Moor

Thank you Jami for reviving Pakistani Cinema. Moor was an absolute stunner - beautiful shots and amazing storyline. Characterization was immense.

The dialogues are simple yet gripping. My most favourite dialogue from the film is when Ehsan screams and cries and says, "Moorgi ko bula dou, mujhey woh samjha dein gi (Please call my mother, she will make me understand)" - this dialogue perfectly sums up the relationship.

Wahid's character was so powerful that you forget the heartthrob Ehsan at times and want Wahid to speak up. Though have a very conventional ending but were driven to the conclusion in a smooth way. Must watch.

This is by no means a technical breakdown of the good or bad in film making. Rather a feeler as to what Moor (2015) has to offer. Moor is set in a cold snowy Balochistan. Focused on the life of a man struggling to keep hold of his land and his family. The Film takes us on a journey to far away barren land, shot beautifully with actors who barely faltered, delivering well written dialogs and capturing strong emotion. Moor is for the patient viewer who knows that good things comes to those who wait...and I must say Good things do come! A great watch! Shedding light on an important issue backed by wonderfully pleasing music and sound design. One of the best Films to come out of Pakistani Cinema!

When a dysfunctional family confronts the realities of the past and present along with diminishing collective morality of society then maintaining values you've been carrying becomes a liability and your fragile innocence clings only with string of hope. This is the subliminal central idea of much anticipated Pakistani movie "MOOR" produced and directed by highly acclaimed Jamshed Mahmood Raza aka Jami. Since the first teaser of "MOOR", I had firm believe in distinct quality this movie offers.

Deeply intense emotional melodrama revolves around closing down of railway system of Zhob district of Baluchistan back in 1984 and its direct implications on station master Wahid (Hameed Sheikh) and his family. Abject poverty resulted from closure of Railway station cripples naïve but honest Wahid when he is emotionally challenged by his elder brother Zahir (Shabbir Rana) and local goon Sardar Khan aka Laalu (Sultan Hussain) to make some compromises. Palwasha (Samiya Mumtaz) who plays more an emotional whistle blower than a wife of Wahid and he hangs between good and evil, family values and corruption. Death of Wahid's wife and then his son Ehsaan's (Shaz Khan) own battle for self redemption spread darker shades on screen in peculiar back & forth style of Jami in which story takes two steps back before moving one step further.

Serene and breathtaking beauty of Muslim Bagh with snowy surroundings reminds us Hollywood's "FARGO" released in 1996. Farhan Hafeez as cinematographer has pulled off an award winning job. The way he has filmed different areas of Baluchistan, it has never been attempted before. Along with strong performances of main leads "MOOR" will always be remembered for its top-notch cinematography.

Hameed Sheikh has done stunning job. Maxims of acting Hameed Sheikh has explored as station master Wahid in "MOOR", it seems this role was specifically penned for him. With acutely believable character and emotionally charged acting, his talent can easily be par with Naseeruddin Shah. It will be great to watch both of them in single frame someday. Debutant Shaz Khan has surprised with his matured performance. It will not be surprise if Shaz Khan is seen in some international project in future. The forgotten name of experience actor from Quetta Abdul Qadir as Baggoo Baba gives small but noticeable comic relief in intensely charged sequences. Abdul Qadir's performance is one of the highlights of "MOOR". After watching Ayaz Samoo as Imtisal, no one can imagine that he is the same person who has been hosting music show on ARY Musik as famous video jokey Sajid Billa.

On the whole, "MOOR" is magnificently executed, superbly performed and meticulously written film which aims self-actualization. With its soul-searching element and momentous theme "MOOR" will cherish only serious cinema-goers but not the masses. If right promotion and effective PR are done internationally then "MOOR" has all the ingredients to emerge as an Oscar material.

After watching Jami's O21, I had high hopes for MOOR because he doesn't follow the usual ingredients of a Lollywood or Bollywood movie. Surely, MOOR wasn't your typical Indian musical or a romcom. The basic story line is powerful, it deals with corruption in railways, neglect of government for Balochistan, moral degradation of society (particularly Karachi), lust of man for money and bonding within the family. What Jami failed to do this time was to create a steady momentum of the story. Movie seems to be a product of bad editing where haphazard scenes collide. The first 50 minutes seemed like a psychological thriller where a man is marred with the guilt of not saving his mother in his childhood. Also those 50 minutes could have been shown in a total of 15 minutes span. Scenes are shot in detail from an artistic point of view not from storytelling perspective. The emotional scenes are so long that they affect the whole feeling in it. The director failed to project the characters emotions. Dialogues seemed to be a rip off of an old moral story that mothers in Pakistan tell their kids and they were prolonged for no particular reason. You have got your railway corruption, backwardness of Balochistan and moral dilemmas being shown at the same time, nothing is wrong with it… but poor editing made it confusing for the audience to concentrate to all of it. The light background music wasn't effective during the dialogues as it should have been. Shots were too much zoomed in. There is hardly a scene where you see a character's full body or the environment he/she is in (apart from the outside shots in Balochistan). It was as if cameraman didn't knew how to zoom out. Maybe the director wanted to show the facial expressions in detail while a character's life is in turmoil but it was all too much. From an artistic directors' point of view, the shots are beautiful. But overall Jami failed to compile the movie to convey a heavy message. You have to assimilate more than 90 minutes to receive this message: Money is not real happiness, family ties are important, Pakistan (motherland) is to be taken care of by every individual and to always act morally.

Moor. Was the hype deserved? . The movie started well. The place was beautiful, camera angles were refreshing and different from those I have seen in previous Pakistani movies. Individual scenes were shot beautifully and care was taken of the little details. It was a poetic depiction of a story.Editing was loose at some places and some scenes were patched on very abruptly. Casting and acting was OK, better than previous Pakistani movies. Some actors did fit in their roles. Shaz Khan was OK in his role of Ehsaan but he did not leave any lasting impression. It was his father Hameed Sheikh playing the role of the station master, who did a good job. Samiya Mumtaz as usual, did justice to her role. Sara, the sister spoke beautifully in a voice coated with honey, though her accent was way off for a Baloch girl. Amber, his girlfriend was convincing in her small role. Ehsan's friend was good too. Another important role was Baggoo, whose character I did not find adorable, at all. Dialogues were average, nothing I would feel compelled to quote. But coming to the most important ingredient of a good film: the story, It was not gripping. At all. It was as boring as the trailer made it seem. I failed to develop any concern for any character, let alone an emotional connection. It was a third party viewing and analyzing. It also appeared as if director was trying to complicate a very simple thing. This is modern story telling but I personally think it is appropriate when the story has more to reveal. You can shoot a cat drinking milk from three angles but in the end if the cat is only drinking milk, it's boring. There's no twist to it. People are going to lose interest. I also don't know how the conscience of people suddenly wakes up from its deep slumber by one or two emotional situations. It is the director's responsibility to bridge the gap between the good and bad by a convincing turn of events. Character development was not as bad as in previous lollywood films but still. disappointing. Predictable. Utopian. Nothing new. Possibly the only thing I actually enjoyed about the movie was the background music with the beautiful shots of Balochistan. I wanted that to go on and on. (Admittedly, towards the end it was also because i wanted to avoid the movie) Some nuances: In one scene Ehsaan says after reading her mother lab reports that she was diagnosed with Broken heart syndrome. Seriously? One cannot read different interesting conditions on internet and diagnose the characters in his movie with it. No one is diagnosed with 'broken heart syndrome' on a lab report,as such. It's a retrospective diagnosis made on 'speculation'. It is a term coined for the very rare occasions when someone experiences severe heart conditions and there is no physical abnormality that explains it, and if the only explanation could be psychological stress or trauma . No one diagnoses it on 'lab reports'. What a piece of fiction! . In retrospect, would i want to watch this movie if i knew what it was like? No. I wouldn't. It is just another movie which made me feel that i sat through it to encourage local cinema. Was the hype deserved? No. If this was Pakistan cinema at its finest then they sure have a long way to go.