(UPDATE: You can view this movie here).
We had a preview of the movie Khuda Ke Liye at ATP where we had posed a question whether Shoaib Mansoor will be able to revive Pakistan cinema? A probable answer comes from myself who recently got chance to see this movie. The record breaking Pakistani film Khuda Ke Liye has become my favorite film overnight- Hollywood inclusive. Or more accurately I should say, that there hasn’t been a film in the past that has moved and affected me in this way.
Given the standing ovation the film is getting in theatres all over Pakistan from rich and poor alike, one can safely say that I am not the only one. For one thing it is a uniquely Pakistani story, which could have only come out of Pakistan. To sum it up, it is about us - the people of Pakistan warts and all- take it or leave it.
The genius of Shoaib Mansoor was never in doubt for those who have seen his videos or for that matter the famous Alpha Bravo Charlie - the TV Drama on Pakistan Army. What I was unprepared for was the depth in his thought and the way he has managed to capture the Pakistani dilemma on screen. Ours is a complex and rich predicament which needs to be captured in all its nuances and appreciated in all its paradoxical colors. KKL did just that.
I went to the theatre expecting to see the same old liberal v. fundo arguments. There were those, but unlike how these arguments play out in “The Friday Times” and the “Nawai Waqt“, this remarkable film is fully conscious of its Pakistani identity and the strong Islamic component that forms part thereof.
At the risk of spoiling it for those who haven’t seen it, this is the story of two brothers, Mansoor (played by Shaan) and Sarmad (played by theatre actor/musician Fawad of EP fame) both musicians, brought in a well to do Pakistani family. Mansoor and Sarmad are torn apart by the latter’s increased involvement with a certain Maulana Taheri (based most probably on Maulana Sami ul Haq of JUI-S component of the MMA), who turns the soft spoken Sarmad into full fledge Jehadi.
Things are complicated when the brothers’ cousin Mary arrives from London to spend a few days with them, only to discover that she has been tricked by her father into coming to Pakistan to avoid her marrying her Non-Muslim boyfriend Dave. Meanwhile Mansoor leaves for Chicago to enrol at the “School of Music” there. In an epic that switches from London to Lahore to Waziristan to Nangahar Afghanistan to Chicago, these ordinary Pakistanis are increasingly faced with both internal and external conflict. And then there is September 11.
Shoaib Mansoor does not miss a beat, he does not leave any stones unturned. While all characters have more or less the same significance in this plot, it is Mansoor who is at the centre of it: Mansoor who is a proud Pakistani and secure in his Muslim identity, Mansoor who warns Sarmad against extremism, Mansoor who puts the best Muslim and Pakistani foot forward, Mansoor who is abducted by FBI in the middle of the night and beaten and tortured to a pulp, humiliated and abused for being a Pakistani and a Muslim. He is the contrast to Sher Shah and Maulana Taheri. But there are contrasts on the other side as well… Jenny who loves Mansoor for being Mansoor, his classmates who spontaneously join in when Mansoor performs his “music from Pakistan”, his African American professor… all stand in contrast to the American torturers of Mansoor.
The dialogue reaches a fever pitch in a court room in Lahore, where Mary is engaged in a prolonged legal battle. Enter the Bollywood star Naseeruddin Shah. He plays the character of a long bearded progressive Islamic scholar (probably based on Maulana Ahmed Javed and Allama Javed Ahmed Ghamidi of Lahore). In what would be the localised version of “Inherit the wind” Courtroom drama, he engages Maulana Taheri and his coterie in an argument on Islamic law and Islamic dress code.
“There is beard in religion, but no religion in beard,”
declares Shah, adding that
“Two men who did the greatest service to Islam in Pakistan, Mahomed Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal, did so without a beard and out of the so called Islamic dresscode, in western dress.”
It was on this line that the entire hall filled with applause. Islam - the universal faith - has no uniform. This lays the stage for the final scene- the most poignant scene of the movie, filmed in Lahore’s beautiful Wazir Khan Mosque- the scene which once again made a Muslim out of me. I’ll let you watch it yourself to understand what I am talking about.
As for the film itself, there seem to be a few technical glitches earlier on but they are easily forgotten. Iman Ali’s performance as Mary or Maryam in the beginning is annoying and one finds her concocted British accent a little annoying at first. However it grows on you and one discovers the fullness of her effort- which is by far the best I have come across by a Pakistani actress. As for the music, those of you who have only heard Bandaya, you are in for a surprise. The film is as a whole an incredible musical experience. What is more is that you discover how aptly Shoaib Mansoor has placed his music in the various scenes. Indeed, driving back from Lahore on the motorway, I could recount/recollect every scene just by listening to the soundtrack.
This is a movie no Pakistani can afford to miss.
This seemed like an interesting movie. The problem is where it got into things that went over the writers’ heads. Namely, religion.
Just as how a sci-fi movie aficionado would roll their eyes at say, Aliens vs. Predator, or anyone proficient with a computer would roll their eyes at any scene involving the use of machines in movies to randomly hack into things, download/upload viruses, and all that lame drama… anyone who knows an inkling about Islam would roll their eyes at the religious content and views of the writer of this film.
Good try though considering it came out of Pakistan’s almost dead industry.
Shoaib Mansoor has done a great service by touching a subject and doing justice to it too that is considered taboo these days. Everyone here has justifyably praised the movie and its maker, I would like to say just one liner in support of Shoaib’s monumental effort that ‘ the movie is highly thought provoking’ it forces its audience to ponder which is essence of Islam.
let me begin by saying , that the film has filled me up with the flickering light of optimism again, no matter how much i wept or how many times i clenched my fists during the course of the film.
growing up watching ‘ramayana-the once highly rated epic of hindu god ram to the present day fleshy gyrations of kitschy indian female actors’ i always longed for someone who could piece together our broken narrative wheather by word or through visuals.i am kashmiri muslim and i know what it means to be ‘branded’!
this broken narrative of ‘Islam as a religion of Peace’ of we muslims that others don’t understand and least the narrative that others cash upon to put us in boxes and definitions.so we are but the products of this narrative written down for we as muslims and for islam as a religion only to churn out stereotypes like moderative islam and extremist islam, a moderate and a conserative,a fundamentalist and a wasternised, a forward looking and a inward looking….”aye Allah teray masoom banday kidar jaye”…we feel. cry inwardly, are flustered with these nerve shaterring stereotypes.and at the end we feel bursting out as if someone is strangling us, we want to shout but dont know what to say. thus we just shout in reply to these sham lies and stereotypes illogically only to exacerbate the issue…
‘khuda kay liye’ if not necessarly answered but boiled down this illogical shouting on our part. so here we are healing our wounds with our own hands, and that is what is needed. the answers and the solutions will come from we only…for we know where it hurts most…”bol ki lab azad hay teray, bol ki zuba ab taq teri hai…”enough shouting…may reason and logic prevail…….
salam to all
im a young doctor working in uk at da moment have been in uk for past 4-5 yrs..
well this is for the first time that i really thought reviewing the ‘reviews and comments’ regarding this movie
cople of things i must say b4 going ne further
all my life 2 personalities dat really inspired me have been shoaib mansoor and junaid jamshed..
I always loved junaids songs n lyrics.
I never mised a minute of ne drama directed by shoaib mansoor…wether it was geetar 93 or abc.
i wont say dat im very pious man but as mentioned in so many msges, one thing i really want to tell and stress upon is ,as muslim no matter wat level of muslim u r ,one should have the courage to say wat is right and wat is wrong,though one may not follow the teachings of islam one should atleast respect them and must ve..i must repeat must have complete faith in the teachings of islam as told in Quran and Hadees.
as i mentioned earlier i have been always a fan of shoaib mansoor n jj…but i did know,i did feal so many times in my life that these all things are not what v have been taught in our religion..
coming back to the movie..i really wanted to watch it but for some reason i couldnt,i just couldnt so far..
its just that any movie basically based on religions somewat distracts my inner being if they DONT reflect or respect the religion in a way it should do (e.g divinci code though like by many ,i couldnt watch it coz concept doesnt go along wid teachings of islam)
now if u c the movie just for the sake of appreciation of skills/cinematography/direction i m more then 100 % sure it would be beter den the best of some hollywood movies,because i dont think any body can argue the skills of shoab mansoor in this field..
but coming back to the concept of songs being allowed in islam,and the fact that dere is as if no respect of females regarding dere opionion for mariage..its all really very tricky..
only beacuse people like me, who dont have v strong faith ,can so very easily find an excuse to listen songs wenever they want to,if i used to listen it for 1 hr or so in a day,after watching i may say dats f9 yar go ahead with and may be listening for many hours if time allows..
some of the hadees that ive heard indicate that music is not considered right in islam..
so wat my instincts tell me is that it is wrong and thats it..it doesnt matter at all how much i like it or not!
we are not here to give our own views regarding religion,Almighty Allah who is our and whole universe creator,if he is saying something through his beloved Prophet(P.B.U.H),isnt it the final verdict!
one thing i couldnt resist mentioning, is in my opinion,Sunnah is something the best way of doing any thing as it was the way it was performed by our Prophet(P.B.U.H),as told by our creator ,and he was sent for the whole universe,until the day of judgement,his actions were loved by Allah,and its not as if they cant be followed as there are still numerous very good muslims following the right path and still following each and every Sunnah.
I dont have beard but i would hesitate to say religion is not in beard,what we should say Allah give us hidayat & courage ,so one day even we should be able to follow the path of our greatest Prophet Muhammad(PBUH).
and about Mullahs,now its NOT as if every mullah is right ,I wouldnt agree,but have we ever thought that the ‘tooti phooti’ namazaain that we pray today or the Quran that we recite was taught to us not by some intelectual professor,or high fi elegant diplomat..or in our world which is so very busy will we being doctors and engineers, able to find any time to teach our children reciting Holly Quran..these were taught by dose simple men that now v so disrecpectfully call mullahs or maulvis
I beleive a layman,who does respect and follow the faraiz in Islam,yet even not passed matric exam,in the love for Allah And Rasool,cry all night,say something or get terribly agitated if any thing is said against islam ( Im not mentioning about terrosrists who claim innocent lives thats unarguebly totally wrong) Im just telling abt an ordinary human being who is not able to contain with him self due to listening something which is against our religious values is far far better den highly educated intelectual person who may agree with the west,be diplomatic in saying something filthy said abt our values( soo commonly done)..you judge yourself who will be liked by Allah, aperson who will cry in agony by seeing something unislamic going on and asking for his help or a person who beacuse of worldy things may be diplomatic in his views..
to come to conclusion really if Quran and Hadees teached us abt any thing ,even if v dont have the courage to obey it properly ,atleast v should have the faith to say that IT IS RIGHT as it is said so..
no body in da world can judge wat will happen to us after death but Allah..
we are blessed with skillfull peoplelike shoaib mansoor whom people listen too..i just wish and pray that dere actions must not distort da already distorted muslims in current times..it shudnt give us liberty to be more liberal in our rong doings..
may Allah give us all hidayat to follw Quran and Sunnah completely,il end up by saying,there wont be any ‘bakhshish’ without our greatest Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) sifarsih in aakhratday of judgement ,if we would be left 4 our deeds to help us on the day of judgement,majority will end up in hell, so dear brother and sisters,if you cant follow the Sunnah,do respect it until its too late.
Simply awesome, awesome, awesome to the power infiniti… In the Name of GOD.. by shoaib Mansoor, is a marvelous work done crucially needed today to make our people aware of the realities of our DIN and way of life… I can’t say enough in the comment section… you will be seeing a whole article of analysis of the movie soon in the media….
Salute to Shoaib Mansoor Sahib for his excellent, breath taking work. He has covered so beautifully all the problems and issues that we have today in our society. I would love to watch the move over and over again….. And would like to meet Mr. Shoaib Mansoor and thank him for his much needed movie depicting so artistically all the issues that are lying today in our society.
Thanks again….
Khuda Kay Liye,
I hate to disagree with YH but I saw the movie here in Chicago area with my family this weekend and we were impressed by direction and by the overall impression of the movie. Even though movie is a great achievemnet for a Pakistan but overall it is very ordinary effort (according to even my 15 yr old Son) none of the actors were convinvincing even Shan was good in song but prison performance was not very convincing.
I really expected a lot more from Shoib but none of it was on the screen. You can go for a walk and come back and still not miss a beat. The screen play and dialogues were all ordinary not even typical Pakistn drama quality. I am greatly disappointed in a wasted effort and very lame story told in a very ordinary pedesterian way. I think the only actor who did justice and stole the show was Mualana Taheri because not many people have paid attention to his mannerism and acting. He was in Shoib ’s Anar kali video as Akbar. I think he is probably the best actor we have now. He was by far the best actor in the movie and the rest of them were very ordinary and nothing special except perhaps Sarmad the naive muscian who was believable. Even my son says we have a long way to go to match even the Bollywood masala movies. It is a great effort but I wouldn’t get my oscar out yet. Let us be honest this is a good effort but no crowning achievement.
This is my first movie that has been directed and produced by a Pakistani and the effort is worth commenting on.The story line was sensitive and it was handled in a manner which not only provided entertainment but also information and views.
The acting was realistic and my whole family loved the movie.
Adnan,
I vehemently disagree with you. Do you have the great directorial skills to judge a veteran director’s performance?
So what if this movie had a Pakistani bias? Aren’t Hollywood and Bollywood movies like that? There are plenty of Bollywood movies that hurl insulting remarks against Pakistan blatantly like the one in the movie “Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal” and other movies like that. You comments seem to be overly critical. Scene in which violence in the Pakistani Courts was shown is a complete possibility in Pakistan. In the time of Nawaz Sharif, He was alleged to support a mob attack on political case in Pakistani court.