I watched it today, caught the afternoon show with a few friends. Here are my impressions on the movie.
First thing you would notice about the movie is its brilliant new look, feel and sound for a pakistani movie. It has a ‘quality film-making’ stamp written all over it. You will also notice the brilliant/smart/witty dialogues that start off this movie and just get better and better till the very last scenes.
**Storyline/script/dialogues: **Synopsis of the story are available everywhere on the net. Even in this thread you can read it so I wont go in that detail. First quarter of the movie, didnt really happen but then it really picked up. And after the intermission, it was breathtaking. There is so much in this movie you can relate to, specially living in Pakistan and circumstances happened of late. It was amazing how people watching movie would first connect instantly to any dialogue (simple or witty) in the movie and then either burst into laughter or applaud generously. Going back to dialogues again, some of the lines were simply majestic . They hit you hard deep in your heart, touch VERY controversial issues surrounding our society and religion. You might not agree with what being said and Shoaib Mansoor is not an scholar by any means but you could take them as an interpretation of what he sees going on these days and some of the so called ‘liberal’ people will whole heartedly agree to that. I would like to post some memorable lines from the movie with consciuos effort not to give away any spoilers.
*“Deen mai daarhi hai, daarhi mai deen nahi hai”
“Kya wajah hai k aik aisa deen jo tamaam aqwaam-e-alam k liye utara gaya hai, libaas k liye ik khaas uniform per israar karay?”
“What is your relationship with Osama Bin Laden” Interrogator asks and Shan says agitatedly * " I dont know! Maybe he is gay and he likes me? " That cracked everyone up alright! LoL!
" pehlay baatin ko theek karo, zahir khud bakhud theek ho jaaye ga"
Acting: So from where I start. Everyone was so natural in the movie. (Shoaib Mansoor does know how to get the best out of people. Heck he even made actors out of soldiers in alpha bravo charlie). For me, top two performers were Shaan and Rasheed Naz. Shaan is our best actor and too bad he seldom gets to show what he can do like he got in this movie. He was magnimonuous. His scenes right at the end absolutely broke audience’s hearts. There was complete silence in the dha cinema and I was told and noticed quite a few people who were wiping their tears off. I myself had a lump in my heart at the irony of the ending sequences. Rasheed Naz was tailor-made for a hard liner mulla with his inherent pashto accent. And I must say his lines were amongst the top ones. (hey i am running out of adjectives here)
Special mention for Iman Ali. (Oh My God she is PRETTY!!!) and she CAN act! It was a wonderful debut performance from her. Her british accent was absolutely spot on (unlike katrina’s in namaste london) and she literally takes your heart away with her sheer beauty. But not taking anything away from her performance. It was amazing!
Fawad was outstanding. He was a little disappointing in the court scenes. His character was given the most attention while developing characters being an ex-singer fundamentalist. He did manage to carry off few character transformation scenes superbly. Ali zafar should be disappointed on turning the role down to concentrate on his oh-so-great album ‘masti’.
Parents were okay-ish. Not much details in their characters. Although iman’s father did have few really funny lines and he pulled them off quite well. Russian actress who played jannie was okayish though.
Naseer Ud din shah, well he is a seasoned actor and he pulled off his small role with consummate ease. His speech in court is surely one of the highlights of the movie.
Direction: ShoMan, He knew what he is getting into when he started making this movie. Its been four years. You could spot the typical shoaib mansoor touches in the movie (from his dramas and videos). That subtle sarcasm, attention to details, top notch technical work, and his honest attempt to put his point accross was noticable. It was not perfect in anyway. He genuinely tried to give exposure to both kind of views but it was easy to judge where his inclination was. He is not a scholar but he did address some really controversial issues. He didnt leave anyone off the hook. Not the enlightened ones, nor the extremist ones, nor the americans but his message was loud and clear in the movie. The title song, not in the movie had a very true line ‘Khuda mera bhi hai, cheeno na.. khuda ke liye…’. This is for those self-righteous oh-i-know-all people who would just label you on first available opportunity. Like I Said, there is so much in this movie every muslim can relate to some extent. Technically movie is right up there with the standards set by west and sometimes by our neighbors. There were some views that it was long but I think to encompass controversies of such magnitudes, it was needed to be this long. Although the end was somewhat unrealisitc and idealistic but I guess thats how he envisions our society. Yes he is not a leader but as a director he is entitled to do that. I can see this movie pi$$ing many people off specially in Pakistan and if it survives any untoward activity then rest assured that it will be a platinum hit.
Bottom Line:. I had been waiting for this movie since a couple of years now. From the moment he lined junaid jamshed and ali zafar up for the lead roles, to the replacements and the making, I was anticipating nothign short of a miraculous movie. Was I disappointed? Hell no! Was it perfect? No!!! See this as an interpretation of how Shoaib Mansoor sees this islam-west struggle and liberal-fundamentalist issues. You might not agree with the views presented but you cannot deny that he put them forward in some style. Go there with an open mind and you willl not dislike it if not love it. It is a must watch! I can proudly suggest to anyone that you should see this PAKISTANI movie.
Hope I didnt bore anyone with this long review and I tried my best not to include any spoilers. 
EDITED: This movie should have been rated for language though. But then again we dont have ‘ratings’ concept here. There were kids and families in cinema who could have done with a PG rating or a bleep sound. I think UK and US showings will have those ratings.