A review on Pakistani Rom-Com feature length film, Ready Steady No! (2019). The Production House is Obsessive Compulsive Dreamers while its Distributors are Hum Films and Eveready Films.

 

 

+ Crew

• Written, Directed & Produced by Hisham Bin Munawwar
• Cinematography by Fazal Ahmed and Muhammad Ali
• Edited by Vasi Hassan
• Music by Baqir Abbas and Hassan Badshah
• Production Design by Hamna Zahid & Asma Zia

 

 

 

+ Note

Ready Steady No is a debut directorial by Hisham, who has also written his first script for a feature length film. This film was at first offered to super model turned actress, Iman Ali but the role initially went to Amna Ilyas.

According to the director, this film is based on real-life events.

 

 

 

+ Main Cast

1. Faisal Saif as Faisal
2. Amna Ilyas as Razia
3. Muneer Ahmed as Detective Muneer
4. Marhoom Ahmad Bilal as Advocate Mazhar Fakhar
5. Salman Shahid as Chaudhry Sahab
6. Nargis Rasheed as Faisal’s Mother
7. Ismail Tara as Faisal’s Father

 

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+ Supporting Cast

1. Zain Afzal as Maulana
2. Nayyar Ejaz as a Palmist / Imam
3. Ashraf Khan as Police SHO #1 (Cameo)
4. Saleem Albela as Hotel Manager
5. N/A as Mazhar’s Friend
6. N/A as Police SHO #2
7. N/A as Guard

 

 

+ Plot

A young couple decides to run away and do court marriage. But a number of hurdles make it almost impossible for them to come to their desired conclusion.

 

 

+ High Points

i – Faisal Saif as Faisal plays a mature, calm lover and confident son who unlike his father, if cornered, he would seek out the risky plan to have his way. Where some people have criticized on his acting skills, to bring in more feeling, I on the other hand would say that Faisal played his role really well. In fact, he performed the best in this film.

ii – Marhoom Ahmed Bilal’s performance turns out to be surprisingly good and happens to be the film’s main comic relief character. His interesting role with good performance bought a roar of laughter in the cinema hall. Other Honorable Mentions: Salman Shahid and Zain Afzal.

iii – The two songs, Dekho-Dekho and Nachee Ja are not only good but their cinematography is stunning to watch.

iv – The film has good humor, at times very funny. I loved the scene where Muneer is forced to read a letter and other Mazhar’s scenes are hilarious.

v – I liked the concept of the film. It is a bit different than the rom-com films that we are watching at the cinemas for quite some time now.

vi – The cameo played by Ashraf Khan as Police SHO #2, bought smiles on many people faces for his character’s great love & respect for singing.

 

 

 

+ Low Points

i – The entire film is a one BIG drag. Ready Steady No could have ended within 90 minutes if it wanted to (without breaking the continuity or having jump shots). Yet, it keeps on dragging till you really want the film to end by now.

ii – I believe that there were many opportunities throughout the film where the writer/director could have made the film much more enjoyable than it was but missed it completely. Examples: A scene where Faisal is helping Razia to escape her house or the scene where the duplicates get to meet each other alone or when Faisal and Mazhar decide to pick CNIC from Razia’s home. The given situation in all these three scenes could have been much more hilarious than they actually were.

iii – The love triangle is such a bore! Some people would try defending it by saying ‘Hey, it’s a comedy film’. I am sorry, but irrespective, whether the film is comedy or any other genre, the chemistry between the actors should be interesting enough to watch & enjoy. Unfortunately in this film, it was clearly not so.

iv – At some places its production design gave the feel that I perhaps was watching a TV drama serial rather than a feature film; especially in those scenes which Nargis and Ismail have shared and of Muneer Ahmed.

v – Except for the songs’ cinematography, the entire film DOP seems to be handled by a different person altogether. Honestly, it is so-so.

vi – I don’t know what was going through the director’s head when it comes to the film’s editing. I know that Vasi is the man behind it. But since the director is the captain of the ship, he had to make sure that no scenes is longer than required, only to bring in a few more laughs. There was not one but many where I felt the cut should have been made but didn’t. Unnecessary extra footage with most of the scenes is shown, where the audience either didn’t laughed or just wanted the film to move on.

vii – Not only, there is no proper character building / development, the story is just too simple to watch and enjoy.

viii – Once more, a stereo type maulvi character that our eyes have grown tired of watching it on big screen.

ix – Repeated dialogues just made the script even worse to listen to. It was no longer funny.

 

  

+ Overall

Ready Steady No! tries hard to be new and different. But it loses the vision of being a bigger picture completely. To deal with the ‘com’, the ‘rom’ had to suffer.

 

 

Rate: 2.50 out of 5 stars

 

A review on Pakistani Rom-Thriller feature length film, Gardaab aka Whirlpool (2016). The Production House & its Distributor is Matteela Films.

 

 

+ Crew

• Written & Directed by Harune Massey
• Co-Written by Saleemullah Nasir
• Cinematography by M. Sajid Kashmiri
• Edited by Fahad Bajwa
• Produced by Mazhar Zaidi

 

 

 

+ Note

Gardaab is a loose adaptation of the fame play, Romeo and Juliet (1597) by world renowned author; William Shakespeare. Trapped in the web of ethnic strife in the brutal underbelly of Karachi, this film is a tale of two lovers’ journey, as they struggle to break away from the unending cycle of violence that haunts the metropolis.

There are a number of NAPA’s graduate students who have been a part of this film. They have worked in the crew as well as cast members.  Even the lead actor, Fawad Khan is from NAPA is one of the best actors, writer and director of theatre plays. Other crew members consist of, Saima Amber Rana & Anas Muhammad behind the film’s production design, the costume designer is Fazeel Abbas and the music is composed by Faiz Zaidi.

Gardaab was originally planned to be made as short film. But due to the scale of the subject matter, Gardaab was turned into a feature length romantic thriller.

 

 

 

+ Main Cast

1. Fawad Khan as Shahbaz
2. Amna Ilyas as Parveen
3. Nimra Bucha as Paris Khan
4. Khalid Ahmed as Firdous Khan
5. Junaid Awaan as Asfand Yaar
6. Syed Ahsan Ahmed as Kabir
7. Mohammed Javed as Akmal

 

 

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+ Supporting Cast

1. Gohar Rasheed as Yousaf
2. Adnan Shah Tipu as Maywa Jaan
3. Shabana Hassan as Nazo
4. Vajdaan Shah as Asim Ali Shah
5. Arif Hassan as Abdullah Baloch / Jaan
6. Gul-e-Rana as Mother
7. Shama Askari as Miss Christina

 

 

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+ Minor Cast

1. Owais Mangalwala as Dil Nawaz
2. Abdul Sattar as Kareem Baba
3. Bilal Yousufzai as Shahbaz’s Friend #2
4. Wajahat Khan as Shahbaz (young)
5. Fraz Chottani as Madrassa Student
6. Kaleem Ghouri as Goon
7. Akbar Ladhani as Shop Lifter
8. Mohammad Iqbal as Maam’s Driver
9. Mehar Jaffery as Dine-out Customer

 

 

 

+ Plot

In the violent neighborhood of Karachi, a young couple fall in love with each other, although both belong to a long rivalry family background.

 

 

 

+ High Points

i – A good effort by Amna Ilyas who plays one of the lead roles. This is much earlier work of hers, before stepping into the commercial film world. By watching this film, you can witness the level of her acting skills.

ii – Fahad Khan is one of the great actors ever produced by NAPA. He plays his role as ease as walking in a park. It may be a surprise to some, but Fahad happens to be an also a very talented writer and director of the theatre world. Other Honorable Mentions: Khalid Ahmed, Adnan Shah Tipu and Nimra Bucha.

iii – Keeping the film within materialistic world, is something to really praise of.

iv – Everyone in the cast has given a very satisfying performance. A pat on the director’s back.

v – The story arc begins and ends on the same location. Good job!

 

 

 

+ Low Points

i – Even after having Gardaab to be loosely based adaptation of Romeo & Juliet, the film itself still fails to grab one attention towards its realistic in local demographic settings.

ii – The mysterious past of the main character, was not all that shocking after all.

iii – I was looking forward to listening to at least couple of good songs but I guess, I expected too much.

iv – Lack of emotional link of the main characters established with the viewers, made us feel almost nothing for their loss.

v – Barely any thrills in a ‘Thriller’ film.

vi – Many of the cameos of good actors are not given enough screen time or interesting roles.

 

 

+ Overall

We can give credit to Harune’s realistic, low-budget debut film. Still Gardaab depressingly lacks in both, visual and action.

 

 

Rate: 2.0 out of 5 stars

A review on Pakistani feature length film, Bachaana (2016) aka Saving. The Production House is Big Film Entertainment while its Distributor is Hum Films.

 

 

+ Crew

• Directed by Nasir Khan
• Cinematography by Asrad Khan
• Written by Saad Azhar
• Edited by Sami Ullah & Ahsan Sardar
• Produced by Rizwan Saeed

 

 

 

+ Note

Bachaana is a feature directorial debut of Nasir Khan, who previously directed a documentary titled Made in Pakistan. It was filmed in Mauritius, Pakistan and India. The music is composed by Ali Sher.

This film is inspired by Taxi (film series) which is a French action comedy film, directed by Gérard Pirès.

 

 

+ Main Cast

1. Mohib Mirza as Vicky
2. Sanam Saeed as Aalia
3. Adeel Hashmi as Jahangir / Jay

 

 

+ Plot

An Indian girl Aalia in trouble is forced to place her faith in a Pakistani cab driver, Vicky due to her husband Jahangir / Jay illegal activities. Vicky then takes it upon himself to make Aalia’s safe return to India possible

 

 

 

+ High Points

i – Mohib’s performance as Vicky is splendid who plays his role as a cab driver with a good heart. Other Honorable Mentions: Sanam Saeed.

ii – The humor is light hearted and family-oriented film.

iii – The shooting locations are mostly beautiful scenery as most of the shooting took place in Mauritius.

iv – The songs are nice and good to listen to.

 

 

 

+ Low Points

i – This film did not reach as per my expectations. I was anticipating much more fun loving and enjoyable.

ii – The story is very simple and straight forward.

iii – There is barely any character development for the main cast. I didn’t really care if the characters get caught or die.

iv – It’s hard to accept Adeel Hashmi as a villain; maybe for a buffoonish type comedy film.

v – It finally comes to a very predictable end.

 

 

+ Overall

Bachaana turns out to be a good time-pass film, as long as there is nothing else to do.

 

 

Rate: 2.25 out of 5 stars

 

A review on Pakistani Drama feature length film, Baaji aka Elder Sister (2019). The Production House is Page 33 Films while its Distributor is ARY Films.

 

 

 

+ Crew

• Directed & Produced by Saqib Malik
• Written by Irfan Ahmed Urfi
• Director of Photography by Salman Razzaq
• Edited by Mohammad Arif
• Music by Taha Malik

 

 

 

 

+ Note

Baaji is the debut film of Saqib Malik. Previously, he has worked as director on TV commercials and music videos. The story takes the audiences on a journey filled with glamour, romance, scandal and intrigue.

The director has admitted that there are inspirations from Hollywood’s classic films such as All About Eve (1950) and Sunset Boulevard (1950). This film also pays a tribute to the classic social dramas of Pakistani cinema of the 1960s and the 1970s, while also finding inspiration from the golden era of Hollywood of the 1940s and 1950s.

There are some SPOILERS ahead!

 

 

 

 

+ Main Cast

1. Meera as Shameera
2. Osman Khalid Butt as Rohail Khan
3. Amna Ilyas as Neha
4. Mohsin Abbas Haider as Aji
5. Ali Kazmi as Rammy
6. Nayyar Ejaz as Chand Kamal
7. Nisho Begum as Dilshad Bano
8. Irfan Khoosat as Stage Dance Owner
9. Arisha Razi as Neha’s Sister
10. N/A as Neha’s Mother
11. N/A as Neha’s Brother

 

 

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+ Cameos

1. Humayun Saeed as Actor
2. Saife Hassan as Producer
3. Yasir Hussain as Director
4. Tapu Javeri as Host
5. Tariq Amin as Himself
6. Frieha Altaf as Herself
7. Ayesha Sana as Beautician Head
8. Ali Azmat as Himself
9. Ali Saleem aka Begum Nawazish Ali as Begum
10. N/A as Female Model
11. Angeline K Malik as Herself
12. Mehwish Hayat as Gangster Guriya
13. Aamir Qureshi as Inspector Aamir Qureshi
14. Sania Saeed as Lawyer

 

 

 

+ Plot

Shameera is an aging actress who is facing a very difficult time for her to stay in the spotlight. One day, she meets Neha, a manicurist, who is able to help her with Shameera’s struggling life and career.

 

 

 

 

+ High Points

i – All praises to Amna Ilyas who plays the role of Neha, one of the lead stars of this film. She has been very choosy in which films she wants to be part of. Unlike most of the actresses of our industry, Amna has experimented herself in picking more interesting roles and films to work on. The examples are Zinda Bhaag (2013) and Saat Din Mohabbat In (2018). I have belief in her that she can do much more as an actress which would bring her closer to the higher level of success.

ii – A very nice performance by Ali Kazmi as Rammy, a sophisticated, insecure boyfriend of Shameera. Ali has always been a good choice for any project he works on, as he able to perform well on-screen. Other Honorable Mentions: Mohsin Abbas and Osman Khalid Butt.

iii – I really don’t know of Meera’s previous performances as this is THE first film of her that I have (finally) watched. It is safe to say that her performance in this film is pretty decent. Yes, there… I said it. Even the dresses given to her, made her look graceful.

iv – Surprising, the cinematography turns out to be really praise worthy. It’s a visual treat for the film lovers. Some shots are taken very nicely. The usage of lighting, color correction and different camera angles would bring your mood towards positivity.

v – The production design and the shooting locations, made the film closer to the world the script demanded it to be.

vi – There are a long list of cameos out of which I liked of Aamir Qureshi, Humayun Saeed, Saife Hassan, Yasir Hussain and Ali Saleem. But there is one cameo who is able to steal the show. The one & only, Ayesha Sana. I am not sure if Ayesha aka Bright Karo Isse was mocking herself or not? I mean, she is the head of a Beauty Parlor. And her face is chalk white. Get it? Her makeup was so bad that it looked hilarious on her extra white face. You would literally say ‘Bohat Bright Kardia’. She had such a big red fake smile on her face similar to Joker character. I thought that she would suddenly burst into anger. But nothing of that sort of thing happened. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

vii – The makeup & hair styling of the stars is glamorous. At times, I found Meera to look very stunning. Osman Khalid is given a very different look of his hair, bit of experimental but it worked on him.

viii – Then we have an item number by Nayyar Ejaz. No, no, I’m just kidding. God! Imagine him, doing an item number! Anyways, Nayyar’s character as Chand Kamal is lightly touched upon as LGBT. It was nicely done, without over doing it which normally happens in our films. The veteran actor himself understood his character well and portrays it cleverly. Good job!

ix – We have 1 – 2 songs that are nice. I like the disco song, where the dance choreography was performed by Osman Khalid and Amna Ilyas. It is a good watch.

 

 

 

 

+ Low Points

i – My God! By the time the sudden twist came, I was like, WTH? Rather than being shocked, I was laughing at the writer’s decision. Really? You are telling me that this is a murder-mystery film? This is so bad writing for God’s sake. I am sorry to say but it is. The cinema hall’s exit door was so close to me that I could have walked out of it anytime if I wanted to. But only because I didn’t was due to the fact that I had to write a review on it. So, I had to watch till the end.

Yes, I am aware that some people and critics really liked this ‘Twist‘ but I… I just couldn’t digest it. After watching the film, I now understand very clearly why some critics didn’t like this film for. The major reason must be this Twist thing. It’s 100% understandable. Naturally, there are other reasons as well to add up for not liking this film. But this one low point takes the lion’s share. ‘Isko kehtay hai, kahani ki maa-bahen eik karna’ (A perfect way to ruin your story). It’s not Meera, my foot! Its Baaji, my foot!

ii – As for the story, well… in the start, I was really hoping that don’t make this film a copy / adaptation of All About Eve (1950) and Sunset Boulevard (1950), which was not BTW. However, after watching the 2^nd half of the film, now I realize that how wrong I was. The story structure is so weakly constructed that you wonder as where this film is heading to? Is this film about Shameera who is a struggling aging actress who is unable to stay in limelight with successful career anymore? Or is this film about Neha, a lower-middle class, strong headed, kind woman who bears the financial burden of her family but desires to be rich and famous? I can assure you that the story is not new nor something different.

It’s possible that the writer intend may have been to show the struggle of two different social classes women with entirely different backgrounds and goals to achieve. But is this really that what Irfan wanted to show? If it was then why everything was so easy for Neha to achieve when she ‘Accidentally’ enters the media world? Keeping in mind that Neha was never shown to be interested in acting field or to be writer and yet… yet, everything is a Midas Touch for her. Okay fine, she does have some ups and downs with Shameera, but only because Shameera herself has many mood swings, often is in unstable condition and is too suspicious of everything & everyone around her. Otherwise, Neha is successful almost everywhere she goes.

iii – Then we have lots and lots of illogical scenes where you might ignore them for the sake of ‘Revival’ of Pakistani cinema.

• Who gets drunk by drinking only two tea spoons of alcohol?
• So, you are telling me that no journalist actually finds out the truth while that person is getting so much high-profile media attention?
• Neha is brilliant in whatever task or opportunity she is given to do. Talk about ‘Beauty with brains’.
• When Neha knows that her employer does not like her closeness to the director and is strictly told that she (Neha) would be contacted, if needed. Still, Neha decides to meet the director at his home and work on the script without notifying her employer first. Does she really wants to get fired?
• Shameera walks in to the director’s house and room as easily as walking at her own home. We assume that she has his main gate and house keys with her.
• No film shoot scenes are shown regarding Shameera’s new film that she is offered to work in. No problems, no hassles during the shoot?
• Neha accepts a lift by unknown guy in his car, who then takes her to an unfamiliar location right up to his building only because he knows who she is. Really? Is she that naïve?
• Shameera’s nemesis offers Neha to smoke a weed, where she barely resists it. Although, she is a non-smoker.
• Neha’s brother is unemployed, religiously hypocrite and jealous of his sister’s earning. But in the span of 2 years, he is shown to be a supportive brother. How? What made him change?

iv – I can’t say that I enjoyed watching Saqib Malik’s direction. There are some scenes where the barrier of the real world is broken. Aside the illogical scenes that I have mentioned earlier, there are other scenes where you would be thinking that it’s not possible to happen like this or that it must be an imagination / dream but, that is not the case. And the way it has happened in the film, I …seriously, am loss of words here. Perhaps, it’s my mistake. Maybe I had too much expectations. Either way, it is a disappointment.

v – I just hate product placements in Pakistani films. It ruins the creativity of the BTS team. It should never get in its way. Dear McDonald’s, next time… please, please come right in the front of the frame so that no one could miss your presence.

vi – There are some forced insertion of the songs where you would strongly feel that there was no need of them.

vii – Why in the world it is compulsory to have a romantic relationship for? Highly unnecessary, I would say.

viii – We have already done lots of stereo type characters in the film industry, especially of religious-hypocrite ones. In this film, we have the actor who played the role of Neha’s brother. It’s about time that we should be showing something different, something new which exists in Pakistan but scarcely touched upon.

 

 

 

+ Overall

Baaji is like an excited kid trying desperately to be noticed. But its own flawed mechanism of story-telling ruins everything.

 

 

 

Rate: 2.25 out of 5 stars

 

A review on Pakistani Sci-fi Thriller feature length film, Project Ghazi (2019). The Production House is GYR Films while its Distributor is Distribution Club.

 

 

+ Crew

• Directed by Nadir Shah
• Written & Produced by Syed Mohammed Ali Raza
• Director of Photography by Farhan Hafeez
• Edited by Hassnain Jaffery and Abdur Rahman
• Visual Effects & Color Grading by Lucid Studios and Sharp Image

 

 

+Note

Project Ghazi is considered first Pakistani superhero movie that revolves around a thread to the project soldiers. It’s a story about ASP (Advanced Soldier Project) and it spans over a period of 20 years. The word Ghazi refers to Hero & Conqueror. The production designer is Javaria Salar while its music is composed by Armaghan Shahid. Some of the character names given, belong to the crew members’ real first/last names.

This film was initially scheduled for release on 14^th July 2017. But at the premiere night at Karachi, a day before its general release, it got very negative feedback from critics & audience. It had problem with its audio and other technical stuff, so the makers decided not to release the movie in the theaters before fixing these problems first.

Humayun Saeed, one of the lead stars had said in 2017 premiere, “I couldn’t let this be the final product of Project Ghazi. The audience couldn’t be shown this. How can people judge a movie that they couldn’t even hear properly? I just couldn’t bear it, I left within 20 minutes, thinking if I can’t understand it how will anyone else.”

Project Ghazi was finally released on 29^th March 2019, only to be taken off after a couple of days later.

 

 

+ Main Cast

1. Humayun Saeed as Col. Salaar Salahuddin
2. Sheheryar Munawar as Major Zain Zulfiqar
3. Syra Shehroz as Zara Iftikhar
4. Adnan Jaffar as Qataan
5. Talat Hussain as Dr. Ziyaad
6. Amir Qureshi as Major Dilawar

 

 

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+ Supporting Cast

1. Nasir Inayat Khan as Brigadier Taimur
2. Nusrat Hidayutullah as Qataan’s Minion
3. Raza Hyder as Col. Armaghan
4. Vaajdan Shah as Lead Interrogator
5. Hanif Bachan as Hostage

 

 

+ Plot

A group of scientists and soldiers are trying to develop a new breed of advanced weaponized soldiers known as Project Ghazi. However, a group of rogue men try to seize it for their personal schemes. Col. Salaar teams up with Maj. Zain, to combat them in order to avoid a bigger disaster ahead.

 

 

+ High Points

i – I am so pleased to know that the time length is approximately 100 minutes only.

ii – Maj. Dilawar is the only interesting character to watch. But he is given very limited screen time.

 

 

+ Low Points

i – Any experienced actor, director would know the level of this film during its post-production stages, long before its release. Instead of ‘Correcting / Fixing’ the flaws in the span of two years, they could actually make a proper new film in order to save their faces and have some real earnings. The reason is that what they have released now (after two years), the film is so bad that they took it off in just of couple of days.

ii – Once again, the core element is flawed. Bad writing of this film consists of no proper story structure, hardly any character development, no sub plots, the list goes on.

iii – Everything is pretty much straight forward, without putting up with real challenges or conflicts for the protagonist to face.

iv – At first, the concept may look good on paper. But then you would realize that its very similar to Captain America (2011). And the fact that the people behind the film, Captain America knew exactly what they were doing. How they be able to execute it properly and be able to connect with their audience. On the other hand, Project Ghazi is just the opposite.

v – The writer fails to establish the emotional link with his characters to the audience. The result is that we don’t have any issue whether the on-screen character lives or dies.

vi – I am not sure that if it’s the fault of the editor or the actual film is shot without proper continuation of scenes and jump cuts.

vii – There are so much usage of visual effects that its hard to tell which were actual set design.

viii – The action scenes tried to make similar to Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). One would notice it right away. In this film, the fight choreography is just rubbish.

ix – Sometimes, having 1 – 2 songs help the film to gain some interest especially for those who may have slept by now. But in this film, there are none.

 

 

+ Overall

Project Ghazi is a feature length film of deleted scenes.

 

 

Rate: 0 out of 5 stars