Movies Review: Bol

Bol : Humaima Malik, Manzar Sehbai, Atif Aslam, Iman Ali, Mahira Khan


Movie Name :	Bol
Director By :	Shoaib Mansoor
Starring :	Humaima Malik, Manzar Sehbai, Atif Aslam, Iman Ali, Mahira Khan
Music :	Atif Aslam, Sajjad Ali, Sarmad Ghafoor, Shoaib Mansoor
Lyrics :	Ali Moeen, Ayub Khawar, Imran Raza, Sajjad Ali, Shoaib Mansoor
Review Date :	02 September 2011
Reviewed By :	Nikhat Kazmi
Source :	The Times Of India
Rating :	4/5

Story: The film focuses on the travails of a lower middle class family in Lahore which struggles with poverty, orthodoxy and the stranglehold of a gender bias which treats women as the archetypal second sex. The highpoint of the film is the conflict between the eldest daughter (Humaima Malik) and her traditional father (Manzar Sehbai) who has fathered fourteen children, merely to fulfil his desire to have a male heir. Troubles compound when the last-born happens to be a hermaphrodite and the father condemns him to a life of captivity, even as he tries to find desperate -- and shocking -- means to fend for his large family in increasingly hard times.

Movie Review: Director Shoaib Mansoor is fast becoming the flagbearer of a new wave in Pakistani cinema. Having already hit international headlines with Khuda Kay Liye, his highly acclaimed diatribe on fundamentalism and racial profiling in a post 9/11 world, he now returns with Bol, another hard-hitting indictment of the status of women in orthodox societies.

The film is a tour de force, both in terms of the performances by the two main protagonists, daughter Humaima and father Manzar and in the narrative which spills over with umpteen twists and turns, geared to shock and shake you up, with their horrific tenor. If Humaima Malik is picture perfect as the rebellious daughter who dares to question her father and even take drastic measures to ensure that justice prevails amidst all the inequity, then Manzar Sehbai is magnificent as the tyrannical man who is desperate to hang on to family honour and moribund traditions. The highpoint of Sebai's characterisation is the fact that he never turns up as the quintessential bad guy, despite his shocking deeds. It goes to the director's credit that he doesn't create heroes and villains and blames old-fashioned social mind-sets and blinding orthodoxy for the malaise. And the fact that the problem of gender discrimination is highlighted through the story of a single close-knit family adds to the emotional quotient of the film.

Atif Aslam fans will however be somewhat disappointed with his screen debut since his role is mostly undefined and secondary to the plot. Of course, he does lend his mellifluous vocals to the film as the friendly neigbourhood pop star. Topical and thought-provoking, Bol is a film you must not miss

Tip Off: Meant for serious viewing. Don't go looking for mindless entertainment

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