(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.
Hi all!
Please don’t propagate this movie to be a step in the right direction…Some people, including Pashtuns, have strong reservation about this movie. There was a discussion done on this movie in a Pashtun group. Following are two posts from the discussion.
“Actually, your evidently rabid Paki-ism/Desism -the daming disease as it is – is not letting you see the whole point i.e. the oversimplification and reductionism “employed” in the movie when showing the misuse of Islam for social oppression…Religious extremism and intolerance is something that has dynamited the minds of the Muslims accross the globe- and more so of the Muslims bred and groomed in the liberty of the West – but the movie has targetedly picked only one community to epitomise all that is evil about Islam…that is Pashtuns…How just that is? How can you claim that “in the name of God” is in play in the Pashtun society only and the rest of the Muslim world is all liberty ?
In the other threads that I read you have strongly reccommended this movie to the members to watch and have praised it to be something of a rare artistic accomplishment. Now you have modified your opinion a bit- begrudgingly though-and have accepted that ” a couple characters were portrayed negatively in the one-third of the entire movie who happened to be pashtun.” Your Desi biase, alas, would not allow you to answer the question, honestly, that why were mostly Pashtuns choosen as negative characters!
As for positive portrayel of one or two trvial Pashtun characters, that was of course necessary for effective propaganda—make it realistic and bit palatable for the common observer…
My Pashtun brothers and sisters here are so innocent that they have recognized only one aspect of the malicious intentions of the movie maker i.e. the reinforcement of the stereotype…
The other rather more sinister motive behind the movie-making is not evident to them due to their lack of knowledge…that is to popularise a new interpretation of Pashtuns culture to advance the Desi geopolitical agenda in that region… that, strict interpretation of Islam is somehow in congruence with the practices and tenats of Pashtunwali and as such Taleban phenomenon has a logical association with and strong supporting ground in Pashtun Culture ….Once I heard the Dravidianized views of a Desi general (Gen Asad Durrani), who was telling a Western audience that Taleban are a logical manifestation of a Pashtun’s social disposition and has precedence in Pashtun history in the person of Ahmad Shah Baba, who was a Taleb…They are selling the world the idea that moderate Desis with their Barelvi creed are sort of bulwark to the the expansionist orthodoxy from west of Indus.
In the movie in question, they characterize a Lahore mullah, whose name is Javed Ahmad Ghamidi as Nasiruddin Shah and Mualana Samuil Haq, the mullah of Akora Khattak, as another character to bring home the point above. It is pertinent to mention that Javed Ahmad Ghamidi has emerged as a liberal mullah after 9/11 who espouses liberal Islam because that is what is currently popular with the Western capitals of power. These Desis can prostitute any thing for their petty motives…democracy, religion, communism, secularism, etc.”
“You are still hypocritically avoiding to answer the fundamental question and focussing only on the secondary/lateral issues…The point is why were ONLY Pashtuns choosen to portray the ills that have plagued Muslim communities globally? Why have ethnic sub-qualification assigned to the main characters?In one previous post, you’ve said, “a couple of negative characters HAPPEN to be Pashtuns” …as if the movie appeared by itself from no where and was not the handi-work of some brats out to populaise a certain image of Pashtuns and mispresent the political situation in that region…?
Again you say “the portrayel was not deliberate”…Excuse me, is there any limit to your dishonesty? Even a kid can understand you are trying to defend the undefendable by implying that all this was not pre-meditaed…that the movie-makers didn’t develop the idea, the script writer didn’t choose the plot and characters carefully according to the main idea, that the production team didn’t discuss the story and the characters thoroughly, and that the director didn’t materialise the idea and the plot as realistically as possible….and that all this was an arbitrary initiation that randomly evolved into what it is?
By the way, have you some Desi associations for I haven’t seen any Pashtun to be so defending of Paki things as you are of this movie? Probably, you posted the link on this site out for same intentions (just kidding) to achieve same effects with it as other Paki mechinations i.e. making Pashtuns feel embarrassed and apologetic about their culture and weaken their national resolve and sense of identity…
Anyhow, if you say that the film aimed at projecting the sociale impact of the orthodox interpretation of religion within Pakistan, even there the characterization was grassly inadequate, misrepresentation of the situation on ground, based on malafide intentions, and indicative of the the deceitful nature of the Desis. It is pertinent to remind Desis that when their Mohammad Iqbal–that fake philosopher- and other Desi leaders were fanning religious passions in the Subcontinent at the behest of their British masters, our great Ghaffar Khan was laying the foundations of one of the most lively secular and liberal movements/party -duely called one of the two truly secular and liberal political movements in South Asia, the other being the Indian National Congress…
The Desis try to conceal that every single ideology of terror in that region is a product of the subversive and treacherous mentalities of Desis(Indic Muslims) injected into our society from accross the Indus…Tabligh, Deoband, Bareliath, Maududiath, and all kind of other fanatic ideologies…
Even the attempt to find a connection between Islamic orthodoxy and plight of women in Pashtun society was a ridiculous effort to make it fit into the current geopoltical scene…”
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