Just saw Laaj in the theatre and before saying anything, I must clarify that other than a few dance sequences, this is a totally non-commercial Arty kind of film. It’s about a 17yr old Hindu girl falling in love with a Pathan boy in the 1930s and the consequences of their relationship, which eventually results in Pathans going at war with the British colonial rulers.
The acting by the entire cast, specially Talat Hussein is amazing, and the whole team has put in a tremendous effort to give this period film an authentic look. Moreover, the Pathan angle makes it all the more interesting.
The war sequences at the end completely won over the audience, which considering this is not a mainstream movie, did turn up in encouraging numbers, and appeared to enjoy the movie considerably. Talat Hussein won a lot of applause and has MASSIVE screen presence.
The music is fabulous and totally gels with the film, very authentic and going with the period/regions the song situations are set in. Right from the first song ‘Mohey Away Hai Laaj’ to the ‘Laila Laila’ number with beautiful play of the traditional Pathan instruments, the music wins you over. Unlike Bollywood, where the songs constitute the basic appeal of the film, in Laaj the screenplay and the music are BOTH fairly dealth with.
Zara Sheikh does well as Ram Kori, the Hindu girl who falls for the impulsive if rather naive Pathan Nur Ali, played by Imran Khan. As I have said earlier, the character completely suits Khan and he carries it with the right accent. The locations are astounding: the movie was shot in Tribal Belt of Pakistan, somewhere where camera crews have NEVER been.
And last but not the least, the script is very powerful. The team has put in a lot of effort, and along with the superb sound quality, ‘LAAJ’ makes very interesting viewing.
The movie will probably have an average to below average run at the box office. They didnt do the right kind if publicity-I frankly had quite low expectations from the movie. So the classes probably will stay away, while this being an Arty movie, the masses wont like it much either. The theatre I was in was 50-60% full this being in the 3rd week of its run, which isnt too bad. Let's hope it builds its run by word of mouth, for this is something substantial from the Pakistani cinema, not candyfloss-swiss-alp-songs like YDAKH.
This is the first Pakistani movie I'm looking forward to watch.....
Khalid Rauf is an ARTIST!!
a director, writer and a producer at teh same time....
anyone of you know that he has also been a CSP officer and then quit his field to join the show biz.
Thanks God we're finally getting some educated directors!!
He also produced/directed/wrote/and acted in the drama about kashmir..with the same name.....that was a cool one!!
[QUOTE] Originally posted by coolmunda_2000: *
I like one particular song from the movie :* "Manchali ray Ayee, Bari apnay pyar ki"** Rehsam and Zara both looking very nice.
[/QUOTE]
Thats a good song, done on the Diwali festival in the movie.