – The opening scene of the film is just simply fantastic. Not only is it brilliantly shot and executed but it sets up the Scorpion/ Sub-Zero rivalry perfectly and in the process, inviting new fans into the world of Mortal Kombat. And a lot of credit goes to Joe Taslim and Hiroyuki Sanada for their outstanding performances. The gore, the violence, the dialogue, the art direction, all in service of the neverending rivalry between two of the most iconic video game characters ever. As a long time fan of the franchise, I could not have asked for a better opening scene to the film.

ii – Some of the characters are brilliantly brought on to the big screen; namely, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kabal and of course, everyone’s loveable a**hole, Kano. Whenever he was on screen, Kano’s charisma and personality just took over the whole scene. Josh Lawson did a wonderful job bringing the comedic, nihilistic yet self-serving Aussie onto the big screen. 

iii – Surprisingly, the humor was exactly what it needed to be; fun, dark but never overstaying its welcome. It’s not a coincidence that most of the humor came from Kano but even side characters such as Kung Lao had some great comedic timing to their performances. The film only takes itself seriously when it needs to be. The rest of it is quite self-aware in the absurdity of the plot. 

iv – Some say fan service is just a facade to hide lack of original ideas. But if done correctly, can prove to be quite rewarding for the long time fans of the franchise. Mortal Kombat definitely falls into the latter of the two. There are some sprinkles of “Finish HIM!” or “Flawless Victory” and barrage of the most violent fatalities lifted directly from the games (my favorite always being Kung Lao’s ‘Hat trick’ of course). The film is obviously very aware of what the fans anticipate from the film and to that respect, it delivers in spades.

v – I am happy to proclaim that the R rating was truly justified. With excessive gore, foul language and unapologetic violence, this is how a Mortal Kombat film should be. 

vi – Before going into the film, I was afraid of the Art direction and Costume Design just being ‘cosplay’ material but to the film’s credit, the costume department did a fantastic job with each and every character in the film.

vii – Just like the opening of the film, the end climatic fight scene is also brilliantly handled. The fight choreography was captivating and gets your blood pumping till the last drop of blood. 

+ Low Points

i – With all that’s good on surface level, Mortal Kombat suffers from major plot issues and character development. While an argument could be made that Mortal Kombat was never about the story per se but every good film or literature resonates much more if the audience can relate to the characters on screen. For a film called ‘Mortal Kombat’, the tournament unfortunately does not even really begin throughout the whole film! It’s rather quick skirmishes that frequently happen throughout its runtime in order to keep its audience occupied. 

ii – The whole concept of ‘birthmark’ and Arcana is just simply ludicrous and unnecessary. This is where I would say that the film was trying too hard to justify its absurd premise. Sure, it’s preposterous but that’s what makes the franchise so much fun. As a viewer, if I see concepts of different realms, creatures with 4 arms, human flesh functioning like jelly, I sure as heck not going to ask “Hey, how come you can throw fire from your hands?”. It’s inconsequential to the overall narrative.

iii – Speaking of underdeveloped characters, nothing could be more ‘vanilla’ than our main protagonist Cole Young. “Who?” you might ask.. well, get in line cause (for some pointless reason) he was solely created for this film so people can throw their expositions at him throughout the film. Although the film tries incredibly hard to make us sympathise with him and his family, it’s just not going to happen. He’s too underdeveloped, uninteresting of a character for us to care about him. And to top it off, his “Arcana” or special powers are so incredibly lame and generic, it’s unfathomable. 

iv – The CGI at times was questionable. Not a deal breaker by any means but could have been in the oven a bit more before being taken out.

v – Regardless of all the mishaps mentioned above, the biggest flaw that Mortal Kombat suffers from is that it never felt as epic as they wanted to make us believe. Since the Outworld had won all previous 9 tournaments, one more loss to the Earthrealm could potentially signify its extermination. With such a world threatening situation, you would expect to have a bit more investment into the plot but sadly, that is not the case here. The climactic fight at the end (although fantastic) did not feel epic at all and this for me, is the biggest failure of the reboot. It felt like a limited series episode. Probably a great conclusion to an episode but not to a feature length film. Maybe they should have released it as a HBO Max series instead.

+ Overall

While Mortal Kombat is far from being a “flawless victory”, it still possesses some entertaining sequences and fatalities to keep you entertained throughout its runtime.

Rate: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Feature Length Films

Mr. Khan’s Review on Tere Bin Laden (2010)

Mr. Khan's Reviews

A review on Indian satirical comedy film, Tere Bin Laden (2010) starring famous Pakistani Singer Ali Zafar in his debut acting role. The film is written/ directed by Abhishek Sharma and is distributed by UTV Motion Pictures.

+ Crew

  • Directed by Abhishek Sharma
  • Written by Abhishek Sharma
  • Cinematography by Santosh Thundiyil
  • Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
  • Produced Pooja Shetty Deora and Aarti Shetty

+ Note

Tere Bin Laden is essentially a satirical comedy on the mass paranoia that erupted after the 9/ 11 bombings. According to the legend, the concept of the film was conceived when, due to a severe headache, Abhishek Sharma wrapped a cloth around his forehead to ease the pain which led to someone commenting that he resembled ‘Osama Bin Laden’. This got Sharam to write the first initial draft of the film. 

For this screwball comedy, Ali Zafar was apparently the first actor to be cast for the lead role since Abhishek Sharma thought that his “quirkiness and wit” from his music videos would suit perfectly for the film. The most difficult role to cast was indeed the role of fake Osama Bin Laden. After a long tedious process of casting, Sharma finally decided upon Pradhuman Singh who later studied tapes of Osama and learnt Arabic within 8 months of preparations. In order to depict Karachi in the film, the production was held in Mumbai and Hyderabad to resemble the setting as much as possible. 

Understandable, the film was proven to be controversial in some nations and many middle eastern countries outright banned the film from being released there. The critical and commercial response was mixed but the film was a decent box office success which promoted a sequel Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive in 2016.

 + Main Cast

  1. Ali Zafar as Ali Hassan
  2. Pradhuman Singh Mall as Noora / Osama Bin Laden
  3. Sugandha Garg as Zoya Khan
  4. Nikhil Ratnaparkhi as Gul
  5. Piyush Mishra as Majeed Khan
  6. Rahul Singh as Qureishi
  7. Seema Bhargav as Shabbo

 + Supporting Cast

  1. Barry John as Ted Wood (Ted-ji)
  2. Chirag Vohra as Lateef
  3. Chinmay Mandlekar as Usmaan
  4. Rajendra Sethi as Jamal Bhai (Travel agent)
  5. Harry Josh as Security guard
  6. Masood Akhtar as Goga from Rahim Yar Khan
  7. Sudipto Balav as an ISI agent

+ Plot

Ali Zafar plays the role of an ambitious reporter who badly wants to migrate to the US but does not possess the finances to do so. After shooting a report on a local Chicken show, Ali meets Noora who is the exact doppelganger of the most wanted man in the world, Osama bin Laden. This gives Ali an idea to disguise Noora as the infamous personality and sell the threatening videos to local news channels for profit.

+ High Points

i – Tere Bin Laden has a great premise for a screwball, satirical comedy. The idea works on so many levels and just the concept alone was enough for the audience who bought the ticket in the cinema. So major props for Abhishek Sharma for creating the perfect “hook” for the cinemagoers.  

ii – I think the biggest question going into this film on everyone’s minds was “Can Ali Zafar act?”. And the answer is; yes, yes he can. At least he did exactly what the script required of him. Could any other more seasoned actor have done a better job? Probably but after watching the film till the end, Ali Zafar did not feel out of place so some praise should go to his performance in the film.

iii – Talk about perfect casting; Pradhuman Singh as “Osama” was picture perfect. This film would have never worked if “Osama” was not visually convincing enough to fool the characters in the film but with good casting of fake Osama, Tere Bin Laden pulled the stunt successfully in the end. 

iv – From beginning to end, the story flows smooth and doesn’t feel stagnated at all. Around the 90 minute mark, Tere Bin Laden has the perfect length which neither feels too long or too short. 

v– To the film’s credit, the greed and hunger for success and capital is evenly depicted between all facets of this “War on Terror”. Al Qaeda is out there killing innocent bystanders in their Holy War while the U.S authorities are there to deceive the world as saviours but instead are making profit off human lives. There’s a good line of dialogue from the FBI agent Ted Wood after being asked why he ordered to bomb Afghanistan if Osama is hiding within Pakistan:

“We have a 100 Billion Dollar budget for hunting down Osama, I can’t spend all of that on sipping coffee!”

 + Low Points

i – Tere Bin Laden commits the most cardinal sin imaginable for any comedy film; too many bad jokes. The film can easily be described as the feature length version of ‘Kapil Sharma show’. With obnoxious “funny” sound effects and over the top acting, the film just utterly fails to live up to its interesting premise. Abhishek Sharma is unfortunately not talented enough to create a good satire out of this premise. He just ends up doing what he can do, creating an unfunny, unintelligible “comedy”.

ii – For a story satirising such serious, real life events, the film also needed to be convincing when it comes to creating the atmosphere. But unfortunately, Tere Bin Laden also utterly fails in that department. The film is supposed to be taking place in Karachi but being a fellow Karachitie, it felt nothing like the city that I’ve grown up in! The city itself is obviously Mumbai, no real effort was made to disguise it as the city of Lights (also, slapping a mere PIA logo on a shop in the background does not automatically make it Karachi!). And since the majority of the actors are Indian, they can only deliver their dialogues in Hindi/ Mumbai slang and nothing even comes close to it even remotely sounding like a Karachite! It was utterly embarrassing how badly the film fails in this aspect. And there is no one to blame for this other than the director Abhishek Sharma for this.

iii – The film is just utterly ridiculous. And I don’t mean it in a good way. The comedy, dialogue, performances, production/ set design, everything feels so cheap and disposable. Abhishek Sharma was sitting on a gold mine with such a unique premise but due to lack of actual writer/ directorial skills, Tere Bin Laden fails to become even remotely what the potential was behind such a premise.

iv – The characterization of each individual felt like they just walked off the variety hour TV set. Why does the TV news CEO wear a wig? Why is a communist a being a part of this scheme? Why did Osama’s look alike needed to be obsessed with chickens? None of this makes any sense and was only there for the sole purpose of a second long gag which they can stretch for 90 minutes. When it comes to comedy, Tere Bin Laden lacks real effort. The script needed a lot of work before it would’ve been remotely ready for production.

v – Although the jingle is memorable, the songs themselves are nothing praiseworthy. They are cheap renditions of thousand other Bollywood film songs.

vi – “White people are always idiots!”. Or at least that’s what every Bollywood film wants you to believe. And this film is no different. It’s obvious that Tere Bin Laden needs a bit of “suspension of disbelief” but there is also a limit to how far the viewer can go with this. The American authority figures are depicted as complete buffoons who can’t differentiate what is real and what is fake.

vii – So the main protagonist Ali Hassan creates a fake Osama Bin Laden video, threatening a Holy War against the US army which leads to them bombing Afghanistan in return, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. Are we supposed to root for our protagonist? Was he unaware this would eventually happen? I’m completely baffled what the intention of the director was with this film. Although later in the film, Ali Hassan tries to make things right, it’s too late for that. The civilians are already dead. As a viewer, why should I now even care if Ali Hassan would get to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming big in the US? It’s very insensitive to the people who have actually become victims in this War on Terror. 

viii – The conclusion of the film also made absolutely no sense. It’s obvious that the writer was stumped on how to conclude the story so he just decided to ignore logic altogether.

+ Overall

With such an interesting premise, Tere Bin Laden fails due to lack of effort in every department. From script to production to performances, the film could’ve been a sharp, satirical look on post 9/11 paranoia but instead, ends up being just another run of the mill Bollywood “comedy”. Talk about wasted potential.

Rate: 1.75 out of 5 stars