(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.
Does Mary end up with the London boyfriend? Why are all American girls in desi films named Jenny? Seems to be very common.
Anyhow, as for beard…..many people in this world do not grow any beard, such as all native Americans and many Chinese people. The Muslims who have a thing for beard in my view are making a lie out of Islam’s claims to be a global religion for all people.
At the time when Muhammed lived, there were probably 40 million people on the north and south American continents, and the south Americans were enjoying the height of their empires complete with literature and monumental architecture. Not one of the men of these people had a beard. Of course nobody in the “old world” knew anything about any of this…..still if Allah in his omniscience made Islam for everybody, you would think the beard would not be given a special religious importance, since many men don’t grow one.
Or maybe Allah is his omniscience could forsee that the Spanish were going to come along and decimate the native peoples of the “new world”, destroying them in a genocide so complete that today they exist only in numerically insignificant numbers. Saying in essence, “what the heck, beardless folks are doomed anyway”.
Or maybe….no, I won’t suggest that.
The beard debate appears to a logical person to be a purely cultural by-product. If you don’t think so, go to a village of Mayan descendants and tell them God insists that they grow a beard.
Hi there,
I have been to the movie playing at DHA cinema. It was indeed a great experience. You are right about this being a true Pakistani movie. What else can be more Pakistani than the conflicts that are within us. Shoaib Mansoor did a great job with it, but there are as you said, technical glitches.
Top of the heads were cut in almost all closeup scenes. The editing during dialogues could have been snappier, for example, angry conversations do not wait for one person to completely finish the sentence and then wait to answer. These conversations are snappy.
I have read a Fatwa from Karachi against the movie. I did so before watching the movie and find it totally absurd and based only on the director’s comments. I wrote a post on it at The Dosti Show blog (http://thedostishow.blogspot.com/2007/07/is-khuda -ke-liye-unislamic.html). Please have a read and your feedback will be welcome.
Thanks for writing about the movie.
You see what you dont Understand you percive which is not true and you adapt which is not worth. The whole point is People dont know what Islam is. Before pointing out fingers on others please read what your Religion has to say. If you dont need Mullah then be it we dont need them but somewhere in the process you have lost the ones who are worth beeing heard off. Its is beyond the Imagination for those who see ISLAM from the side where Islam is just five pillars. If you dont know about you religion then everything and anything which will be said regarding you actions will be considered as beeing fundamentalist and instead of listening and understanding the point people starts defending them selves. May Allah give us all the Hidaya and Knowledge so that we can undertand the true spirit of ISLAM and it makes me sad that 23years of Prophet life is not even worth for us that we require the movies to understand Islam.
I am looking very much forward to seeing this soon. We need good cinema in Paistan.