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Hammad-Hassan
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Daghabaaz Dil (2024)
"Daghabaaz Dil: A Disjointed Cinematic Misfire Lacks Clear Plot and Perspective"
"Daghabaaz Dil" seems to have missed the mark on delivering a coherent storyline, leaving viewers bewildered and disappointed. From the onset, the film promises a simple love story but quickly morphs into a mishmash of genres, lacking any clear direction or purpose. The transition from romance to horror comedy feels abrupt and disjointed, failing to establish a consistent tone throughout.
While the film boasts a talented cast including Mehwish Hayat, Momin Saqib, and Ali Rehman Khan, their performances are overshadowed by a convoluted plot and lackluster character development. The central conflict, revolving around family inheritance and debt, feels contrived and fails to engage the audience effectively.
The introduction of supernatural elements, such as the character Moon being revealed as a 'jin,' adds further confusion to an already muddled narrative. The sudden shift in focus from romantic entanglements to paranormal occurrences feels forced and poorly executed. Daghabaaz Dil" suffers not only from a convoluted plot but also from a lack of a cohesive point of view. The storyline, initially centered around a familial dispute over inheritance and debt, quickly loses focus as supernatural elements are introduced. The abrupt revelation of Moon as a 'jin' and his subsequent involvement in the lives of the main characters feels forced and incongruous with the established narrative.
Additionally, the film's attempts at humor fall flat, with cliché dialogue and exaggerated accents contributing to a sense of artificiality rather than genuine entertainment. The reliance on tired tropes and stereotypes further detracts from the overall viewing experience, leaving audiences questioning the film's creative direction.
" Moreover, the film's failure to establish a clear point of view hampers its ability to engage viewers on a deeper level. Had the story been told through the eyes of the 'jin' character, providing insight into his motivations and struggles, it might have added depth and complexity to an otherwise shallow plot. Instead, the narrative meanders aimlessly, leaving audiences bewildered and disenchanted.
Furthermore, the lack of a coherent point of view exacerbates the film's tonal inconsistencies, as it struggles to reconcile its disparate elements of romance, horror, and comedy. Without a unified perspective to anchor the storytelling, "Daghabaaz Dil" feels like a disjointed collection of scenes rather than a cohesive narrative.
In essence, the film's failure to establish a clear plot and point of view undermines its ability to resonate with audiences, leaving them perplexed and dissatisfied. Overall, "Daghabaaz Dil" falls short of expectations, offering little in terms of substance or coherence. With a lack of clear themes, direction, or genre, it fails to leave a lasting impression and serves as a reminder of the challenges facing Pakistan's film industry in producing quality content.
Money Back Guarantee (2023)
Money Back Guarantee: Disasterous Film
Was it a movie? Well, many of us think so. Then let's talk about it. Metaphors or symbols are used in a film to enhance the thematic value of the story, it is not in any way used to guess what the filmmakers are trying to tell us. The message the director as well writer of the film Faisal Qureshi is trying to convey to us is that this country is ruined by politicians and we people will be going to take revenge by looting a bank supposedly where these politicians have dumped the ill rotten money from the public. Stupidity at large, isn't it?
The problem with writers in our industry is obvious. They try to use similar techniques being experienced in tv dramas and hope they will get away with it as they get away in dramas. The film is altogether a different scenario. It has its own bones, structure, story, theme, and flow.
In the film Money Back Guarantee," you have none. The star-studded film has no cinematic value to offer. It starts with a long boring sequence of two unemployed friends, doing nothing except spitting uselessly on-the-nose bad dialogues hoping to reflect laughter out of it. Anyhow, the desire is clear. They need to rob a bank to take the money back that they think the politicians have deprived them of. Is it a metaphor? An allegory? I can't figure it out. So it must be a plot. Ok? Let's then stick with the plot which critics might think would be an action-packed situational plot film where an amateur team of six unemployed people would struggle to rob a bank which may lead to circumstances that would then satisfy the theme of the story. But the writer didn't know what he is trying to do or force us to think the way he thought about it.
The plot has no coherence and it lacked emotional as well as structural wit. These amateur thieves come from different ethnic backgrounds and in doing so they over-acted almost everywhere. Who these people are? We don't know much about them. Why we must care about them? Who are they? Why they are stealing a bank? Yeah, the full flowery dialogues hint to us, one among them is frustrated about the shortage of gas supply, one guy is short of water supply, and the Pathan guy is after an intangible ego thing. The muhajir guy wants a white-collar job and he is struggling to get one and so on. How it justifies stealing a bank and how that looted money would fulfill their individual desires. The only answer the film emphasizes over and over is about the stocked money of the politicians deemed to have looted indirectly from the public. It's just a foolish approach and offers no reasonably strong link with their desires.
Then you have another plot going in the bank. There are presidential elections going on and two guys are running for it. Fawad Khan seems to be an obnoxious, witty fellow next to the current president of the bank Wasim Akram who is also running for the election and wants to elect for the next tenure too. Who is the hero in the film? There is no one. Then who's POV is prevailing so that we may judge his struggle and root with him? No one actually. How ridiculous! Wait where the plot is now? It is still there in a broken weathered-out team's flat where we left it in the beginning. Don't think about it as you have reached the interval already. Really? Yes, but the Christian Rambo gets a job as "choora" in the bank and Wasim Akram pays him extra to overhear what Fawad Khan is plotting against him. Is it another plot here? I don't know because it never dwells. But insulting a Christian and other ethnic community in the film is shameful especially when it has nothing to do with the story or plot of the film. The film also forces us to believe that we as a nation are also selfish and corrupt. That's why every member of the amateur team at one stage thinks of getting away with the looted money alone and settling his issue. Rambo accepts the bribe, the girl reveals her plan to the wrong team member, and so on.
Wait, the director of the film also emerges on several occasions which has nothing to do with the plot. It's awkward and wavered writing. He is trying to tell us that be aware of powerful people depicting him as a fish seller in one place, a mask seller or bleach seller in another, etc. Are we watching some commercials? Where is the story, where is the plot, and where is the film? Nothing. In fact, you might be seeing certain skits joined together trying to depict the 'Huge' in-depth themes of selfishness, 'safaid khoon', immorality, respect for rich in the society, and love for money. Nothing hit your heart because films are not written like this. Issues are not raised like this. Even the prostitute played by Ayesha Omer had issues with the politicians. Why? We have no clue. She from nowhere helps the amateur team to snub the politicians to fulfill their designs. Well, the double role of the team members somehow justifies initially when someone says "jesi awam ho gi wese hukmran hon ge" but fails in the next scene. How they are not caught by the security. And well you have Donal Trump in the film too. What the hell he has to do with the plot? The reason depicted is again useless and baseless.
At last, they manage to get the money but again another issue is raised. When they converted a whole truck of money into dollars, it just fits in a small traveling bag. The writer is trying to tell us he is a genius as he shifts from one point to another and shows us certain faces of our society but that's not how films are made. Better make a documentary and win an Oscar. Two dozen of the audience left the hall before the interval and the trend continued till the end. So the public didn't like it too. Even they get bored of this non-linear script, poor plot, wavered storyline, obvious theme questions, overacting, useless dialogues, and no promising goal at hand.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
AVATAR 2, The way of Water, Indigenous World with Weak Story
The colonial ambition of humans is a chronic desire witnessed over hundred of years and is not stopping any sooner, as Avatar 2, the way of water, directed by James Cameron has depicted, tremendously done in the first part of its sequel as well.
James Cameron is facing really harsh criticism from indigenous activists, who think the film is actually a white savior narrative, a franchise that isn't subtle in its anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, and environmentalist themes- Cameron has said as much, previously referring to the first film as "a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period.
From the pronounced noses of the Southern Cheyenne Tribe or other physical characteristics like stereotypical angular cheekbones and long hair in braids, the Navi's are shown as mystical and noble solemn savages to an extent where it offended Maori people when the film reduces ta moko, a type of tattoo that is culturally significant and readable for Maori people, to abstract, meaningless shapes that reflects only the aesthetic values on the character's faces or bodies. The criticism has thrown James Cameron's effort to merely "pretendians", non-native people who when subjected to these traits and with generic native clothing or accessories appear Indigenous.
The racist exploration of native people being reflected in the Avatar franchise may have offended indigenous people or Maroi to be particular who remained the center of the sequel but showing the film through the eyes of an alien, Jake Sully who inhabits a new body that mimics the native Navi, the tall blue humanoid species of Pandora, might have been ignorant of the fact that it actually is romanticizing the colonization that is much evident in the first part when the protagonist is sent initially for an imperialist mission.
But let's talk purely on story merits. Although there is a deeper plot in the sequel introducing metkayina people of the reef, led by Ronal (Kate Winslet) and Tanowari (Cff Curtis), it lacks the story. Starting with the basic desire and message of the story that while protecting your family, you may lose everything viz, your place, your language, your people, your clan, and even your title, we lose the message on the way.
In the first film, the white savior Jake Sully who sided with Navi after falling in love with the native Naytri defended Pandora from the human invaders who wanted their natural resources. They succeeded in defeating the invaders.
In the sequel, Jake and Neytiri are living happily with their children and their stepdaughter Kiri and semi-feral human kid Spider when the "sky people" of the world reappear and want Jake Sully to be killed if they have any chance of looting and plundering Pandora.
Jake Sully takes his family to the far end Metkayina people and soon have to learn the art of surviving deep under the water. The Sully's children and Tanowari Children were spiky and rivalrous in the beginning but then they find a way to be calm after Sully's elder son bonds with the whale-like creature Tulkun, who is abandoned by Metkayina people consider him a destroyer whereas it isn't. He was hit by Captain Mick Scoresby, who is hunting these species.
So the film has nothing to do with humane emotions, twists, or surprises and nothing to carry on with the message. There is literally any character arc to be fulfilled or to overcome a misbelief. This misbelief inspires questions that make the story run.
The high-tech film is full of CGI characters that mesmerize but they never link with your heart, so we start to care less about them.
This flat story comes to the last scene eventually when there is a final fight between the Qatrich army and Metkayina clan along with Sully's family. It is when the underworld whale creature resonates back with fury and destroys the enemy ship and its weapons.
Aside from the high-tech art superstructure what is there? Nothing. Yes, you can enjoy the three-hour-long film, if you are more of a video game lover knocking your opponent in a mystic world of unparallel creatures.
Tich Button (2022)
Over-stretched, Stereo-typed, Dull film
The title "Titch Button" suggests that it should be a comedy movie but you keep guessing till the end what genre best fits it. So name it anything, you like because it doesn't matter whether anyone associated with the movie even bothered it either. So why the audience should?
So what do you expect from the drama writer Faiza Iftikhar? Will she be able to pull a cinema film from the grains of tv drama that she had been prolifically spilling on the small screen for many years, you are overwhelmingly innocent and insanely trying to repaint Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa from the strokes of a local artist.
There is no doubt writing hit tv series over the years, Faiza Iftikhar has the command to bring in some emotional moments in the film, which she perfectly did to capture your mind spontaneously. But moments vanish the next moment then you are left with tried-out dialogues, actors mimicking over nothing, one-dimensional characters arguing over things that matter to us the least. So we have left with the basic question. Where is the story? There is no story at all. Of course, there is a plot or rather fill-in-plot situations copied or written over a thousand times in Indian or Sikh Punjabi films with similar sequences copied perfectly by the writer and the debut film director Qasim Ali Mureed, who has gained popularity from his recent drama series "Mere Humsafar"
So let's stop for an instance. Instead of extracting the meaning of the film it depicts, its cliche dialogue, huge plot holes, or an absolute failure in terms of succeeding in its romantic genre charisma, let's only talk about how it looks. Yeah, as cinematography,camera-work, decorations, dance sequences, lighting, and architectural framework were good, it would entice a chunk of people who have come to enjoy the artistic approach to the film, and it never fails you in this regard. Just as Legend of Maula Jatt did so well recently and finished as the top-grossing film of all time in the history of Pakistani cinema, directors are more prone to exploiting the art side of the film rather than the story or essence of it.
Do we come to enjoy that cinematic exuberance, that has nothing to do with the story or the very human experience we have by ourselves endured throughout our lives but in the world of the film, we would love to see how that particular character struggles to overcome it? Aren't we thrilled to see our own fears and demons shattered by the heroic struggle of the character?
For a moment I thought the film would be about the two worlds viz a world of non-connection, deceit, and cheating in contrast to the world of true love, pure human connection, and sacrifice. The former is symbolized by the life of Turkey and the latter with some villages from Pakistan Punjab. Leena played by Iman Ali reflects that very person who seems bold, sexy, and arrogant. That could be fine as her mother had a failed love marriage. So was she hungry for love or connection? There isn't any clue. Hence I was wrong in taking a contrast to the two physical worlds, it never dwells from there. Then there were moments that force me to think that it was a film about how cheating in friendship destroys your beloved ones. This sense of theme is quite obvious from a few scenes and dialogues like "Your yaar ka na ho saka wo pyaar ka kya hoga?" But you just cling to this thought almost at the end of the movie, which makes you feel crazy and doubt your thinking or observational skills.
The film starts with our desi hero played by Farhan Saeed named Kaka who lives with his huge Khandaan(Family n a haveli and is shown as an easy-going dumb ass kind of a guy, who is a failure in all aspects of life in contrast to his cousin and friend Saqib played by Feroze Khan currently working in Turkey.
It begins when Saqib's phuphoo (aunty)arrives at the haveli along with her daughter to fix the date of marriage between him and Shakeela played by Sonya Hussain, her fiance, engaged eight years back. Saqib is shocked to know the date is getting fixed for his marriage, he becomes frustrated to get it undone. Why? The answer that the plot forces us to swallow is "I can't marry phupoo's daughter" with the laughable reason that he is her phuphoo's daughter. The writer has slapped us straight in our faces and mocks our entire social system as if phuphoo's are some evil creatures created by the necessity of our "paindo" filthy village style of life. You dare to ask the storyteller in this fast modern world where your characters are shown rich and stunning in every way, why in the hell the engaged couple haven't seen each other or have talked over for centuries. It's unbelievable. But for an instance, let's believe it just had happened, the cruelty of the plot still goes on pulling us into a further quagmire that Shakeela settles in believing the concocted story told by Kaka on behalf of Saqib that is aimed at stopping this marriage to happen. How simple. The writer has not worked out her characters and she has not the slightest idea what her characters are and what they actually need in this world. They are shallow, they are laughable. The hilarious plot never stops here but in fact fixes Kaka in his own phony story that ends up with him being the next groom of Shakeela because from God's will a love letter comes in suggesting Kaka apparently seducing her cousin's to- be- bride in flowery word descriptions. To settle the enthralling problem at hand the grandfather makes the decision. Let's swap the grooms and the marriage still goes on. Oh really? Why not after all it's a comedy movie. Thanks, we have just concluded it's a sheer comedy. From then on, somehow our hero Kaka becomes a man. He can't disobey his parents. He has to marry Shakeela now even if isn't his will. Wait, does some messenger comes down from the heavens to warn him of the consequences otherwise. Maybe, but we don't have a clue like the way we don't know who wrote that forged letter. Did that letter needed if you have all messenger apps running around throughout the film? The writer knows it better.
Now comes the typical plot. Saqib's mother rages and now wants Saqib to bring her in a "gori mame" as his wife so she has an upper hand among her relatives. Saqib allures his half-Pakistani-Half Arabic friend Leena to role-play as his fake wife and save the day for him. Initially hesitant, the girl sees it as a vacation opportunity, and to kill her loneliness she agrees. As they land in the haveli, she falls in love with kaka as Kaka too.
On the other hand, Saqib falls in love with Shakeela the first sight he sees her after eight years, and in a twitch of a second that Phupoo kind of thing goes to hell and now he demands his cousin cum friend to cut the ties with Shakeela and let him marry her. Now Kaka has a dilema. Break the coming up marriage with Shakeela or save his love. He can't break his words sworn in front of his elders. He can't simply ignore his elders and stop the proposed marriage. He somehow has become an honest person without any cogent reason. Didn't we have a glimpse of him as a liar when he acted on behalf of Saqib and fabricated a story?
When Saqib fails to allure his cousin to do as he wishes, he makes a plan. He tells Kaka to escort Leena in the dark of night to the station because she can't resist her demise anymore and can't stand in front of the house watching her love fade away from her.
So he does the same and is caught in front of the house depicting that Saqib had already told everyone to trap kaka and make him guilty suggesting he was running with Leena, destroying the family values and smashing the proposed marriage. Kaka is beaten by his uncle and leaves the haveli and spends the night at his friend's place.
Shakeela has been observing that Kaka is mistreated and she tells the truth to her grandfather the family allows him to go stop Leena who is already left for the station. In between, we have to see a fight with the bad men who were once treated badly by kaka. He gets injured and Saqib comes to rescue him to make one last gesture that he won't lose a friendship against a love who he already lost.
With all the perfect tried-out sequences from various Indian or Sikh films, the director copied them and the love birds meet at the platform before she leaves.
The issue of this terrible film is its story, plot holes, and on the surface forceful sequence generation. Even the director seems to be helping the cause further and destroying the linear expansion of the plot itself. He did everything which proved Indian films successful recently. So the Item dance was pulled out to make it look like an exemplary film. Urwa Hocane who is also one of the producers of the film can't resist herself to show the curves of her skinny body to make an impact. And wait! To impress a girl the hero must be fighting a bad guy, even if the bad guy has nothing to do with the story itself. Yes, we have that sequence too. Then how can you leave a running sequence? Yes, the hero and his friend run aimlessly on the streets of the village to win a race. A race? What that has to do with the film? The writer or director must be knowing. Even the hero uttered," why you made me run an aimless race?"
Apart from the spooky scenery from Turkey, the yacht dance sequence that is shot well or decorated haveli, and Sohail Ahmad's punchy dialogue at times, we have nothing to praise much. Acting is at par. In short, the story feels over-stretched and some of it comes over as vague and under-explained till the very last fifteen minutes when there is a hint of some emotions flowing and you just feel for the hero, else it becomes duller and more predictable.
The Legend of Maula Jatt (2022)
The broken story, bad writing
Legend of Maula Jatt has taken the audience by storm as movie-goers are taking a huge interest in the film and have applauded the new film with the hope that has opened new horizons for the Pakistan film industry and has set a benchmark for Lollywood films to be made in future.
The turnout might be huge and the big-budget film is doing remarkable business as well across the world which as the matter of fact is altogether another dynamic that I'm not interested to discuss today.
The core issue that needs to be addressed about the film is its story, characters, plot, sequences, and dialogues. A story is not about actions or external events that occur on the surface but how those events affect characters to develop an emotional attachment with that we see their internal struggles to carry out the outer goal.
In Legend of Maula Jatt it lacked everything. A broken story, with two-dimensional characters, bad sequences, nonsense dialogues, and a weak plot. When the film opens we don't know in what part of the world we are nor do we have any sense of time, you immediately lose connection with the pace of the plot. Hence one even struggles to catch up with the brutal action upfront killing the parents of Maula Jatt (who is still a boy) at the hands of men from Naths. Why they killed them, we have literally no clue. The little boy, however, succeeded to get away with the scene and is then adopted by a woman from a neighboring village who takes her along with her. Only God knows why she adopted him, we have no clue about it either. The little Maula Jatt then lives with her real son who later in the film proved to be his true friend if not merely his stepbrother.
As Jatts are a famous clan in Punjab, we are hinted promptly with the space. They are considered to be a superior class among the other castes. Naths, on the other hand, are the lowest people usually called yogis. In reality, there is no evidence of any rivalry between the clans in the pages of history.
As the movie moves further we just get a glimpse of time from the presence of silver coins and bronze or metal pots which are indicative of Akbar's reign or sometime around that era because we heard the word "paisa" on quite a few occasions which also showed lack of research on the end of the writer. The silver coins in Akbar's era were called paisas.
Hence the events in the film might have occurred about 500 years back. Well, we just wasted some time to reach the conclusion.
Soon after we meet with the grown-up Maula Jatt whose appearance and size reflect a well-fed bear. He fights the neighbouring villagers in gladiatorial games which are well copied from films like Gladiator, and Benhur, and shows like Spartacus where they have shown Romans indulging in bloody cut-throat games and the fighters are always kept as their slaves. But the historical reverences in those depictions are more logical and in accordance with the fact. But here in Punjab, hardly heard of such kill-to-death-like arenas where hard hitters are pummeling poor souls from lower clans.
Maula Jatt has emerged as a drunken badass kind of a guy living on human killings. Let's absorb it for a second but why was he seen initially being on odd terms with her guardian mother? I still am figuring it out. Simply, bad characterization. We all know there has been a trauma he is suffering from it and slowly indulged to take revenge for her parent's killing at hands of Naths. We still can't root for him as there are not enough scenes to make us connect to his soul. Well, the goal is pretty much clear but fighting and killing his nemesis eventually, in the end, is the story? NO. Romeo killed himself and then Juliet's suicide soon after is not a story. The story might be something that rivalry among the clans can destroy their dearest even, what is Maula Jatt's story? It's whimsical storytelling and the writer seems to have no command of it.
That's the problem with most writers they only work on the plot thinking that they are telling a story. Whereas they are just connecting events. The holes in the plot are obvious in this film on several occasions. Why Noori Nath, the fierce nemesis who has seen telling more than a dozen occasions that "God why you always send me goats to fight, send me lions" is such a fierce giant at the first instance is because he tells by himself that he has become so animal because as a child he killed the man who was sent by his own father to dump the newly born girl, his younger sister alive under a grave. Now the question is why his father wants to kill his own daughter, we have no clue. Then ironically, when his father the chieftain of the Nath clan sent him to jail because of his useless killing spree, he had ample chance to kill his daughter but he never did. It's bad bad writing.
On the contrary, she herself has become a strong Nathni and wants to become the chieftain herself as the only better character in the film. Treacherous, cunning, fearless, and blunt. Humaima is played with better acting and honors the role unlike Makhu character played by Mahira Khan, who may be shown as a simple expressionless girl has not suited well in her character. Again who she is, we have no clue. A lone girl from the same village might be the only answer. So why we must care for her? A few moments of intimacy with Fawad Khan were expressionless with weak acting and bad dialogue delivery. So in the end when she is tied against the pole by Noori Nath, she has less to say but with even lesser dexterity. You never connect with her. The screenplay is full of badly written dialogue. Always on the nose, with nothing sub-textual or meaningful. Most of the dialogues are forcefully written to show the grandeur of the character rather than to reveal the character from the inside. Moreover, these dialogues are not meant to write for advancing the story but always to reek of rivalry, rage, grandiosity, and meaninglessness.
Maula Jatt's character arc is simple but has missed certain events to prove why he is what he is now. Anyhow, a man, you may call him a mentor or savor of the city emerge from nowhere and relinquishes the memory of his parent's murder and gives him Gandasa, a symbol or motif of ultimate power and vulnerability. From here on Maula's illusioned vision gets clearer and he has only one job at hand to kill every Nath on earth. But the changed man Maula soon realizes it's better to save the city rather than avenge his personal debt. This could have been the strongest point of the story but it never dwells on it because the writer has no clue except to force the protagonist to take revenge. But revenge from Noori Nath. Why? They have no mutual grudge in the beginning. It's only when Maula kills six well-known furious-looking Naths in a single event, that Noori was called upon from the jail to take on the challenge. As he exits from the jail, why he was humble towards the jailer who remained harsh on him throughout his stay? One could extract from this event that Noori is kind at heart but he never showed it, especially when he kills Maula's friend or step-brother while saying these divine words," Only if I had a line of forgiveness on my palm".
In the first two interaction scenes of Maula with Daaro, we see she already fell in love with him. Why? The two arch-rival families with her plans already worked out, why she wants him to get married and share the crown. Why she would go against the will of his ever-loving brother Noori who saved her in her childhood and makes her the new Sardar? For instance, If this happens, where the Naths would earn their "bhattas". Again, this word is quite modern as compared to the era we have agreed upon. Anyhow, as she gets out after being rejected by Maula, she is treacherously killed by another rival Naths within the clan family whose son she killed while addressing her designs. The story lurking here is more intimidating than what we have seen on Maula's side which is flat and lacks colours, depth, and arc.
The plot is trying to believe us that Noori is being cheated by the rival Naths fixing Maula to be her sister's killer. How simple. Noori, for God's sake not for a second thought about how could Maula run away from the jail when he himself could not run away from the jail throughout his life. Moreover, he seems to have no sense of why the rival Naths are planning and looks like he doesn't know what happened when he was in jail. So he's not intelligent, schemer, or witty. Yes, this is also appreciated for the fact that he brutally smashes to kill his father in front of everyone for just interrupting between him and Maula. So he has proved to be a lose-tempered, out-of-brain kind of a guy. Poor writing prevails.
The last scene, which was directed not to perfection as Bilal Lashari otherwise did throughout the film with great music, cinematography, and computer graphics. His master intervention was the fall of debris through the hole when Noori smacked a guy's head against the wall and kills him instantly. The last fight scene which is the reason the whole screenplay is written fills the guts of the plot and looks ordinary. For merely two reasons. Firstly the arena was empty meaning the final fight mattered to none and failed the cause of our protagonist. Secondly, the camera angle was too close to the fighters giving a smaller look to the horizon, a shallow look that is not parallel to the gravity of the fight and the resolution of the climax.
Films are not about the settings or great cinematography, it's about the point of the story proving wrong or right. It's about the story, internal struggle, and achieving the goal after fulfilling wants. Maula Jatt lacks every sense of the story. Just imagine the same story without this great setting and sets, what you are left with... void.
Joker (2019)
Why JOKER missed the OSCARS. It's not a story , its a situation.
People always go after the hype a movie generates and all the big studios can do it very easily. I will only talk about its structure. Because that is where I can see a movie criticially. Being involved in action packed moives like James Bond series doesnt mean they all have stories in it. So if you want to see only the action, a movie creates, you have the liberty to do so.
Joaquin Phoenix, lives in a seedier, punishing version of Gotham City, where he feels persecuted by society at large. But why? If he's mentally ill, what choice did he have? So it's not his choice to adapt the course of his life rather its been dervied by his tic syndrome. So the film ends up as a revenge story where a person wants to get admired taking revenge against the society. So what's intersting in the character? why someone wants to be loved because he's handicapped? I don't want to see any character who actually has no choice of his own to go into the adventure of life. He's been derived by event after event where he only reacts and what he does, he kills anyone who humiliates him. This is not a story , this is a situation.
The film may be a reflection of sad version of our society but then why this character I should be watching, what's is his motivation? There is actually no. So it lacks structure as well. Does he have a desire? Yeah he has one that he wants to be an artist( comedian). The film should have evolved around his desire but it takes another course where the Joker becomes a more disturbed and lower-stakes version of the legendary DC Comics villain.
No doubt that its a piece of remarkable craftsmanship and impressive performances trying to catch the essence of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy but it lacks the structure.
There is no relationship in his course of struggle through whom we can judge his flaws.In fact it's all his actions that shows him a villian rather than a protag. No physical antagonism evolved. yeah there had been one but no physical contact but only at one occasion when he's punched straight in his face by Thomas wayne.
Since the settings is Gotham as we can judge from the posters of that era when there had been rampant crime on the streets with murders and rapes on rise, we see that his mother had been an employee of her and had an illegal affair with him. So it seems he was his illegal child. This antagonism must have been dealt but infact it didn't.
Copying the style of martin Scorsese's body of work of 70's, and 80's American cinema in the vein of Taxi Driver, Todd thought to give himself a chance to be on the list of Martin's kind of elusive films ( though there are certin structure issues in Taxi Driver) but has miserably failed to shine.
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)
50 shades of grey- a junk
I saw the film very late. But it's so terrible that I decided to pin down a few things about the film.
The foremost problem. No character arcs, hence no intense emotional depths in characters, plots or scenes.
Poor Poor writing. Is this a Hollywood so called erotic film? A virgin girl intimidated by a young rich guy falls for him and eventually want her to be whipped. Ridiculous! Okay, but are there any scenes to prepare our consciousness for that? The way of Dakota's breaking dialogues really made me frustrating. No symbols used. Poor directing for that matter of fact.
Okay except Dakota's good figure, even whipping is undramatic and boring. The guy's character is confused. I really didn't read his mind and real motives. A bad film.
Highway (2014)
Highway " A journey of disappointment"
Utterly disappointed after watching the Bollywood film "Highway" written and directed by Imtiaz Ali. Well, I would not call it a movie, but a travelogue. One movie after another movie, Bollywood disappoints you, but Imtiaz Ali being having a solid record of producing good films in the past,one doesn't know what went wrong with him this time around. Again, It's the script. The poor writing goes on and on. The common problem in most of the Bollywood films is that the writers aren't able to create character arch. Dialogues have no accordance with the scenes. Highway also lack these essential points. The film is about a young girl Alia Bhatt who's kidnapped by Rundip Hooda (rough, serious, rural guy) and he takes her miles away from the city to the northern parts of India traveling by a truck which the abductor himself drives. Ironically, the girl (victim) Alia Bhatt, happily go with him, even though she's engaged to a guy, (who has almost no role) and they are about to marry in the next four days. Why she's happy to go with the abductor? There seems no reason behind it. We, instantly get to know about her character as the film begins, being a young, happy-go-merry urban girl which is in contrast to what she had suffered in her childhood
seduced by her uncle. She exposes her childhood trauma before the abductor when she falls in love with him. But before we discover she's in love with her abductor, there's a vital sequence in the first half when the tempo is stopped by the cops, but instead of screaming out for help, the victim decides to hide herself and continue her journey with the abductor. Why? Only the writer can tell. Now, we know nothing about the abductor. Who, he is and why he has picked up the gun and has become a bad guy, we have no information. If he's a bad guy then Why he's good to her? Is he in love with her? We have no clue about it till the very end. Very confusing. The writer doesn't know about his characters. He's confused. There's literally nothing in the plot to discuss. No impact points, no intriguing characters, nothing much emotional. No conflict. Very average. The only reason, she's away happy with him and doesn't want to go back to her home, because for the very first time in her life she feels that she's free. But we have no incidents of her being in misery before that. Ridiculous. Cinematography is nice in the film
from the rough terrain to the snow-clad mountains, we travel through them feeling every frame painting on celluloid, a veritable visual treat. Imtiaz tried to convey the relationship between the protagonists by rough and dilapidated exteriors, lush green fields and snow-filled paths. Music is very ordinary. The cry of the day
Bollywood needs good writers.
Gunday (2014)
Great technical sound film
At last, I found a well written bollywood film, watched the other day "gunday" meaning (the outlaws). Ali Abbas Zafar, the writer and director of the film, produced by Yash Raj Productions has really matured himself since his last film I saw"meray brother ki dhulan" meaning (the wife of my brother). There is a lot to say good about the film. The character archs are beautifully drawn, and the tone of the film is immediately set as the film begins. The story of two Bengali kids (fast friends) , Bikram and Bala, rendered homeless and orphans after the divide of Pakistan in 1971. They had nothing to eat and mean to earn, they run to the neighboring India as refugees. They are abused as refugees and are merely considered as filthy rats among the Indians. The city is Calcutta. To survive, they start to steal coal from the passing -by trains and soon they become dons of Calcutta. But because of them helping the poor,they are admired and loved by the entire city. Both are now grown up as men in their late 20's. We already is informed that Bala is a short-tempered guy while Bikram is a matured and sensible guy. Nandita, a cabaret dancer walk into their lives which we further get to know is a police inspector working for the Calcutta Police under Satyajeet Sarkar, ACP, especially appointed to arrest the outlaws for their unlawful businesses. Both of them fall in love with the so-called dancer but only to find out that she only loves Bikram. This breaks Bala's heart coupled with their newly appointed man (which later we discover works for the Calcutta Police but has his own agenda too, taking revenge of his brother, accidentally killed by the two outlaws), who triggers fire in Bala's heart against his friend Bikram. Bala blows Bikram's property which is left with him after they divided equally between them. This enrages Bikram and he comes in Bala's place and fights him out. Soon, they get to know that everything is planted by the police to get them separated and broken. Sarkar has almost finished with the job when the things turn in the favors of outlaws. In the end, both of them are killed while escaping the scene by the Police. Cinematography is great in the film with lust of music which to me is never up to the task. The plot has a few drawbacks, especially why the police officer Nandita when gets abducted by Bala shows mercy on him (she's isn't in love with the guy), why at this point she never unfolds her true identity? This is a weak point. I love the scene, when Nandita tells Bala that she only loves Bikram and she has no sympathies for him, he is left standing before a mirror merely looking at his soul. The other good scene is when the two outlaws fight with each other; a bird flies and vanishes away, immediately telling us what's coming next. Also, when at the festival, a ritual is performed of drowning god's idols in the water; we are intimated that something awful is coming next. Most of the dialogues make sense, not on the nose and have more meanings than the usual bollywood films. So, I would say "very good" to the writer who's also the director of the film. Keep the good work going.