Bol

BOL, a much awaited Pakistani movie with huge expectations due to Shoib Mansoor's previous successful film KHUDA KAY LIYE and insertion of Atif Aslam and Iman Ali in the cast. The title of this movie is like ordering someone to speak out which runs parallel to the context of the film, inspiring the audience to raise their voices against the tyranny and brutality of our current society. This movie has got a well-written story, great direction, extra-ordinary acting by the lead roles, beautiful music and an incredible message to all the families of this world. The cons of this movie are the abusive language and over-criticism on the religion. Humaima Malick, Manzar Sehbai, Iman Ali and Shafqat Cheema gave an outstanding performance in their roles. Atif Aslam tried to perform good but his acting was just OK, although he did great in music collaborating with Hadiqa Kiyani. Shoib Manzoor did a great job in direction and story, pointing out the problems covering all the aspects of life and giving his own instructive solutions. Story: 9/10 Direction: 10/10 Acting: 9.5/10 Music: 9/10 Overall, BOL lived up to the expectations and its already a block-buster. It is a must watch film and worthy for your time and money. Rating: 9/10

When I was walking into the theatre, I didn't think the movie was going to be very memorable, but I was wrong. The movie hits hard and is a roller coaster ride of emotions. Humour was present to break the seriousness of the film and make the movie even more enjoyable. The acting was pretty convincing with the exception of Atif Aslam. The film direction was superb and so was the story. I heard many say that the movie consisted of too many different plot lines and controversies, but I believe Shoaib Mansoor did a great job tying all loose ends and making the plot solid. It was a HUGE step forward from "Khuda key liye". Shoman does indeed learn fast. The camera work and the sound was astonishingly better than it's predecessor. It was also pretty much entirely based on the elements of realism. It surfaced plenty of tragic, but existing, traits of the lower class society in Pakistan. The movie was thoroughly engulfing. Shoman did, indeed, work his magic yet again! An amazing movie which depicts all that is wrong with the Pakistani society! It's a must watch for everyone!

Sometimes the prevalent brutality of reality subdues our senses for long enough to declare barbaric actions as legitimate. Barbaric laws as legal necessities. Allow this status quo to brew and grow for generations and centuries and it results in a stymied populace perpetually terrorizing itself through doctrinal teachings that classify and rank human beings. Bol not only rejects the age-old foundations for grading humans based on gender, but provides inspiration to a self-terrorized society about the beautiful possibilities that emerge if we choose to speak up and break the shackles inherited from the past.

Shoaib Mansoor (Shoman) knows how to paint a story in all its hues without losing the end picture if you will. His previous works are a homage, a reverence and a celebration of dance, poetry, music and art. His foray into film with Khuda Kay Liyay gave the impression that Shoman was not content with making great music or entertaining television serials. He wanted to take on a society that was increasingly duplicitous and constantly bending to the whims of obscurantism and willing to bury its beautiful heritage. With Bol he has again come out all guns blazing. Shoman isn't merely showing the mirror to society but goes for the jugular in a nihilist barrage against a decadent order represented by Hakim Syed Shafqatullah played by Manzar Sehbai.

Shafqatullah's inherited but hopelessly dwindling business in herbal medicine in an era where exposure to medical science had won over the sick contrasts with his attempts to maintain a secluded, pure existence at home. His daughters cannot leave home much less work. However, his unmet desire to father a male child infuriates him and the frustration is taken out against the females of his household.

In many ways it is a reflection of contemporary Pakistani Muslim society which cannot cope with the brutal truths of science and seeks remedies in the shrubs of faith. When that doesn't work economically weak individuals, groups and minorities are made scapegoats and used to create a mirage of power for the majority.

But this is a movie, not a post-modern feminist narrative. Furthermore, it is a Pakistani movie in an era when desperate attempts to resuscitate the film industry have yet to deliver results. Shoman continues to carry this national burden along with his socio-political message inserted in an entertainment medium. How does a single director take up these challenges within a three hour time frame while not losing the audience? Enter Shafqat Cheema playing the role of Saqa Kanjar from the Old Lahore red light district where moral standards are turned head over heals with female children valued and males seen as a burden. Apart from infusing the film with heavy doses of comical entertainment, the character simultaneously sets up as the foil to Hakim Shafqatullah. While the preference for female children as future money earning prostitutes offer a resounding contrast, it also highlights the middle-class urban religious moral standards where women are only be perceived in two categories: either as heavenly pure or slutty whores. These extreme ends give comfort to morals of mortals. So Syed Shafqatullah can digest sleeping with a dancing girl but refuses to allow his daughters to find a clerical job since that would be morally confusing.

Today's Pakistan is society in a flux where everyday honor killings have become an acceptable norm. The demonic of codes of honor have become the moral standards which need to be met for living a dignified life. Thus, Saifi, the eunuch child of Shafqatullah, meets a fate often read in the headlines of daily papers. Shoman deliberately refuses to grant audience the ease of moral extremes and constantly forces them into the gray unknowns of life where the purity of human emotions and desires prove to be more resilient and worthy of admiration than edicts and mechanical structures of faith. When Humaima Malik declares she has committed murder, but not sinned, we are forced to question the concepts of crime and punishment in theological jurisprudence. The sequence of sin equaling a crime necessitating punishment is broken. A sin may not be a crime, and so negating the need for punishment.

There are several flaws one can point to in the film. Atif Aslam's role was under-utilized. Cinematography was weak. At times Humaima's dialog turns preachy and may have been better and more powerful if left unsaid - but then again, the title of the movie suggests otherwise.

Shoman's ability to hit the nerves sets him apart from from many a famous director and script writer. He could achieve far greater success and fame if he stuck to merely entertaining audiences. But Shoman uses cinema with all its potential to plant the seeds of change. Khuday Kay Liyay was one of the three most successful films of all time. To this day, its music and message cause headaches as they confront the conservative orders of society. Bol goes several steps further. Sometime from now, the National College of Arts or other institutions teaching film studies, will be analyzing these films that carry within them both the analysis of a nation as well as a positive vision for the future.

The movie Bol is Shoaib Mansoor's second dramatic breakthrough of revealing life with its complexities. After 'Khuda Kay Liye', that went on to win several local as well as international awards, in Bol you can see Atif Aslam as Actor with Iman Ali, its another gripping story authored by him. A story that shows the realities of life very closely in typical shoaib mansoor's style.

The movie is as much emotional story as we can say Bol is a roller coaster of emotions, yet carries subtleties that make your heartbeat stop. Atif aslam is a good touch but seriously i don't like him and think acting is not his thing.

To watch or not to watch the film is not a question. You just have to watch it. Pakistan doesn't make films like this one everyday.

My first token of appreciation for this brilliant masterpiece is for Shoaib Mansoor and the reason for this remains the splendid understanding of story-telling, script, editing and direction shown by this talented director in his latest offering BOL.

Here I would especially like to praise the promotional campaign of the film, which never revealed anything about the movie and its powerful storyline. And that really works in the favour of the film since it literally grabs you with a new surprise every half an hour and leaves you simply stunned looking at the proceedings on the screen.

The moment it started off, only the first five minutes of BOL showed me the sparks of a well made film coming ahead. But admittedly I never expected such a great exceptional work from the director, boldly written around some burning issues of our society. Just the first half an hour and its developments make you sit straight on your seat realizing the huge power of its daring content. The actors go deep into the skin of their characters and the dialogues work like a sharp edged sword swung right in your direction as a 3D film. For instance, lines such as, "Aap mard hain na, Jahan lajawab hue, Wahan haath chala diye", are thrown at the viewer in every 10 minutes of the film which never let you take your eyes and ears off the screen.

To be precise, the film mainly talks about the very disturbing issue of THE UNWANTED GIRL CHILD in our part of the world. But I can easily assure you, that you can never even imagine how this hard black truth of our society has been portrayed by the director and his team in BOL. In straight words, it has sequences tackling the issue, which we have never seen before in our Indian or Pakistan Cinema.

In broader terms, BOL can be divided into two parts looking at the same important issue from two distinctive angles in its two halves. And mark my words; both these halves will give you many severe shocks and shivers running down your spines, through its impactful well shot sequences, which will leave you completely speechless with your mind jammed. In fact, I am still surprised that how a film like BOL wasn't opposed and got its clearance to be released in Pakistan a few weeks before. The director surely deserves all the praises showered upon him in the various festivals to show such courage and will to make a hugely EXPLOSIVE film on this sensitive issue with such an amazing conviction. His KHUDA KAY LIYE was also good, but with BOL he even surpasses his own set standards of quality cinema taking many huge giant leaps in the world of Film-making.

Giving you an insightful glimpse of the film, I would like to remind you of one simple scientific fact which is now widely known in the educated section of our society about the girl child. Till ages, our society kept blaming the women for giving birth to a Girl Child whereas in reality it's the male who is actually responsible for the child to be a boy or a girl.

Now, you must have seen this fact being represented in our films in different ways at regular intervals in the past. But, I will not hesitate here in saying that BOL uses this fact in its narration LIKE NEVER EVER BEFORE by any film-maker in the history of Indian or Pakistan Cinema (in its second half). The film simply leaves you with your jaws wide opened, the moment the fact gets interpreted on the screen in its unique way.

Before BOL, whenever the issue of GIRL CHILD was discussed, I always used to recommend Shyam Benegal's masterpiece HARI BHARI to all as a must watch. But now I would love to recommend BOL along with HARI BHARI to everyone who is willing to think about this issue from many new and distinctive angles as a responsible citizen.

To sum up, BOL has two more merits in its list which do need a special mention here in the review. Despite of the fact that BOL is a grim movie based on a dark subject, the beauty of this well crafted gem is that does end on a very positive note, reminding us all of two great four letter words called LOVE and HOPE. Its beautiful climax reminds us that its not the end of the world yet and we can still become the much needed change ourselves before it becomes too late.

And last but not the least, apart from its superlative & thought provoking direction, BOL just hits you at the right place largely due to its well chosen cast, where every character acts and speaks exactly like both the good & bad people living around us in the real life. The Urdu- Punjabi language mix and its perfect use throughout the film, takes you into another world of love, lust, sex, betrayal and greed, giving you a taste of the cruel LIFE as it actually is in the real mean world of existence.

For viewers, who are thinking that it's a Pakistani film, for them, I would like to state that BOL very courageously talks about the Universal Pain of a MOTHER and her unwanted child. And as per my own understanding the word MOTHER doesn't need any kind of classification of some man-made borders and language to express her pain.

In short, BOL is one of those rare perfect films made in this new century which needs to be watched by every man and woman living both in India and Pakistan as a must.

And as the western critics quote, "It would be a CRIME to miss BOL".